Vin Diesel’s enormous following on Facebook - his personal page has nearly 47 million “likes†- did not translate into enormous ticket sales for “Riddick†(Universal), which took in a soft $18.7 million in North America over the weekend. That was enough for No. 1 on what is historically one of the slowest box-office weekends of the year. But box-office analysts, citing online chatter, had been hoping for more. “Riddick,†which may have suffered from its R rating, was independently financed for about $38 million.
“Lee Daniels’ The Butler†(Weinstein) was second, taking in about $8.9 million, for a stellar four-week total of $91.9 million, according to Hollywood.com, which compiles box-office data. Third place went to the Spanish-language juggernaut “Instructions Not Included†(Lionsgate), which took in about $8.1 million in semi-limited release, for a two-week total of $20.3 million. The comedy “We’re the Millers†(Warner) cruised along in fourth place, selling an estimated $7.9 million tickets, for a five-week total of $123.8 million, while the animated “Planes†(Disney) landed in the fifth spot, taking in $4.3 million, for a five-week total of $79.3 million.
