Renegade Weekend Box Office Wrap-Up 08.18.13

Little bit of a surprise atop the weekend box office charts as Lee Daniels’ The Butler takes the number one spot with an opening weekend gross of just over $25M. The comedy We’re the Millers stuck the landing in 2nd place with almost $18M over the weekend and a cume of about $69.5M so far. Elysium took the 3rd weekend spot bringing in $13.6M to bring its two week total to almost $56M…still a bit of a disappointment in terms of domestic gross. And Kick-Ass 2 only managed a little less that $14M in its debut to land in fourth place. Here’s a complete breakdown of the weekend top ten:

1 Lee Daniels’ The Butler – $25,010,000 weekend ($25,010,000 total)
2 We’re the Millers – $17,780,000 weekend ($69,513,000 total)
3 Elysium – $13,600,000 ($55,914,000 total)
4 Kick-Ass 2 – $13,568,000 weekend ($13,568,000 total)
5 Planes – $13,141,000 weekend ($45,090,000 total)
6 Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters – $8,375,000 weekend ($38,904,000 total)
7 Jobs – $6,700,000 weekend ($6,700,000 total)
8 2 Guns – $5,572,000 weekend ($59,221,000 total)
9 The Smurfs 2 – $4,600,000 weekend $56,912,000 total)
10 The Wolverine – $4,425,000 ($120,458,000 total)

On a side note, this Renegade Writer almost went to see Jobs this weekend. I’ve heard good things about Ashton Kutcher’s portrayal of the late head of Apple, and from most accounts it was fairly (albeit not entirely) factually accurate. Instead, I went to see Elysium and had a great time at the movies. I thought Blomkamp’s followup to District 9, while not as sharp nor as “deep” as his first film, was nonetheless a poignant, action-filled, fun romp with very cool ideas about future technologies and societies. You could do a lot worse that give this great sci-fi flick your hard-earned cash for a matinee showing. Plus Damon was good as always and Sharlto Copley was excellent as the mercenary Kruger. And I didn’t find Jodie Foster’s performance (or accent) nearly as jarring as I was led to believe by internet reviews. Give it a whirl if you haven’t already; you won’t be disappointed.

Major released for next week include the horror film You’re Next, which has gotten a lot of positive buzz, and the trifecta of the Blood and Ice Cream/Three Flavours Cornetto trilogy The World’s End. What will you be seeing, Renegade Readers?

Projected weekend box office figures courtesy of Box Office Mojo