Weekend Box-Office: September 14-16, 2012

Last Updated on August 5, 2021

It pays to be Evil!

After tumbleweeds at the multiplexes last weekend, people returned to theaters this week for zombies and CG fish.

At the top of the chart with $21.1 million was RESIDENT EVIL: RETRIBUTION, the fifth installment in the Milla-fronted franchise of videogame adaptations. The 3D R-rated apocalyptic actioner opened a bit lower than the previous three RESIDENT EVIL entries, but RETRIBUTION has also made an additional $50 million from international crowds, thereby already covering its $65M production budget (the last flick RESIDENT EVIL: AFTERLIFE ended up close to $300M total worldwide).

Behind the battle against undead was Pixar’s 3D reissue of FINDING NEMO, in second with $17.5 million. The quest for the little swimmer was behind other Disney 3D re-releases THE LION KING ($30.1M opening) and BEAUTY AND THE BEAST ($17.7M), but ahead of TOY STORY 1 & 2 ($12.4M) — although Buzz and Woody were on just over half the number of screens as Marlin and friends.

After two weeks in first place, the Sam Raimi-produced chiller THE POSSESSION came in third with another $5.8 million, pushing its total to $41.6M. LAWLESS followed with $4.2 million, and PARANORMAN is holding place in fifth as THE EXPENDABLES 2 and last week’s new release THE WORDS slide past the young stop-motion supernatural protagonist.

THE DARK KNIGHT RISES has disappeared into shadow after two straight months in the Top 10, but its total has put it in both the all time domestic chart (#8 with $441M) and worldwide total (#9 with $1.04 billion). The anti-Obama documentary 2016 OBAMA’S AMERICA also slipped from the list this weekend, but has made $30M so far.

Some interesting activity outside the chart: Paul Thomas Anderson’s THE MASTER opened at just five locations but collected an impressive $730k, with a per-screen average of $145k (besting Wes Anderson’s MOONRISE KINGDOM, which started out with $130k per-screen). And the Richard Gere financial thriller ARBITRAGE was only released in 197 theaters, but has already made $2 million with a per-screen higher than anything in the Top 10.

The same can’t be said for the latest Nic Cage action flick STOLEN (from THE EXPENDABLES 2 and CON AIR director Simon West), which got dumped on 141 screens to chump change ($204k). And the “Chuck Norris approved” (yes, really) movie LAST OUNCE OF COURAGE, from the company that released 2016 OBAMA’S AMERICA, came out on 1400 screens but only generated $1.7M. (That one’s notable for starring Marshall Teague, perhaps best known as the Swayze-fighting henchman in ROAD HOUSE — from “I used to f*ck guys like you in prison” to faith-based drama.)

Next weekend offers an intriguing variety, including the Jennifer Lawrence horror movie HOUSE AT THE END OF THE STREET, Karl Urban under the helmet (for the whole movie) as the law in DREDD, Clint Eastwood’s baseball scouting drama TROUBLE WITH THE CURVE, and the Jake Gyllenhaal cop thriller END OF WATCH, plus the expansion of Paul Thomas Anderson’s THE MASTER.

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