Box Office Actuals: Leaderboard Updated as 'Gravity' is #1 Again & 'Fifth Estate' is One of 2013's Biggest Bombs

Box Office Actuals: Leaderboard Updated as ‘Gravity’ is #1 Again & ‘Fifth Estate’ is One of 2013’s Biggest Bombs

October 21, 2013

By Brad Brevet

So Gravity was #1 for a third week in a row, we all know that, and while it made $1 million less than estimated, it’s still at $169.5 million domestically on its way to becoming one of the highest grossing films of the year.

As for the week’s new releases we’ll begin with Carrie, which still finished #3 behind Captain Phillips as both films dropped below estimates. Carrie ended up with $16.1 million for the weekend, about $9 million below tracking. With the lackluster response to Carrie and Evil Dead before it, maybe this horror remake idea isn’t all that great after all. Then again, I doubt that will stop more of them from happening.

Right behind Carrie was the new Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone feature Escape Plan, which did modest business at $9.8 million for the weekend. It’s not like we really could have expected much more.

Then, after Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 coming in at #5 with $9.6 million, the weekend’s box office wheels fell off as nothing else in theaters made more than $2 million.

Perhaps the biggest surprise of the year is the response to The Fifth Estate. No, it isn’t a good movie, but I can’t say I expected it to become the biggest bomb of 2013. The film, which opened at $1.6 million can from this point forward be known as owning the record for the worst opening for a film premiering in at least 1,500 theaters this year. Opening in 1,769 theaters the film averaged only $946 per. Ouch!

As far as our box office challenge goes, 12 Years a Slave did much better on a per theater basis bringing in $923,715 from only 19 locations ($48,617 per). It will expand into more theaters next weekend and go nationwide on November 1. You can learn more about the release schedule here.

I’ve listed the current top ten for both leaderboards directly below, but you can see the full list of rankings right here and for the complete box office top ten and points awarded for this weekend specifically click here.