This won't be my longest weekend box office report, as there isn't much to report. The lone new release of the weekend was I, Frankenstein. With terrible buzz, silly trailers, and no pre-release reviews, the $65 million Aaron Eckhart-starring "Frankstein's monster, fighting modern-day supernatural evil" adventure debuted with a completely expected $8.275m. The picture should end its domestic run with a bit over $20m. The film played 60% 3D, 18% ($1.5m) in IMAX, 62% male and 60% over 25 years old. Under normal circumstances, there would be little to say other than to point and laugh but for a moment, and then move on out of mercy. But there may be a little more to the story than that.
Here's the rub: Lionsgate didn't fund the film, Lakeshore Entertainment did. Lionsgate is only on the hook for a token amount of distribution and marketing costs. Like a number of Lionsgate releases over the last year (The Legend of Hercules, with just $17m after three weekends, for example), they aren't left holding the bag even if it flops in America. I, Frankenstein may be an easy mark for jokes, but it is yet another expensive release where it's success in America is all-but-irrelevant. I may (or may not) be writing in a month or two about how The Legend of Hercules and/or I, Frankenstein went comparatively crazy overseas, as what happened with Escape Plan late last year ($25m domestic/$133m worldwide).
Now that's not to say Lionsgate is happy about the domestic results. Money is money, and I'm sure they'd rather make lots of money from these genre entries (in order to help fund that Akeelah and the Bee sequel I've been pining for or perhaps to put up money to shoot Expendables 4 in IMAX) versus merely breaking even or making a small profit. But box office punditry has become significantly more complicated since studios more-or-less stopped funding their own films. The stories of seemingly made-for-overseas fantasy films like this aren't written until they close in Asia or Europe. So for now let us merely say kudos to American audiences for staying away.
The rest of the news is all holdover. Ride Along earned another $21.2 million (-49%), bringing the Ice Cube/Kevin Hart action comedy's cume to $75.4m. At its current pace (dropping by over/under 50% each weekend), the $25m action comedy should end its run with around $120m domestic. So yes, bet on Rise of the Dark Ride Along coming to a theater near you in 2016 or 2017. Lone Survivor added another 150 theaters this weekend and earned $12.6m on its third wide-release Friday, bringing its domestic total to $93.6m. The war drama will cross $100m early next month. Yes, Universal is having a great 2014 thus far. It's the first time a studio has held the top two weekend slots for two weekends in a row since February 1994 when Warner Bros. led with Ace Ventura: Pet Detective and On Deadly Ground.
The Nut Job earned $12.32 million in its second weekend for a $40.27m domestic cume. It is serving as an appetizer for families who have already seen Frozen and can't wait for The Lego Movie in two weekends. Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit dropped by about 50% in its second weekend, earning $8.8m, bringing its total to $30m. So barring a massive overseas surprise (it's at $76.6m worldwide), no franchise for you, Mr. Ryan. Frozen earned another $9.02m over the weekend, bringing its domestic cume to $347.82m. At this rate, it will surely pass Despicable Me 2's $368m domestic total, and $1b worldwide total (Universal's sequel has $965m) is not out of reach. Frozen now has $810m worldwide.
Gravity earned $2.02m this weekend (+8%) broke $260m today, with a domestic cume of $261m. It returns to IMAX theaters this Friday so that will be worth paying attention to. Offhand, I'm sure IMAX would rather have had Gravity in their theaters over the last two weeks versus Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit and I, Frankenstein. August: Osage County earned an estimated $5m for the weekend, bringing its cume to around $26.5m. 12 Years A Slave earned another $2.02m and brought its cume to $43.5m and has earned $35m overseas.
The Secret Life Of Walter Mitty has earned a robust $113m overseas giving the Fox feature $169m worldwide. Dallas Buyers Club earned $2.03m after expanding to 1,110 theaters, bringing its cume to $20.3m. The irony is that despite its okay post-Oscar business, it, like a majority of major Oscar contenders, will be on DVD before the ceremony. Nebraska earned $1.4m for a $11.6m cume. Anchorman 2 earned $850k for a $123m total and Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones now has $32m total. Captain Phillips earned $328k (-37%) and has now earned $106m domestic. Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs 2 has $118m. And Philomena crossed $25m domestic on Friday.
That's it for this weekend. Join us next frame for the Kate Winslet/Josh Brolin Oscar-bait-that-wasn't Labor Day along with the Zac Efron/Michael B. Jordan/Miles Teller romantic comedy/drama That Awkward Moment.
