Box Office: 'Gravity' Keeps Down Strong 'Captain Phillips' Debut; 'Machete Kills' Bombs

1. Gravity- $44.2M/$123.4M
Dropping an astonishingly small 21% is Alfonso Cuaron's Gravity, holding off a powerful newcomer in Captain Phillips and a niche property like Machete Kills. How good of a second weekend was this? It would have been the best openings in the career of Sandra Bullock and George Clooney if this were a week ago, and it would have been the second-highest opening ever for either September or October. At this point, Gravity is performing like a genuine blockbuster, and with the bulk of its total coming from IMAX and 3D, we could be looking at a huge tally when its run is completed. This doesn't hurt its Oscar chances, either.
2. Captain Phillips- $26M
In a clear victory for adult-oriented dramas, Paul Greengrass' Captain Phillips opened to a strong $26M, the biggest debut for a Tom Hanks-led film since Angels & Demons' $46M in 2009. Hanks hasn't been the steady box office rock he was earlier in his career, but this helps push him back to the top of the list, aided by strong buzz and Oscar aspirations.The film should have no problem recouping its relatively modest $55M budget, especially after it opens on the foreign market. For Greengrass, this should help take some of the sting off the poor performance of Green Zone.
3. Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs- $14.2M/$78M
4. Machete Kills- $3.79M
All the tabloid superstars and Hollywood A-listers couldn't save Robert Rodriguez's Mexploitation flick Machete Kills from a terrible opening weekend. It appears the luster is off the blade, so to speak, as the $3.7M is roughly 1/3 of what Machete hauled in just three years. This is one that will probably end up making its $20M budget back on DVD/Blu-Ray, but this obviously doesn't bode well for the third leg of the trilogy, Machete Kills Again...in Space.
5. Runner Runner- $3.72/$14.1M
6. Prisoners- $3.6M/$53.6M
7. Insidious Chapter 2- $2.6M/$78.4M
8. Rush- $2.36M/$22.2M
9. Don Jon- $2.34M/$20.1M
10. Baggage Claim- $2M/$18.2M

The other "major" new release, the Julian Fellowes-scripted adaptation of Romeo & Juliet, opened at only 461 theaters and brought in a weak $509K.