Wow, what a hold for Gravity, dropping only 20.7% from its October record opening weekend and bringing in $44.2 million. As BoxOfficeMojo.com tweets, this is a second weekend bigger than Inception ($42.7M), Skyfall ($41.1M) and The Blind Side ($40.1M). What I’m most curious about when I look at this result, however, is to wonder what exactly people are taking away from the film. How many see Gravity as an auteur’s vision? How many see it as a space thriller? How many see it as a popcorn feature? I can only assume it’s a movie many audience members take away a different impression of what they just saw… which I can only assume is the reason for its success outside of the fact it’s a very solid movie.
However, that’s not the end of the success to be found at the box office.
This same time last year, Argo was opening to $19.4 million. A year later and Captain Phillips laughs as the new film from Paul Greengrass and starring Tom Hanks opens to an estimated $26 million, bringing with it an “A” CinemaScore and strong future prospects. To open that well, in the face of a weekend where Gravity is appealing to a large demographic, is a fantastic sign. I only wonder, can films of this nature do so well only at the end of the year? Could you open Gravity and Captain Phillips back-to-back at the beginning of the year and enjoy such a great result or has the audience been trained as to what to expect at certain times of the year?
Speaking of the best time to open a film, it appears the best time to open Machete Kills would either be at the beginning of the year, where expectations are far lower, or not at all as the sequel to the three-year-old grindhouse homage crashed and burned to the tune of only $3.7 million. Ouch! That is horrible! I honestly thought it might by a typo when I first saw the number considering it made $1.4 million on Friday. Nope. Machete Kills barely made $1 million on Sunday alone and that “B-” CinemaScore doesn’t bode well for its future prospects. For those that saw the film, I think it’s safe to say the faux trailer for Machete Kills Again… In Space won’t follow its fellow fake trailers and get a feature treatment.
Finally, in limited release is Carlo Carlei‘s Romeo and Juliet, which earned a dismal 24% rating at RottenTomatoes and didn’t fair much better at the box office, bringing in only $509,000 from 461 theaters. Personally I couldn’t even bring myself to go see it because, well, it’s just “Romeo and Juliet”, I could just watch this story at home via any number of previous incarnations, all of which look more imaginative than this one.
Next weekend is an incredibly busy one as Carrie, Escape Plan and The Fifth Estate find their way into wide release while 12 Years a Slave and All is Lost (two films I gave an “A+”) begin their limited release run before going wide shortly after. If you live in any of the cities where 12 Years a Slave or All is Lost are playing I urge you to check them out, you won’t be sorry.
