Anne Marie Fox/Weinstein Company Forest Whitaker in “Lee Daniels’ The Butler.â€Three new movies quietly - very quietly - arrived in theaters over the weekend as the summer blockbuster season ebbed toward its end and previously released films continued to perform well.
“Lee Daniels’ The Butler†(the Weinstein Company) was the No. 1 film in North America for the second weekend in a row, taking in an estimated $17 million, for a new total of $52.3 million, according to Hollywood.com, which compiles box-office data. “We’re the Millers†(Warner Brothers) motored along in second place, selling about $13.5 million in tickets, for a strong three-week total of $91.7 million.
Among the newcomers, “The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones†(Sony Pictures Entertainment) fared the best, taking in about $9.3 million, for a total of $14.1 million since opening on Wednesday; it was independently financed for about $60 million. Fourth place went to “The World’s End†(Focus Features), with ticket sales of about $8.9 million. Not to be confused with “This Is the End†from June, “The World’s End†concludes Edgar Wright’s trilogy of British comedies and cost between $20 million and $30 million to make. “Planes†(Disney) was fifth, taking in an estimated $8.6 million, for a three-week total of $59.6 million. The new micro-budgeted horror film “You’re Next†(Lionsgate) couldn’t crack the top five, taking in a feeble $7.1 million.
