Considering that Riddick was the only movie that opened in wide release this weekend, it was obviously going to be the top performer at the box office, unless people had the sudden urge to finally see The Lone Ranger at the local dollar theater. Still, Riddick’s performance was a tad underwhelming, as the Vin Diesel vehicle grossed just $18.6 million, which is respectable but disappointing considering there was basically no competition.
In fact, this weekend was basically so wide open* for Riddick that the next best performing debut was by The Ultimate Life, which I hadn’t even heard of until now, as it grossed $650,000 in very limited release. Meanwhile, Lee Daniels’ The Butler took second place and another step closer to the $100 million mark with $8.9 million to bring its 4-week domestic gross to a very impressive $91 million.
Check out the rest of the box office results after the jump.
Interesting items of note:
– We’re the Millers is a massive hit, as it has grossed $178 million worldwide on its $37 million budget. Can we expect a sequel? No. Unless Jennifer Aniston wants to get naked, in which case JENNIFER ANISTON MEGAN FOX NUDE SCENE LESBIAN NIP SLIP SCISSOR.
– I read some Tweets on Saturday from Justin Bieber fans talking shit to One Direction fans about how Bieber’s Never Say Never grossed $98 million while One Direction: This Is Us has only grossed $49 million worldwide. Um, it’s been out for two weeks. I’m pretty sure that 1D is going to win this one. Suck it, Beliebers. Us Directioners can’t be beat.
– Elysium has been saved from bomb status by a huge foreign gross, as it has almost doubled its massive $115 million budget in total box office earnings. Same goes for Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters.
– The two most surprising duds of August were Kick-Ass 2 and Jobs, as both have barely covered their meager budgets. Both were also mostly panned by critics, but I expected Jobs to at least score plenty of cash from the tech community. Maybe next time they can join forces, and Chloe Moretz can spend two hours beating the piss out of Ashton Kutcher. I would watch that twice.
*Like your mom.
(Box office graphic via Box Office Mojo.)