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Seventh goes to another Paramount film with troubles, and this time it’s Jason Reitman’s new release, Labor Day. Like Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit, Labor Day was to be a Christmas release. Shadow Recruit was to be Paramount’s blockbuster, and Labor Day was to be their chance at Oscar glory. Instead, both went up in flames and were pushed to January. This information was no secret, so it would appear that Paramount did not put a lot of effort into promoting Labor Day, and the result is an opening weekend of only $5.3 million from 2,584 venues. The good news for the studio – and likely part of their release decision - is that Labor Day cost only $18 million to make. I doubt it will earn that much domestically, but after a small amount of overseas business, no one is going to be too hurt with this release. However, it is somewhat disheartening to see the director of Juno, Up in the Air and Thank You for Smoking have another film go up in flames, much like his 2011 Charlize Theron film, Young Adult.

Eighth is American Hustle, which continues to use a string of Oscar nominations to propel itself forward. Hustle earned another $4.3 million and was off 39% compared to last weekend. It is now tied as David O. Russell’s biggest film of his career, as its running total of $132.1 million is exactly the same as Silver Lining Playbook's final total. Tomorrow it can make the claim of being his biggest box office release ever.

Ninth is The Wolf of Wall Street, Paramount’s third film in the top ten this weekend. Wolf earned another $3.6 million and fell 35% compared to last weekend. It has earned $104.1 million domestically, and has cleared $120 million abroad.

Finally in tenth is I, Frankenstein, which stumbles toward the exit. The $65 million Lionsgate disaster turned in a second weekend gross of only $3.5 million after flopping last weekend with a debut of $8.6 million. That means the Aaron Eckhart release drops 59%, and has a gross to date of only $14.5 million.

In other box office news, Gravity had another big weekend, its 18th, as the Alfonso Cuaron release came back into IMAX theaters, helping it to earn $2 million this weekend. That’s a tiny 1% drop from last weekend'stotal, and brings its domestic gross up to $264 million. Gravity has pulled in more than $425 million overseas, and is approaching $700 million worldwide.

Overall, the box office was up slightly from last year’s Super Bowl weekend, but not by much. The top 12 films this weekend earned $75.1 million compared to a year ago when they earned $68.9 million. Next weekend could be interesting. Sony releases The Monuments Men, another film that was pushed from awards season to February and is surrounded by questionable reviews; The Weinstein Company releases Vampire Academy, a Twilight/Harry Potter combo from the director of Mean Girls and the writer of Heathers; and Warner Bros. releases The Lego Movie, a high-energy kids film with character names like Lord Business, Spaceman Benny and Batman.

Top Weekend Box Office for 1/31/14-2/2/14 (Estimates)
Rank	Film	Distributor	Estimated Gross	Weekly Change	Running Total
1	Ride Along	New Line Cinema	$12,313,765	- 42%	$92,976,515
2	Frozen	DISNEY	$9,310,000	+ 2%	$360,013,000
3	That Awkward Moment	Focus Features	$9,010,000	New	$9,010,000
4	The Nut Job	Open Road Films	$7,613,155	- 37%	$50,246,150
5	Lone Survivor	UNIVERSAL	$7,161,300	- 44%	$104,854,856
6	Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit	PARAMOUNT	$5,400,000	- 41%	$38,968,000
7	Labor Day	Walt Disney Pictures	$5,300,000	New	$5,300,000
8	American Hustle	SONY	$4,300,000	- 39%	$133,621,000
9	The Wolf of Wall Street	PARAMOUNT	$3,550,000	- 35%	$104,077,000
10	I, Frankenstein	Lionsgate	$3,520,000	- 59%	$14,490,070
11	August: Osage County	Weinstein Co.	$2,886,000	- 43%	$31,514,146
12	Gravity	WARNER BROS.	$2,005,000	- 1%	$263,972,000
	Also Opening/Notables
	Tim's Vermeer	Sony Classics	$57,873	New	$57,873
	12 O'clock Boys	Oscilloscope	$51,495	New	$51,495
	Gimme Shelter	Roadside Attractions	$300,000	- 56%	$1,175,000
	Gloria	Roadside Attractions	$150,000	+ 166%	$230,000
	Visitors	Cinedigm	$5,007	- 45%	$15,931
	Devil's Due	Fox	$950,000	- 66%	$14,705,900
	Her	WARNER BROS.	$1,210,000	- 47%	$21,258,000
	The Hobbit: the Desolation of Smaug	WARNER BROS.	$1,240,000	- 42%	$254,270,000
	Saving Mr. Banks	DISNEY	$1,082,000	- 48%	$81,055,000
	The Hunger Games: Catching Fire	Lionsgate	$1,000,000	- 35%	$421,468,544
	Philomena	Weinstein Co.	$927,000	- 14%	$27,342,246
	Nebraska	PARAMOUNT	$1,140,000	- 27%	$13,657,000
	Dallas Buyers Club	Focus Features	$1,400,000	- 31%	$22,550,000
	12 Years a Slave	FOX SEARCHLIGHT	$1,400,000	- 31%	$45,808,400
Box office data supplied by Exhibitor Relations

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