Box Office, Weekend Box Office | featured news

Jennifer Lawrence's "House at the End of the Street," Jake Gyllenhaal cop drama "End of Watch" and Clint Eastwood's "Trouble With the Curve" all earn in the $12.7 million to $13 million range. Adding intrigue to an otherwise blah weekend, Hollywood was unable to declare a box office winner on Sunday as a trio of films all landed in the same range.

Paul Thomas Anderson's cult drama "The Master" commanded a huge following in its opening weekend, smashing records on just a handful of screens.

"Resident Evil: Retribution" grossed $21.1 million from 3,012 North American locations for a No. 1 opening, while "The Master" earned an impressive $729,745 from just five locations.

"The Possession" occupied the top spot at a nearly comatose box office. The fright flick with Kyra Sedgwick and Jeffrey Dean Morgan playing the parents of a girl possessed by a demon earned $9.5 million in its second outing, the lowest grossing weekend for the box office this year and one of the worst weekends at the box office in a decade. It marked the first time since 2008 that no film managed to crack the $10 million mark.

"The Possession" was the top choice for moviegoers over Labor Day weekend, giving Lionsgate three weekends in a row of box office supremacy. The horror film, produced by Sam Raimi, grossed an estimated $17.7 million from Friday to Sunday,and could be over $21 million by the time Labor Day earnings are tabulated on Tuesday. That would give the Lionsgate feature the second-highest Labor Day opening ever, behind only the original "Halloween." Jason Statham's "The Transporter" held the previous runner-up position, with $20.1 million earned in 2005.

Hollywood may have run out of summer hits, but an anti-Obama documentary is helping to fill the gap. Holdover movies easily topped the weekend box office again, led by Sylvester Stallone's "The Expendables 2" at No. 1 for the second-straight weekend with $13.5 million. The weekend's new wide releases were overshadowed by "2016: Obama's America," which expanded from limited to nationwide release and took in $6.2 million to finish at No. 8.

Like their muscles, the box-office drawing power of Sylvester Stallone and his action-hero cohorts appears to be atrophying with age: “The Expendables 2,” with Mr. Stallone and a muscular ensemble, was the No. 1 movie in North America over the weekend. But its estimated $28.8 million in ticket sales was 21 percent lower than its series predecessor’s opening-weekend total, after accounting for inflation. Millennium Films spent about $90 million to make “The Expendables 2,” which was distributed by Lionsgate.

"The Dark Knight Rises" has finally fallen out of first-place at the weekend box office.
Jeremy Renner's action tale "The Bourne Legacy" took over as the No. 1 movie with a $40.3 million debut, according to studio estimates Sunday. Will Ferrell and Zach Galifianakis' political comedy "The Campaign" opened at No. 2 with $27.4 million.

"The Dark Knight Rises" topped the box office for the third week in a row, making $36.4 million this past weekend. The finale in Christopher Nolan's epic Batman trilogy has now made nearly $355 million domestically alone, according to Sunday estimates from Warner Bros.

“THE DARK KNIGHT RISES” remained atop the box office this weekend — but the Aurora shooting tragedy on the night of the Batman film’s debut apparently continues to affect some of the public willingness to go see it. “The Dark Knight Rises” grossed nearly $64.1-million in its second weekend in North American theaters — a sizable 60-percent drop from its debut weekend, according to estimates reported Sunday by Warner Bros. Final numbers are expected Monday.