WINNER OF THE WEEK: Julian Assange. The WikiLeaks mastermind had railed againstThe Fifth Estate, the spy thriller built around him and his underground journalistic endeavors, arguing that the movie was designed to make him look ridiculous. He neednt have worried, however, since no one went to see it. Given the films poor reviews and weak word-of-mouth, it debuted in eighth place with an estimated $1.7 million.
Besides, the adult dramas already in theaters were still strong draws.Gravityheld the top spot for the third straight week, bringing home an estimated $31.0 million. Thats down a slim 28 percent from a week ago. In three weekends, its earned a total of $170.6 million.
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Right behind wasCaptain Phillips. In its second week, Tom Hanks real-life pirate drama finished second, earning an estimated $17.3 million, for a two-week total of $53.3 million. LikeGravity, it saw just a modest decline this week, of 33 percent.
LOSERS OF THE WEEK: Chillers and thrillers. TheCarrieremake debuted in third place with an estimated $17.0 million, just a hair behindCaptain Phillips, but since predictions had been in the low 20s, it has to be considered a disappointment.
Still, it did better thanEscape Plan. The action summit between 80s bruisers Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger debuted at Number Five with an estimated $9.8 million. Thats still better than the openings of the actors films from earlier in the year, SchwarzeneggersThe Last Standand StallonesBullet to the Head, but still nothing to write home about. And then there wasThe Fifth Estate. Clearly, were at a time of year (that is, awards season) when viewers demand more substance behind their chills and thrills.
By the way, rounding out the top 5, in fourth place, wasCloudy With a Chance of Meatballs 2, which earned another estimated $10.1 million, pretty good for a movie in its fourth week of release. Its had the cartoon/family market to itself for most of October; why everyone but Sony is leaving this money on the table is a mystery.
SLAVE WAGES: The biggest independent debut this week was the Christian-audience orientedIm in Love With a Church Girl, starring rapper Ja Rule (remember him?) as a kingpin reformed by the love of a good woman. It earned an estimated $1.0 million this weekend on 457 screens, averaging $2,243 per screen. By contrast, the Oscar-hopeful12 Years a Slaveopened on just 19 screens but earned an estimated $960,000, for a humungous $50,526 per-screen average, the highest of any movie playing this week. The next highest per-screen average, $16,233, belonged toAll Is Lost, the Robert Redford lost-at-sea drama thats also an Oscar hopeful, which debuted on just 6 screens with an estimated total of $97,400. AndKill Your Darlings, a Beat biopic starring Daniel Radcliffe as the young Allen Ginsberg, premiered on 4 screens with an estimated $57,700, for a strong $14,425 average. (By contrast,Gravityaveraged $8,123 per screen.) Those high per-screen averages bode well for those dramas, once they open nationwide over the next few weeks.Church Girl, maybe not so much.