OCT 18-20 BOX OFFICE REPORT - AUDIENCES STILL FEELING PULL OF GRAVITY

Gravity and Captain Phillips held off three new major releases at the box office over the weekend, but were among few bright spots on a slow three days. Gravity (1) looks set to rocket way past $200 million pronto, and has already made it into the Top 10 of the year - $30 million was more than enough for first place. Captain Phillips (2) took in $16.4 million, narrowly holding off the best of the three newcomers, Kimberly Pierce's horror remake Carrie (3). Its $16.1 million start wasn't terribly impressive; it was at least better than Escape Plan's (4) mediocre $9.9 million, and far better than The Fifth Estate's (8) $1.7 million. That's the lowest start for a film in over 1,500 theatres in over a year, and managed a mere $946 per-theatre. Much better was 12 Years a Slave (16) in just 19 theatres, with $48,617 per-theatre. A strong opening for a film that ought to play very well in limited release, before expanding next month.

To illustrate just how weak things were, look at what happened to Enough Said (7) - it climbed four places since last weekend despite losing 8.4% of its gross weekend-to-weekend. Of all the disappointments, worst was certainly Machete Kills (12), which tumbled down the chart a whole eight places. Christian film I'm In Love with a Church Girl (15) was fairly soft, as were acclaimed drama All Is Lost (37) with Robert Redford, and beat poet film Kill Your Darlings (45). Much stronger, though, than Bruno Dumont's Camille Claudel 1915 (72).

The Winner: Gravity ($30,027,161)

Highest Opener: Carrie ($16,101,552)

Top Per-Theatre Average: 12 Years a Slave ($48,617)

Now you can go find out some real information at Box Office Mojo.