Weekend Box Office: September 21-23

Courtesy of Box Office Mojo:

1.  End of Watch - $13.1 million

2.  House at the End of the Street - $12.2 million

3.  Trouble With the Curve - $12.1 million

4.  Finding Nemo 3D - $9.6 million

5.  Resident Evil: Retribution - $6.7 million

6.  Dredd - $6.2 million

7.  The Master - $4.3 million

8.  The Possession - $2.6 million

9.  ParaNorman - $2.3 million

10.  Lawless - $2.2 million

Finally!  And without much to really report.  This was one of those weekends where a bunch of new movies came out...but no one really wanted to see any of them.  When your number one movie only earns $13.1 million, that's a slow weekend.  But that first place prize goes to End of Watch, which at least showed somewhat of a pulse this weekend. 

Just behind that was House at the End of the Street, starring Jennifer Lawrence, which was kept from the critics until last minute, and apparently for good reason.  That opened with $12.2 million, which isn't great, and will likely be forgotten by the time the first photo from Catching Fire (which started filming earlier this month) surfaces sometime soon.

Clint Eastwood's Trouble With the Curve struggled to find an audience as well, earning only $12.1 million.  And no, the lackluster performance had nothing to do with Clint's performance with a chair at last month's Republican National Convention.  He's still Clint Eastwood, for god's sake.  The movie itself just never generated enough interest to be much of a draw, and with a pretty exciting pennant race playing out in the actual MLB, baseball fans were most likely home watching that.

Finding Nemo 3D isn't really gaining much traction in the 3D re-release genre, having only earned $30.2 million since opening last weekend.  Last week's champ, Resident Evil: Retribution, crashed and burned in its second weekend, dropping nearly 70% to earn just $6.7 million.  And that's with 3D and IMAX.  Ouch.

The news was even worse for Dredd, which opened with just a barely noticible $6.2 million.  Again, ouch.

There was some good news this weekend, as The Master expanded to 788 screens and earned $4.3 million.  Not sure how it will do as it expands, as the film's non-narrative storytelling will likely impact word-of-mouth going forward.

Next weekend, theaters will get their Halloween-thing going on, as the animated comedy Hotel Transylvania opens in theaters.  Joining that will be the Bruce Willis/Joseph Gordon-Levitt sci-fi thriller Looper, the school drama Won't Back Down, and the teen musical-ish comedy Pitch Perfect.