This past weekend was yet another slow one at the box office. The top 12 films in theaters this weekend only grossed a total of $69 million, making the weekend the second-worst weekend of 2012. Although the weekend was slow, two new releases were able to make an impression on audiences. And there was one new release that didn’t even make it to the top 10 but managed to make box office history.
1. ‘Resident Evil: Retribution’
The fifth film in the Resident Evil franchise took first place this weekend, even though it’s $21.1 million debut was much less than the $26.7 million opening weekend of the previous film, Resident Evil: Afterlife. It was such a disappointing weekend for the franchise that Resident Evil: Retribution may not see the $60.1 million lifetime gross that Afterlife had. With the exception of a few cases such as The Dark Knight Rises, this summer hasn’t been a very good one for sequels.
Related: Resident Evil: Retribution Movie Review
2. ‘Finding Nemo 3D’
Swimming into second place this weekend, Finding Nemo‘s 3D re-release earned $16.7 million. Although the film has yet to reach the lifetime domestic grosses of other previous Disney and Pixar re-releases (The Lion King, Beauty and The Beast, and Toy Story/ Toy Story 2 re-releases grossed $94.2 million, $47.6 million, and $30.7 million, respectively), Finding Nemo ranks sixth so far on the list of films re-released in 3D (Titanic and Star Wars: The Phantom Menace fill the other two spots with $57.9 million and $43.5 million).
3. ‘The Possession’
Although it was number one for two weeks, this weekend’s new releases knocked The Possession down to third place. Bringing in $5.8 million this weekend, the film brings its total domestic gross to $41.1 million.
Related: The Possession Movie Review
4. ‘Lawless’
All the star power in Lawless doesn’t seem to be able to save this film. It only added 4.3 million this weekend, making its two week total a disappointing $30.3 million.
5. ‘The Expendables 2′
Rounding out the top five this week is The Expendables 2 with $3.15 million (bringing its total to $80.4 million). During the six weekends that The Expendables 2 has been at the box office, the film has been in the top five every week. Between The Expendables 2 and the blockbuster hit, The Hunger Games, this has turned out to be a successful summer for Lionsgate.
Related: The Expendables 2 Movie Review
Honorable Mention – ‘The Master’
Even though it only made it to 19th place, the highly-anticipated drama, The Master, made box office history this weekend. No, not in the same way that Oogieloves did. The Paul Thomas Anderson directed film debuted with $736,311 this weekend. Why is that so special? The amount The Master grossed this weekend came from a limited release of only five theaters, which translates to an incredible $147,262 average per theater! That breaks the previous record held by Moonrise Kingdom ($130,794 per theater). It will definitely be interesting to see how The Master does when it has its nationwide release on Friday.
Next Week’s Releases
This weekend should see a major jump in box office numbers as several majorly anticipated films will be released: Dredd 3-D, End of Watch, House at the End of the Street, Trouble with the Curve, and The Perks of Being a Wallflower (although in a limited release) all hit theaters on Friday.
Box Office Report: September 14th – September 16th
1. Resident Evil: Retribution – $21.1 million
2. Finding Nemo 3-D – $16.7 million
3. The Possession – $5.8 million
4. Lawless – $4.3 million
5. The Expendables 2 – $3.1 million
6. ParaNorman – $3.1 million
7. The Words – $2.9 million
8. The Bourne Legacy – $2.9 million
9. The Odd Life of Timothy Green – $2.6 million
10. The Campaign – $2.4 million
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