By JASON POWERS Scene Writer on Aug 19, 2013, at 11:06 AM Updated on 8/19 at 11:06 AM
"Lee Daniels' The Butler" (Weinstein Company)
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"The Butler" was ushered into the #1 spot over the weekend, but the big story seems to be the utter failings of other high profile openings.
That "The Butler" would do relatively well, was never really in question thanks to Oprah's massive media push and the fact that the summer has been light on adult dramatic fare. By that, I mean that certain people looked at the listings this week, and jumped at the chance to see something that didn't have guns, ghosts, superheroes, or animation. Opening with $25 million, the film about a black White House butler in the civil rights era should see a similar audience and similar numbers to 2011's "The Help."
"We're the Millers" took the second spot, with "Elysium" in third, which is remarkable only because they both came in ahead of "Kick-Ass 2." The sequel to the 2010 underground hit about urban superheroes was looking to funnel that cult status into a genuine audience for the follow-up, but it doesn't look like that's going to happen. Banking only $13.5 million on its opening weekend, it comes in just a tad better than last month's mega-bomb "R.I.P.D.," and its $12 million opener.
Still, that's a lot better than Ashton Kutcher "Jobs," which came in at #7 behind Disney's "Planes," and "Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters." The Steve Jobs biopic posted a dismal $6.7 million, I guess because people are waiting for it to be available to watch on their iphones.
You know who would kill for a $6 million #7 spot? Gary Oldman and Harrison Ford, that's who. "Paranoia," a corporate greed thriller kind of a thing, had a decent cast, but a lousy script and poor direction landed the film at #13 with an insanely low $3.5 million, making it the lowest earning wide release movie of the summer, and Harrison Ford's lowest opening ever. Episode VII must be looking a little better to old Harrison these days.
The top Ten:1
"Lee Daniels' The Bulter" $25,010,000
2
"We're the Millers" $17,780,000
3
"Elysium" $13,600,000
4
"Kick-Ass 2" $13,568,000
5
"Planes" $13,141,000
6
"Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters" $8,375,000
7
"Jobs" $6,700,000
8
"2 Guns" $5,572,000
9
"The Smurfs 2" $4,600,000
10
"The Wolverine" $4,425,000
All numbers courtesy of
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