CinemaNerdz

Weekend Box-Office: The Possession Takes Over the Box Office on Labor Day

Seth Paul

The lot of the PG-13 ghost story has been tough of late, with entries such as The Apparition disappearing almost as fast as its namesake, but The Possession, despite critical panning, drew in crowds handily enough, earning an estimated $21.3 million and blowing past its $14 million production costs. This probably comes as a shock to those behind Lawless, whose much better critical reception and Wednesday opening could not push it past The Possession, with an estimated $13 million for the weekend and $15 million over six days…a fairly low start considering the star power involved such as Gary Oldman and Shia LaBeouf. The Expendables 2 remained popular enough to stay in the third-place spot with an estimated $11.2 million, but has still failed to draw a profit in domestic earnings. However, the action sequel has done about as well overseas as domestically, and has made $135.1 million worldwide. While no The Avengers or The Dark Knight Rises, it is by no means a bomb, having a comfortable float against its $100 million price tag. In fourth, The Bourne Legacy is in the same boat, its estimated $9.4 million making it a domestic box-office disappointment, but with a worldwide gross of $157.9 million, it too sits comfortably above its $125 million costs.

But poor ParaNorman…the well-received stop-motion spookfest for the family still trails in receipts, with the estimated $8.9 million it got this weekend poor compensation against its reported $83 million budget…worldwide, the film has only made $57.8 million. The Odd Life of Timothy Green, on the other hand, received a well-needed shot in the arm with an estimated weekend take of $8.5 million, putting it within spitting distance of its $40 million costs, a gap that seemed insurmountable when it opened three weeks ago to a mere $10.8 million and a critical tongue-lashing. The Dark Knight Rises, on the other hand, needed no critical encouragement either way, having now topped $1 billion worldwide and earning a handsome estimated $7.9 million over Labor Day.

The only real surprise this weekend was the last-minute switcharoo of 2016 Obama’s America and The Campaign. Monday’s totals pushed the political documentary ahead of the political comedy by a virtual margin of error, which on Sunday was not the case, with 2016 Obama’s America taking eighth with an estimated $7.1 million and The Campaign an estimated $7 million. (Feel free to insert your own recount joke here.) Finally, Hope Springs was pushed to the bottom of the list, but the modestly successful romantic comedy still came out in good shape, its estimated $6 million bringing the $30 million film to a $53 million domestic total.

Weekend Box Office (August 31st – September 3rd)

  1. The Possession…$21.3 million
  2. Lawless…$13 million
  3. The Expendables 2…$11.2 million
  4. The Bourne Legacy…$9.4 million
  5. ParaNorman…$8.9 million
  6. The Odd Life of Timothy Green…$8.5 million
  7. The Dark Knight Rises…$7.9 million
  8. 2016 Obama’s America…$7.1 million
  9. The Campaign…$7 million
  10. Hope Springs…$6 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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