Weekend Box Office: August 9-11

Courtesy of Box Office Mojo:

1.  Elysium - $30.4 million

2.  We're The Millers - $26.5 million

3.  Planes - $22.5 million

4.  Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters - $14.6 million

5.  2 Guns - $11.1 million

6.  The Smurfs 2 - $9.5 million

7.  The Wolverine - $8 million

8.  The Conjuring - $6.7 million

9.  Despicable Me 2 - $5.7 million

10.  Grown Ups 2 - $3.7 million

Lots of new releases this weekend, but there could only be one winner for first place.  That was Elysium, which opened with a decent-but-not-spectacular $30.5 million.  There may be some audience fatigue from all of the post-apocalyptic dystopian future-themed movies we've already had this year (Oblivion, After Earth, and Pacific Rim), and Elysium's R-rating certainly didn't help get the younger crowds in.  It also opened below director Neil Blomkamp's previous film, District 9, which opened with $37 million in 2009.  That movie wound up earning $115 domestically and was even nominated for Best Picture at the Oscars that year, but Elysium doesn't seem headed on the same trajectory at this point. 

Audiences desperate for a comedy that wasn't Grown Ups 2 were happy with We're The Millers, which has earned $38 million since opening on Wednesday.  That was a great start, and the "A-" Cinemascore means folks seem to like it, so it should keep doing steady business as the summer winds down.

On a similar note, families desperate for a kids' film that wasn't The Smurfs 2 were pleased with Disney's Planes, the animated movie that isn't from Pixar, but sort of looks like Cars with planes.  While its $22.5 million isn't anywhere in the neighborhood of a Pixar film, it did well enough for a film that was originally intended to go straight to video. 

Last, but not least in new releases was Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters, which just didn't garner much attention at all.  Its $14.6 million is about half of what the previous Percy Jackson film opened with, and after also opening last Wednesday, the film has only earned about $23.5 million.

All of these new releases meant that the holdovers were pretty much shellacked this weekend.  Last week's champ, 2 Guns, dropped nearly 60% and earned just $11.1 million.  The Wolverine lost most of its 3D shows and fell all the way to seventh place with $8 million.  The Smurfs 2, which underwhelmed last weekend, stabilized a bit with $9.5 million, but still isn't likely to catch up to the first film, which earned $142 million. 

In limited release, Woody Allen's Blue Jasmine has been doing great business, earning $2.4 million in just 116 theaters.

Next weekend, we have our last superhero film of the summer, Kick-Ass 2, the Steve Jobs biopic Jobs, the action thriller Paranoia, and Lee Daniels' The Butler, which should start getting the awards watch going as we head into fall.