Audiences didn't want to catch any of the new releases this weekend. They wanted to trust word-of-mouth, resulting in strong holds for many films, and weak starts for the newcomers. Lee Daniels' The Butler dropped just 33% and We're the Millers just 27.4%, thus holding first and second place, respectively (We're the Millers for the third weekend on the trot). The World's End's (4) $8.8 million is in line with expectations based on his previous films Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz. You're Next was a bit of a miss in sixth place. The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones performed in line with the other young adult adaptations this year, Beautiful Creatures and The Host, failing to justify Sony's hopes for a franchise with a $9.3 million debut since Friday, $14.1 million since Wednesday on a $60 million budget.
Family fare did well over the weekend. Planes' (5) 36% drop, Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters' (8) 39.7%, The Smurfs 2's (13) 42% and Despicable Me 2's (14) 33.5% were all impressive. Teen / sci-fi fare did not though: Elysium fell four places to seventh, and Kick-Ass 2 (9) dropped 67.2 after a poor opening last weekend. Among limited openers, none were terrific. The Grandmaster (37) did the best, with a fine $18,945 per-theatre average, but not as well as TWC were likely hoping for their big Oscar contender. Short Term 12 (43) and Drinking Buddies (52) were OK; Therese (51), Savannah (59) and Paradise: Faith (86), disappointingly, were not. Shall we compare two films nearer the top of the box office? The Spectacular Now (20) expanded to a moderate release and scored the highest per-theatre average in between The World's End in fourth and The Grandmaster in 37th. Despite its horrendous start last weekend, Paranoia (17) held on to every one of its 2,459 theatres and scored the lowest per-theatre average in the top 54. Lower than Fast & Furious 6 on its fourteenth weekend. Also, Blue Jasmine (10) reached more theatres than any other Woody Allen film in history - it failed to replicate the excellent performance of Allen's last big hit, Midnight in Paris in wide release, but its $4 million remains strong.
The Winner: Lee Daniels' The Butler ($16,503,812)
Highest Opener: The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones ($9,336,957)
Top Per-Theatre Average: The Grandmaster ($18,945)
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