Box Office: Thor: The Dark World Wins Weekend With $38.4 Million

Box Office, Columns, News, Top Story

Thor-and-Loki

Let’s be honest, Thor is really Loki’s sidekick in The Dark World.

Thanks to those who sent me get-well cards because I missed last week’s box office report. What’s that – I didn’t get any get-well cards? Well, shoot. I guess nobody cares about my musings at what occurred at the cineplex last weekend. Actually, with the release of Thor: The Dark World, I figured it was going to be a yawner (read: no competition).

This weekend was a different story with the release of The Best Man Holiday. A sequel to the 1999 release The Best Man, the 14-year movie reunion of Morris Chestnut, Taye Diggs, Terrence Howard, Nia Long and Regina Hall, Malcolm D. Lee’s film proved to be a formidable for one of the Avengers. While Thor: The Dark World was the victor in the end, holding onto the top spot with $38.4 million, The Best Man Holiday had an impressive opening of $30.6 million (with an incredible PTA of $15,115). For comparison, The Best Man grossed $34 million during its 14-weekend run in theaters back before the start of the new millennium.

As for Thor: The Dark World, domestically the movie is near $150 million. Internationally, it has already surpassed the earnings of the first Thor (which made $449.3 million) with $479.8 million. It will be a sustainable hit for the weeks to come well into the Thanksgiving holidays, but with the arrival of The Hunger Game: Catching Fire you can say goodbye to its #1 seeding. Up next for Marvel is Captain America: The Winter Soldier in April 2014 followed by Guardians of the Galaxy in August 2014 (James Gunn directing a Marvel Universe movie? I’m so there.)

Jumping a spot to third was Last Vegas with $8.9 million. Closing in on $50 million domestic it, like The Best Man Holiday, is tapping into audiences that aren’t the normal target groups for Hollywood (translation: 18-35, Caucasian, predominately male). In the case of Last Vegas it’s geared for the AARP crowd while The Best Man Holiday is mostly for African Americans, predominately female. As such, in the case of Holiday it’s one of the biggest opening Christmas-timed movies in quite a while. (Actually, it’s the fourth-best opening of a Christmas movie ever – wedged in between 2009’s A Christmas Carol and Vince Vaughn’s Four Christmases.)

As the only Thanksgiving-themed release in the top 10, Free Birds dropped to fourth with $8.3 million. Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa is about $10 million away from the nine-figure mark after a $7.7 million weekend. Gravity continues to a film that keeps floating around the top 10 as it passes Fast & Furious 6 to become the sixth-highest grossing film of 2013. It looks like people are viewing Ender’s Game as I did upon it’s release. Nostalgia merit only takes a film property so far. A $6.2 million weekend to make it across $50 million isn’t doing studio LionsGate any favors as it had a production budget of $110 million and a marketing campaign that was probably 30-40% of that. Oscar hopefuls, 12 Years a Slave and Captain Phillips occupy spots #8 and #9 on the list, while time-traveling romance About Time rounds out the top 10 with $4.5 million.


Weekend Box Office Results: November 15-17, 2013

1. Thor: The Dark World – (Buena Vista) $38,454,000 ($147 MILLION)
2. The Best Man Holiday – (Universal) $30,593,000
3. Last Vegas – (CBS Films) $8,850,000 ($47 MILLION)
4. Free Birds – (Relativity Media) $8,300,000 ($42.2 MILLION)
5. Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa – (Paramount) $7,670,000 ($90.2 MILLION)
6. Gravity – (Warner Bros.) $6,280,000 ($240.5 MILLION)
7. Ender’s Game – (LionsGate/Summit Entertainment) $6,200,000 ($53.7 MILLION)
8. 12 Years a Slave – (Fox Searchlight) $4,700,000 ($25 MILLION)
9. Captain Phillips – (Sony Pictures) $4,500,000 ($97.6 MILLION)
10. About Time – (Universal) $3,462,000 ($11.5 MILLION)

Travis Leamons is one of the Inside Pulse Originals and currently holds the position of Managing Editor at Inside Pulse Movies. He's told that the position is his until he's dead or if "The Boss" can find somebody better. I expect the best and I give the best. Here's the beer. Here's the entertainment. Now have fun. That's an order!