Inside Movies Box Office report: ‘Gravity’ brings in astronomical $44.2 million; ‘Captain Phillips’ a strong No. 2
Alfonso Cuarón’s heady outer-space thriller is proving a phenomenon in its second week, dropping just 21 percent from its opening weekend and rocketing past the $100 million mark on Saturday to a stellar $123.4 cume in just 10 days. It’s the smallest second-week decline for a film that debuted to more than $55 million. Gravity is already the fourth and third highest-grossing film for stars Sandra Bullock and George Clooney, respectively. A whopping 84 percent of the yield comes from 3-D showings and 20 percent from I-MAX, proving moviegoers are still willing to pay the surcharges, at least when promised panoramic zero-gravity shots and inner-helmet closeups of Bullock’s face. Expect small drop-offs in the future as word of mouth continues to spread and awards season draws nearer.
Captain Phillips, another awards hopeful, earned a strong $26 million opening weekend and scored the No. 2 spot. The biggest hit for Tom Hanks since 2009′s Angels & Demons, the PG-13 true story of a U.S. cargo ship captain who protected his crew from Somali pirates in 2009 will play well to families and older audiences through the holidays.
With little family-movie competition, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 has matched its budget of $78 million after its 17th day. Lagging far behind is Robert Rodriguez’s Machete Kills, which earned a brutal $3.79 million. The sequel to 2010′s Machete is the director’s lowest-grossing wide opening. Runner Runner, the online poker drama starring Justin Timberlake and Ben Affleck, seems to be folding early — after a $7.7 million opening weekend, Fox’s $30 million bad bet dropped to $3.73 million.
1. Gravity – $44.2 million
2. Captain Phillips – $26 million
3. Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 – $14.2 million
4. Machete Kills – $3.79 million
5. Runner Runner – $3.73 million