Weekend Wrap-Up: Insidious Scores September Record
September 17, 2013
Both new releases topped expectations and even though a couple of the holdovers struggled a little bit, the overall box office was still fantastic. Insidious Chapter 2 broke a September record that has been held for more than a decade on its way to a $40 million opening. The Family was well back in second place, but still on the high end of expectations. Overall, the box office pulled in $103 million. This was 21% more than last week and 19% more than the same weekend last year. In fact, Insidious Chapter 2 made more than Resident Evil: Retribution and Finding Nemo 3D made combined last year. Year-to-date, 2013 has pulled in $7.66 billion compared to $7.55 billion at this point in 2012.
Insidious Chapter 2 is rumored to have cost $5 million. The film earned that back on opening day. In fact, it's opening day haul of $20.23 million was a record for a September release. It was the biggest opening day in September, breaking the record previously held by Sweet Home Alabama, which held the record for more than a decade. Unfortunately, the reviews, the genre, and Sequelitis all took their toll and the film couldn't maintain that start very long. It still pulled in $40.27 million during its opening weekend becoming just the second film in September to earn $40 million over a weekend. Given the three factors I previously mentioned, reviews, genre, and Sequelitis, it is likely it won't get to $100 million. On the other hand, unless the studio spent a lot on P&A, it will break even by this time next week.
The Family earned second place with $14.03 million, which was on the high end of expectations, but not a smash hit. Additionally, its reviews are weak currently at just 33% positive, so its legs will not be very good. It only cost $30 million to make, so it will easily match that here. If it can top its domestic numbers internationally, it will break even, sooner rather than later.
Riddick fell faster than anticipated down 64% to just $6.84 million over the weekend. On the positive side, its running tally reached $31.11 million after just ten days of release compared to its production budget of $38 million. It will top that shortly, so if it can perform well internationally, it could still break even early in its home market run.
Lee Daniels' The Butler earned fourth place with $5.54 million. This lifted its running tally past the century mark, barely. It currently has $100.004 million, making it the 23rd film released in 2013 to get to that milestone. It wasn't the only film to get there this weekend.
We're the Millers rounded out the top five with $5.40 million over the weekend for a total of $131.59 million after 40 days of release. It has made enough to cover its entire production and P&A budget, assuming they didn't spend significantly more advertising the film than it cost to make. This is something only one in ten films manages to do.
Instructions Not Included fell to sixth place with $4.86 million in 933 theaters for a per theater average of $5,212. If it had opened with that much, it would have been considered a success. It is currently at $27.19 million after three weeks of release, putting it about $10 million behind Pan's Labyrinth for the highest grossing Spanish-language film. I don't think it will get there, but it might.
The other major story of the weekend was This is the End, which also topped $100 million. It got there just before Lee Daniels' The Butler did.
Filed under: Weekend Estimates, We’re the Millers, Riddick, Lee Daniels' The Butler, This is the End, The Family, Insidious Chapter 2, No se Aceptan Devoluciones