Weekend box office: Ender's Game opens strong but Last Vegas struggles
Brad Sturdivant
November 3rd, 2013
Well, after all the unnecessary controversy and threatened boycotts, it turns out people just want to see a good movie and they don’t care about the political views of the original author. So ENDER’S GAME (click the link to read our review) rode the wave of good reviews to the top spot at the weekend box office, beating out last week’s #1 film JACKASS PRESENTS: BAD GRANDPA. Unfortunately, the other new movies of the weekend didn’t fare quite as well. The geriatric Hangover, LAST VEGAS predictably didn’t do great, but to be honest, I’m surprised it did as well as it did. I wasn’t sure who would want to see Robert De Niro, Michael Douglas and Morgan Freeman party in Las Vegas. FREE BIRDS proved that not all animated movies are surefire successes and the general consent is that it may have come off a little too preachy. We also had two limited releases in ABOUT TIME and THE DALLAS BUYER’S CLUB, both of which have gotten some good praise and might actually do well with a wider release.
Next week sees the return of the God of Thunder in THOR: THE DARK WORLD. Although Thor might not be the most popular Marvel character, Marvel is at a point where they can do no wrong. So I fully expect THOR: THE DARK WORLD to take the weekend box office by a landslide. Plus, early reviews from the film have said it’s fun, which is what the people want. We also get the release of the Oscar-chasing THE BOOK THIEF. I know the book has a ton of fans, but I’m curious if they’ll turn up at the theater to see the adaptation. Note: the numbers below will be updated as they become final.
1. Ender’s Game $29.3m
2. Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa $18.2m
3. Last Vegas $15.5m
4. Free Birds $15.1m
5. Gravity $11.9m
6. Captain Phillips $7.7m
7. 12 Years A Slave $4.4m
8. Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs 2 $3.6m
9. The Counselor $3.4m
10. Carrie $3.2m
(Deadline)
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