CinemaNerdz

Weekend Box Office: The Possession Not Exorcised During Slow Weekend

Seth Paul

The Possession remained at #1 at the box office, though with only one new release, it had little in the way of fresh competition. It also caps what is shaping up to be a major box office slowdown, as at an estimated $9.5 million, it did not even break into double digits, a major blow compared to last week when Labor Day weekend had three films do so. Lawless remained in second place with an estimated $6 million, for a two-week domestic total of $23.5 million…not much for a movie that has yet to post any production costs and contains actors not known for small salaries. The Words debuted in third, with an estimated $5 million…almost enough to surpass its $6 million production costs, but it is unlikely to survive much beyond that with the critical savaging it received.

The Expendables 2 is a success, but you would not know it looking at its domestic numbers…with an estimated $4.8 million and $75.4 million domestic totals, it looks well shy of its $100 million budget, but it currently sits tall with $177.8 million in worldwide earnings. So, too, does The Bourne Legacy, whose estimated $4 million and $103.7 million domestic earnings falls short of its $125 million budget, but carries $165 million in worldwide sales. Neither is a powerhouse at the box office, but one would be hard pressed to call either a bomb. ParaNorman, on the other hand, is at distant odds with its critical success and box office earnings, with an estimated $3.8 million and a $45.1 million domestic total, with only lackluster worldwide box office. If its reported $80 million budget is true, the well-regarded stop-motion film will have to wait until video to truly find an audience.

Unlike Paranorman, The Odd Life of Timothy Green has somehow found a second chance, as a lackluster opening weekend eventually turned around, its estimated $3.7 million adding to its $43 million totals, enough to put it over its reported $40 million production costs. The Campaign, which fell behind its competition during some last minute Labor Day earnings, pulled back ahead to the eighth spot with an estimated $3.5 million, the political comedy gaining critical and commercial success with $79.5 million over a $56 million budget, while pushing The Dark Knight Rises and 2016 Obama’s America to the final two spots. The Dark Knight Rises and 2016 Obama’s America sit in nearly neck-and neck ties with estimates hovering around $3.2 million for both films, and both are successes in their own right; The Dark Knight Rises is now the second-most successful film of the year (behind Marvel’s The Avengers), and 2016 Obama’s America is now the second-most successful political documentary of all-time (behind Michael Moore’s Fahrenheit 9/11).

Weekend Box-Office (September 7th – September 9th)

  1. The Possession…$9.5 million
  2. Lawless…$6 million
  3. The Words…$5 million
  4. The Expendables 2…$4.8 million
  5. The Bourne Legacy…$4 million
  6. ParaNorman…$3.8 million
  7. The Odd Life of Timothy Green…$3.7 million
  8. The Campaign…$3.5 million
  9. The Dark Knight Rises…$3.2 million
  10. 2016 Obama’s America…$3.2 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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