There were four new films that came at audiences this past weekend, and in a rare moment in box office history, they finished one through four. Usually when four new films debut on a busy weekend, particularly during the summer season, one or two don’t find an audience and land in the bottom five of the box office top 10.
Not this week, as Elysium won the weekend with $30.4 million, followed in order by new releases We’re the Millers, Planes and Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters.
We’re the Millers, starring Jason Sudeikis and Jennifer Aniston, scored quite well for a summer comedy, landing in second place with $26.6 million. The Disney animated film Planes found itself in third place with $22.5 million -- not bad for a film that was originally scheduled to go straight to DVD as a spin-off of Cars.
Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters had the distinction of being in last place amongst the new films, scoring fourth place with a $14.6 million take. The fifth spot went to last week’s number one film, 2 Guns, which added another $11.1 million to its haul, bringing its total earnings in two weeks of release to $48.5 million.
And the biggest news, frankly, of the summer is the monster success of Despicable Me 2. The Steve Carell-starring film remained in the top 10 in its sixth week of release with total earnings of $338.3 million. That buys a lot of Minions.
Box office top 10:
1. Elysium, $30.4 million
2. We’re the Millers, $26.6 million
3. Planes, $22.5 million
4. Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters, $14.6 million
5. 2 Guns, $11, 1 million
6. The Smurfs 2, $9.5 million
7. The Wolverine, $8 million
8. The Conjuring, $6.7 million
9. Despicable Me 2, $5.7 million
10. Grown Ups 2, $3.7 million