The ComingSoon.net Box Office Report has been updated with studio estimates for the weekend. Click here for the full box office estimates of the top 12 films and then check back on Monday for the final figures based on actual box office.
Four more new movies opened on Friday in wide release and as of Sunday estimates, none of them were able to defeat the 17-year-old The Lion King 3D, which brought in $22.1 million in its second weekend in first place. It was down just 27% from its shocking opening weekend take. Having grossed $61.6 million in its re0release, the highest amount for any release this month, the question now is whether Disney will stick to their plan of keeping it as a two-week limited release being that its doing so well and doesn’t need to give up 3D theaters for any new movies.
Brad Pitt’s baseball movie Moneyball (Sony), based on the bestselling non-fiction book by Michael Lewis and co-starring Jonah Hill, Philip Seymour Hoffman and Chris Pratt, took second place with an estimated $20.6 million in 2,993 theaters. Believe it or not, that’s the biggest opening for a baseball-related movie, surpassing Sony’s own baseball comedy The Benchwarmers, starring Rob Schneider and David Spade. With solid reviews and a reported CinemaScore of A, showing that audiences of all genders and ages enjoy the movie, one can expect it will end up doing as well as Kevin Costner’s Field of Dreams ($64.4 mllion) and possibly better than Dennis Quaid’s The Rookie ($75 million)
Warner Bros’ family adventure Dolphin Tale (Warner Bros.), starring Morgan Freeman, Harry Connick Jr. and Ashley Judd, came in a close third with $20.3 million in 3,500 theaters, including 3D screens. It’s the third movie of the year to get a rare CinemaScore of A+ after FilmDistrict’s Soul Surfer and DreamWorks’ The Help.
Taylor Lautner’s action-thriller Abduction (Lionsgate), co-starring Lily Collins, Sigourney Weaver and Alfred Molina, took fourth place with $11.2 million with possibly some of the worst reviews of any movie this year.
Jason Statham, Clive Owen and Robert De Niro were teamed for the action-thriller Killer Elite, but the first release from new distributor Open Road only took in $9.5 million in 2,986 theaters to take fifth place behind the other three new movies.
Steven Soderbergh’s epidemic thriller Contagion (Warner Bros.) dropped to sixth place with $8.6 million, the star-studded film having grossed $57 million after three weeks in theaters.
Ryan Gosling-starrer Drive (FilmDistrict) took seventh place with $5.8 million, down 49% from its opening weekend in third place. It has grossed $21.4 million so far.
DreamWorks’ summer sleeper hit The Help (DreamWorks) brought in another $4.4 million in eight place as it crossed the $150 million mark with $154.4 million after seven weeks in theaters.
Positions 9 and 10 were taken up by Rod Lurie’s remake of Straw Dogs (Screen Gems) and the Sarah Jessica Parker comedy, I Don’t Know How She Does It (Weinstein Co.), with roughly $2 million each with the former having grossed $8.9 million to the latter’s $8 million.
This week’s Top 10 grossed an estimated $106 million, up 15% from the same weekend last year when Oliver Stone’s Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps topped the box office with $19 million.
Opening in limited release, Gerard Butler’s true-life action-drama Machine Gun Preacher (Relativity Media) took in $44 thousand in four theaters in New York and L.A., while the Jamie Foxx-presented doc Thunder Soul (Roadside Attractions) did nearly $56 thousand in 35 theaters. Millennium Entertainment’s Puncture, starring Chris Evans, opened in 4 theaters with roughly $35 thousand.
Click here for the full box office results of the top 12 films.
