"The Butler" Still Slams the Door on New Releases This Weekend

[JamesG]

Weekend Report: Butler Repeats, Newcomers All Open Below $10 Million
by Ray Subers
August 25, 2013


On a very slow late-August weekend, Lee Daniels' The Butler easily held on to the top spot at the box office. We're the Millers also continued to play well, while all three new nationwide releases opened to less than $10 million.

Overall, the Top 12 earned an estimated $91.6 million. That's up 10 percent from the same weekend last year, when The Expendables 2 led with a weak $13.4 million.







With good reviews and strong word-of-mouth, The Butler fell 31 percent to an estimated $17 million. In comparison, The Help dropped 23 percent at the same point in its run two years ago, while 42 dipped 36 percent in its second weekend in April.

Through 10 days in theaters, The Butler has earned $52.3 million.







Late Summer comedy hit We're the Millers eased 25 percent to an estimated $13.5 million, which allowed the movie to rank second for the third-straight weekend. It's now earned $91.7 million, and it will pass $100 million next weekend.

Unless something drastic happens — like One Direction: This is Us winds up being a massive hit — We're the Millers will be the highest-grossing August 2013 release.







Among the newcomers, The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones had the top debut with $9.3 million. Compared to 2013's other Twilight wannabes, that's above Beautiful Creatures ($7.6 million) but a bit lower than The Host ($10.6 million).

The movie did burn off some demand with a Wednesday debut, though, and through five days it has earned $14.05 million.



The movie's audience was 68 percent female and 46 percent under the age of 21. They gave it a "B+" CinemaScore, which doesn't really give a good indication of what kind of word-of-mouth it will receive.

Regardless, young adult adaptations tend to be very front-loaded, and there's no reason to think that won't be the case here as well.







In fourth place, Edgar Wright's The World's End opened to $8.94 million from 1,549 locations. That's the highest start among Wright's "Cornetto Trilogy" of movies, though Hot Fuzz and Shaun of the Dead each opened in fewer than 1,000 theaters.

The audience was 58 percent male and 54 percent under 30 years old, and they gave it a fine "B+" CinemaScore. Ultimately, The World's End should earn more than Hot Fuzz ($23.6 million), though not by too much.








Planes rounded out the Top Five with $8.6 million, which is off 36 percent from last weekend. To date, the DisneyToon animated movie has earned $59.6 million.

Meanwhile, Elysium fell 48 percent to an estimated $7.1 million for a new total of $69.05 million.







Ahead of the weekend, many box office forecasters—including this one—predicted You're Next was going to be in the running for first place. That proved to be way off base: the low-budget horror movie opened to just $7.05 million this weekend, which was only good for seventh place.

It's also the lowest nationwide opening for a horror movie yet in 2013 behind early year bombs Dark Skies ($8.2 million) and The Last Exorcism Part II ($7.7 million).

The movie received a weak "B-" CinemaScore, which suggests it will have a fairly standard horror movie drop. Ultimately, it could have trouble cracking $20 million by the end of its run.







All three new nationwide releases were niche products that failed to connect with general audiences. In each case, the marketing was preaching to the choir, and the choir wasn't all that big: Mortal Instruments targeted fans of the book series, The World's End went after Edgar Wright aficionados, and You're Next marketed to indie horror buffs.

As a result, none of these movies were able to find mainstream success on opening weekend.



It is important to note, though, that the bar for success isn't the same across the board here. The Mortal Instruments was much more expensive than the other two movies, and the goal was to kick off a series of movies, so this looks to be the biggest loser this weekend.

The World's End and You're Next were more modest releases, and are comparatively in better shape.








Woody Allen's Blue Jasmine expanded nationwide this weekend and earned a decent $4.3 million from 1,283 locations. In comparison, Midnight in Paris never reached that many theaters, but still had two weekends in which it earned more than $4.3 million.

To date, Blue Jasmine has grossed $14.8 million, and should ultimately top Vicky Cristina Barcelona and Match Point ($23.2 million each).

http://www.boxofficemojo.com/news/?id=3718&p=.htm









August 23-25, 2013 Weekend Studio Estimates:


1. Lee Daniels' The Butler $17,018,000 / $52,275,000
2. We're the Millers $13,500,000 / $91,740,000
3. The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones $9,300,000 / $14,051,000
4. The World's End $8,942,000
5. Planes $8,567,000 / $59,591,000
6. Elysium $7,100,000 / $69,054,000
7. You're Next $7,050,000
8. Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters $5,200,000 / $48,346,000
9. Blue Jasmine $4,300,000 / $14,799,000
10. Kick-Ass 2 $4,270,000 / $22,423,000