Box Office: 'The Butler' scores surprise victory over One Direction
Credit: TriStar Pictures
Going into the Labor Day Weekend, many in the entertainment industry were predicting a victory at the box office for One Direction and director Morgan Spurlock, whose One Direction: This Is Us documentary (reviewed by our very own Joe Tranchina!) premiered near the start of the holiday weekend. However, despite a tight race all weekend long, the UK boy band just narrowly missed out on the top spot, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
In a surprise upset, the #1 honors go to the box office champ of the past two weeks, Lee Daniels' The Butler. The film took in $20 million over the holiday weekend, becoming the first film in North America this year to top the box office three weeks running.
On Sunday, Sony/TriStar had predicted that One Direction would win the four-day weekend with $21.5 million gross. These predictions were based on the documentary's promising numbers over the initial three-day stretch, in which it frequently came ahead of The Butler. However, the Lee Daniels helmed film saw a last minute surge that put it over the top. Yet it isn't exactly a loss for One Direction, as the film is still a massive success, considering its modest $10 million budget.
The documentary, opening in more than 2,500 theaters domestically and receiving an A CinemaScore, opened to $14.5 million overseas, with a significant portion of that business coming from the boy band's native U.K.
Yet the photo finish at the top of the box office isn't the only surprise this weekend. Lionsgate and Pantelion's Spanish-language comedy Instructions Not Included came out of nowhere to break into the top 5. Boosted by an exceedingly rare A+ CinemaScore, the film grossed $10 million to place at #5, despite opening in only 347 theaters. The film marks the biggest opening ever for a Spanish-language film in North America.
But it's not all good news and prosperity this weekend: Getaway, starring Ethan Hawke and Selena Gomez, was a complete bomb. The action thriller took in a four-day total of $5.5 million, which barely earned it the #10 spot. The plot follows a man (Hawke) and his young passenger (Gomez) as they are "forced to drive around under the instructions of a person (Jon Voight) who is holding the man's wife hostage." The movie, one of the worst reviewed films of the year (if not of all time), tested poorly with moviegoers, who rated the film a C+.
Meanwhile, political thriller Closed Circuit didn't do much better. The film, starring Eric Bana, only grossed about $3.5 million in its debut, which placed it at No. 15. Of course, given the glut of Labor Day competition, it was unrealistic to expect that every new arrival would make a splash at the box office. But this underwhelming opening has to be a disappointment for Focus Features and Working Title Films.
The difficulty that some new films are facing in breaking into the top 5 is a direct result of the staying power exhibited by some of August's early offerings: R-rated comedy We're the Millers has been going steady, surpassing the $100 million mark domestically, placing at #3 with a four-day gross of $15.9 million. Meanwhile, the DisneyToon Studios' film Planes grossed $10.7 million to place at #4. The 3D animated film now has a domestic total of $73.8 million.
The full top 10 below via Deadline:
1. Lee Daniels’ The Butler ($20.0 million)
2. One Direction: This Is Us 3D ($18.0 million)
3. We’re The Millers ($16.3 million)
4. Planes 3D ($10.5 million)
5. Instructions Not Included ($10.3 million)
6. Elysium ($8.2 million)
7. The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones ($6.8M)
8. The World’s End ($6.5 million)
9. Percy Jackson: Sea Of Monsters 3D ($5.9 million)
10. Getaway ($5.5 million)