Warner’s critically-acclaimed space thriller Gravity starring Sandra Bullock and George Clooney blasted off and shot way into orbit at the North American box office this past weekend. The Alfonso Cuaron-directed feature set a record for best October opening in any genre of film as well as positioning itself as not only the runaway hit of the fall, but as a front-runner for the upcoming awards season that is now getting underway. The movie easily displaced last weekend’s champ, the animated sequel Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2, which held up quite well in second place. Both films left this week’s other wide release Runner Runner far behind and in the dust.
The road for Gravity to reach movie screens was a long one to say the least. Originally set to be produced and released by Universal Pictures several years ago, the project languished in development hell for several years as filmmaker Alfonso Cuaron (Children of Men) waited for film technology to catch up with what he had in mind visually for the movie (that happened in 2009 when Avatar arrived on the scene). Universal eventually got cold feet about the film’s budget and put the film in turnaround. In 2010, the project was picked up by Warner Brothers with Angelina Jolie and Robert Downey Jr. attached to star. Both eventually dropped out due to scheduling conflicts and were replaced by Sandra Bullock and George Clooney. Filming finally commenced in May of 2011.
After a lengthy production, weeks of heavy marketing and raves from various film festivals, Gravity finally arrived on 3,575 screens this past weekend and delivered above and beyond the film’s advanced buzz. Not only were critical notices glowing (98% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes), audiences seem to be just as jazzed about it as well. Gravity hit the ground running on Friday with $17.5 million and proceeded to surge 31.5% on Saturday to $23 million (Sunday’s estimate is $15 million). The end result for Gravity’s first three days is a fantastic $55.5 million with an incredible 80% of that coming from higher-priced 3D and IMAX 3D screens.
The Saturday surge is a significant one as the film has been marketed largely toward adults over 25, who usually take their time to head to theaters to see films they hear good things about. In comparison, the recent box office hit Lee Daniels’ The Butler jumped 12% from Friday to Saturday in its first weekend of release. If you combine the higher prices with viewer feedback, Gravity should have one hell of a run ahead of it this fall and right into awards season the same way two other Warner releases did when they opened on the first weekend of October: Argo and The Departed. The movie added $27.4 million from a handful of foreign markets that opened the film day-and-date with North America.
Another film that seems to be settling in for a long run this fall is Sony’s animated hit Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2. The 3D comedy hit eased a moderate 37% to earn an estimated $21.5 million on 4,001 screens. After ten days, the sequel has brought in a great $60.5 million and is currently running about even with the 2009 original (albeit with higher ticket prices). Depending on successive drops over the next few weeks, Cloudy 2 could come close to matching the $124 million earned by the previous movie back in 2009.
Last year at this time, Ben Affleck’s Argo opened at the number one spot with $19.5 million en route to a big $232 million global haul and a Best Picture Oscar. While he didn’t direct Runner Runner (Affleck has a supporting role), chances are pretty good that the gambling drama from Fox will see neither milestone. The Justin Timberlake feature not only got blindsided by the arrival of Gravity, it was also crucified by the critics (8% Rotten Tomatoes rating) and those who bothered to show up (a ‘C’ CinemaScore rating). With those three factors working against it, the best Runner Runner could do was an estimated $7.6 million brought in from 3,026 screens. People may take a gamble on the film when it arrives on home video in a few months; maybe.
Warner’s other early fall Oscar hopeful Prisoners eased 47% to earn an estimated $5.7 million from 3,236 theaters to land in fourth place. After three weeks, the Hugh Jackman drama has earned a solid $47.8 million and should be able to pass the $60 million mark by the end of its domestic run if not a bit higher should awards season pay off for the film.
The same can’t be said for Universal’s racing drama Rush, which is experiencing engine trouble at the North American multiplexes. Despite solid reviews from critics, the Ron Howard feature has not caught on with American audiences due to unfamiliarity with the movie’s subject matter. Rush fell a steep 56% from its first wide weekend of release to earn $4.4 million from 2,308 theaters. Its overall total now stands at $18 million and should call it a day with a small $25-30 million. The news from overseas markets has been better so far as the $38 million production has pulled in $30 million thus far. Foreign markets should help the film become a profitable one for Universal, who are probably kicking themselves pretty hard right about now after seeing what Gravity just pulled in.
After hitting box office gold last month with its Spanish-language release Instructions Not Included, Lionsgate and Pantelion Film Studios launched another bilingual comedy into limited release this weekend with solid results. Pulling Strings arrived in only 387 theaters but managed to land in ninth place with a $2.5 million debut and a per-screen average of $6,460, the second highest in the top ten. Should Pulling Strings follow the same financial path of Instructions, more theaters will be added over the next few weeks.
The remainder of the top ten is as follows:
6. Don Jon (Relativity) $4.16 million (-52%); $16 million
7. Baggage Claim (Fox Searchlight) $4.12 million (-54%); $15.1 million
8. Insidious Chapter 2 (FilmDistrict) $3.8 million (-41%); $74.7 million
10. Enough Said (Fox Searchlight) $2.1 million (+2.4%); $5.3 million
Next weekend, Captain Phillips and Machete Kills both debut in wide release to take on Gravity for the number one spot. Phillips should do big numbers but it will have to settle for second place behind Warner’s space blockbuster.
– Shawn Fitzgerald
