What movie took the top spot at the weekend box office?
This Labor Day weekend's box office battle pitted Oprah Winfrey against One Direction. This is something I never thought I'd write anywhere, ever, but it happened: Lee Daniels' The Butler and One Direction: This Is Us were neck and neck for several days over the four-day holiday, but ultimately, Oprah was the victor.
Movie goers clearly love The Butler, because the film was number one at the box office for the third weekend in a row (that's a first for this year, by the way). The film, starring Oprah Winfrey and Forest Whitaker, took in another $20 million from Friday to Monday, bringing its total domestically to more than $79 million. That's impressive, and if this keeps up, it bodes well for the film come awards season.
One Direction might be the current reigning boy band sensation, but even Harry Styles and company couldn't stop The Butler. The Morgan Spurlock-directed This is Us 3D One Direction biopic did manage to snag second place at the holiday box office, taking in an estimated $18 million. Actually, if you factor in just three days (minus Labor Day of course), the 1D movie actually did beat The Butler, so either way it was win-win for both of these films.
How did the rest of the pack do? The raunchy comedy We're the Millers, starring Jason Sudeikis and Jennifer Aniston, continued it's impressive run at the box office, taking third place with $15.9 million. I think maybe it's time I braved the theaters again to see this one. Is it *that* funny or are people just desperate for something non-drama/action/horror-related?
Disney's Planes managed a fourth place finish, with $10.7 million, but it was the Spanish-language family comedy Instructions Not Included that got everyone's attention: The film took in a whopping $10 million in a limited run (less than 350 theaters), and still managed to finish in fifth place at the overall domestic box office. That's a staggering figure, and Instructions Not Included is now the biggest Spanish-language film opening in North America.
The other major movie debut this past weekend, the action-thriller Getaway, starring Ethan Hawke and Selena Gomez, bombed at the box office. Getaway, which got dismal reviews (some of the worst of the year so far), barely managed to take 10th place overall, taking in just $5.5 million. Ouch.
Did you hit the movie theater over the Labor Day holiday? If so, what did you see? I'd love to hear about it in the comments.
Photo courtesy of Movie Fanatic