Friday Box Office Analysis
by Tim Briody
October 5, 2013
BoxOfficeProphets.com
One of the best reviewed films of the year, Gravity was rewarded with an outstanding $17.5 million on Friday. While not the best single day of box office in October (both Paranormal Activity 3 and Jackass 3D beat it), it's in the running for the October opening weekend record, held by Paranormal Activity 3 with $52.5 million. Gravity combined incredible effects, horror movie-style vibe (seriously, try and watch any scene from it without wanting to hold your breath), an A-list cast and ridiculously positive word-of-mouth (see Patton Oswalt's NSFW Twitter review) to set everything up properly for the largest opening in months. A weekend multiplier of 3.0 ties Paranormal Activity for the October record. Gravity might just get there, especially thanks to IMAX showings, so I'll give it a weekend of $54 million.
Runner Runner
The poker-based movie starring [bp:105_]Ben Affleck[/bp] and Justin Timberlake earned only $2.7 million on Friday. Less about poker (despite the title being a poker term) and more crime thriller, the leads could not make one of the worst reviewed films of the year perform better. Look for a weekend of $7.5 million and a quick trip to Instant Watch.
Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs 2
The animated sequel drops 49% to $4.7 million, which is fairly predictable for the genre. Still the number one kids/family option by a mile, Meatballs 2 will have a much better Saturday and Sunday, improving its second weekend to $17.3 million.