CinemaNerdz

Weekend Box-Office: The Lion King 3D Has No Successors!

Seth Paul

Even with four new films this weekend, apparently there’s no Disney like old Disney…The Lion King 3D stayed in the top spot, earning an estimated $22.1 million. The 17-year-old film did have some stiff competition, however, in the Aaron Sorkin-written Moneyball, which edged into second place with an estimated $20.6 million, and the kid-friendly Dolphin Tale, which picked up an estimated $20.2 million. The rest of the list dropped off from there as the Taylor Lautner action vehicle Abduction made much less, only an estimated $11.2 million, while the most expensive film of the newcomers, the action thriller Killer Elite, may have benefited from stars requiring smaller paychecks; with names like Robert De Niro, Jason Statham, Clive Owen among others, the $70 million film only earned an estimated $9.5 million. Overall, the top 5 represent a definite upswing in market activity from the previous week, where The Lion King 3D was the only film to break past $15 million (in fact, its actual take was over $30 million).

With no place left to it, Contagion was forced down to sixth, making an estimated $8.6 million. It stands only a few million away from breaking even domestically (its total domestic gross, $57.1 million, stands just shy of its $60 million price tag), while Drive already has done so, entering its second week with an estimated $5.8 million in weekend take and $21.4 million in overall domestic gross. It may have made more this week than The Help, which made an estimated $4.4 million, but The Help is still the biggest winner currently in the Top 10, with its whopping $154.4 million domestic gross on a $25 million budget.

Amazingly, though, all of these films so far have still performed better than two films that debuted last week. The remake of Straw Dogs made an estimated $2.1 million, and stands currently at $8.9 million domestic gross, a total less than what Killer Elite has made in one. And Straw Dogs stands only slightly better than I Don’t Know How She Does It; Sarah Jessica Parker’s star might be a bit tarnished as the film made under an estimated $2.1 million, for a two week total of only $8 million. Both films were budgeted roughly around $25 million, and neither film looks to be headed for any sort of financial success on the big screen.

Weekend Box-Office (September 23 – September 25)

  1. The Lion King 3D…$22.1 million
  2. Moneyball…$20.6 million
  3. Dolphin Tale…$20.2 million
  4. Abduction…$11.2 million
  5. Killer Elite…$9.5 million
  6. Contagion…$8.6 million
  7. Drive…$5.8 million
  8. The Help…$4.4 million
  9. Straw Dogs…$2.1 million
  10. I Don’t Know How She Does It…$2.1 million

Seth Paul

When not failing to write novels and screenplays, box-office guru Seth writes humorous comedy tracks for films under the name "The One Man Band" that can be found at Rifftrax.com. Although, he has recently succeeded in writing the novella "Jack Alan and the Case of the Not-Exactly Rocket Scientists," available as an eBook on Amazon. He is also the English voice of Zak in "Zak McKracken: Between Time and Space."
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