Weekend Box Office Report: August 9-11, 2013

Last Updated on August 5, 2021

Elysium is a popular destination!

There were plenty of new options at the multiplex this weekend, but the futuristic Matt Damon headliner ELYSIUM took the top spot with an opening of $30.4 million!

That marks the second August weekend that an R-rated action movie bested its competitors, after 2 GUNS took the top last week. While it's a solid opening for Damon as the main star, even higher than THE BOURNE IDENTITY's first weekend ($27.1 million), it's far below the BOURNE sequels SUPREMACY ($52.5 million) and ULTIMATUM ($69.2 million).

Unlike director Neill Blomkamp's first feature DISTRICT 9, response from both crowds and critics were mixed on ELYSIUM ('B' CinemaScore and 66% on Rotten Tomatoes). In August of 2009, the much-buzzed DISTRICT 9 (which cost less than a third of ELYSIUM's $115M budget) opened to $37.3 million and went on to $210 million worldwide. ELYSIUM starts hitting major international markets next week.

Coming in second was another R-rated offering, the new comedy WE'RE THE MILLERS with $26.5 million. The Jason Sudeikis/Jennifer Aniston road trip got a Wednesday head start for a $38 million total, effectively making back its reported production cost already. Audiences also seemed to enjoy the felonious fake family, giving their Mexican adventure an 'A-' CinemaScore.

Disney's animated airborne story PLANES glided into third with $22.5 million. The spinoff of CARS (yet not made by Pixar) was originally intended to be a direct-to-video release but was shifted to theaters, only to get a reception similar to this summer's other CG kids fare that wasn't DESPICABLE ME 2 or MONSTERS UNIVERSITY. At least PLANES came with a $50M cost, which is fairly modest compared to the $100+M budgets of most big computer-animated family flicks these days.

The sequel PERCY JACKSON: SEA OF MONSTERS got swamped in fourth with $14.6 million (and $23.4 million total since its Wednesday opening). That three-day take is less than half of what the first PERCY JACKSON opened to back in February of 2010, but that one ended up with $226 million worldwide (SEA OF MONSTERS gets released to international territories over the next few weeks).

Last week's champ 2 GUNS dropped to fifth with another $11.1 million, almost a 60% drop as it aims at $50 million total (it hasn't hit most overseas territories yet). Below the Wahlberg/Washington actioner, THE SMURFS 2 is looking pretty blue in the US, but the sequel has snatched an additional $110 million internationally.

In seventh place (a plunge from second last week), THE WOLVERINE has sliced through the $100 million mark domestically and $300 million worldwide, and THE CONJURING continues to scare up money. DESPICABLE ME 2 is still a juggernaut after six weeks in theaters, and the total for GROWN UPS 2 carries the implication of another reunion of Sandler buddies.

Outside the chart, TURBO hit the brakes, RED 2 has retired, THE HEAT has fizzled, and PACIFIC RIM stomped into the sunset (with $300M worldwide). Woody Allen's praised comedy BLUE JASMINE hangs right beneath the Top 10 with $2.5 million on just 116 screens, while the pornstar biopic LOVELACE only swallowed $184k on around the same number of screens.

Next weekend offers Ashton Kutcher as Apple co-founder JOBS, the return of colorful costumes and excessive violence in KICK-ASS 2, Forest Whitaker serving many presidents in LEE DANIELS' THE BUTLER, and Harrison Ford, Gary Oldman, Liam Hemsworth and Amber Heard in the tech thriller you quite possibly didn't know about, PARANOIA.

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