Director Neill Blomkamp appears to have delivered Sony Pictures a top place finisher at the North American box office this weekend as Elysium leads a tight pack through Friday and should hold its lead through Sunday. The comedy We’re The Millers as well as Pixar’s Planes are in a neck-and-neck race for second place.
With $11.2 million on Friday, $1.6 million of which came from Thursday midnight showings, Elysium is currently pacing to wrap its opening weekend somewhere in the range of $30 million. That’s typically a decent August opening weekend but falls short of the $37.4 million Blomkamp’s District 9 earned its opening weekend with Sharlto Copley as the lead. In Elysium, Copley plays second fiddle to Matt Damon’s lead character.
Warner’s We’re The Millers starring Jason Sudeikis, Jennifer Aniston, Ed Helms and Emma Roberts built upon a mid-week bow and added $8.5 million on Friday to its growing pot of $19.9 million. The R-rated comedy will likely slide into third by Sunday given Pixar’s Planes will attract more family matinee viewers on Saturday and Sunday.
Speaking of Planes, the once direct-to-video Cars spinoff took flight on Friday with $8.1 million. It could reach as high as $25 million through Sunday and prove Disney was correct to detour into theaters before its Blu-ray and DVD debut.
Landing in fourth place was another mid-week release, Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters. The Fox sequel didn’t make much of a splash on Friday with $4.9 million and has now earned $13.7 million to date, a long ways away from its estimated $90 million budget.
Last week’s champ 2 Guns succumbed to all the new competition and ended up in fifth place with $3.4 million. It has earned $40.8 million to date.
We will update the box office estimates tomorrow to see if Elysium was able to climb above $30 million, and whether We’re The Millers gave Planes a run for its money in the dash to second place.
