BOX OFFICE REPORT: Cloud Atlas Disappoints, Argo Weathers the Storm

Four new nationwide releases all underperformed this weekend, which allowed Argo to move up to first place in its third outing.

Overall it wasn’t a particularly great weekend at the box office as Hurricane Sandy kept a lot of moviegoers at bay, however, that doesn’t quite explain the failure of all of the new releases. Ben Affleck’s Argo floated to the top of the pack in its third week, which usually doesn’t happen unless the competition is pretty terrible. Hotel Transylvania also topped all newcomers although Cloud Atlas could still end up slipping past it for the #2 spot. Opening to just $9 million, Cloud Atlas proved to be a tough sell for mainstream audiences, marking the lowest debut ever for a Wachowski film (not counting their directorial debut Bound). Silent Hill: Revelation 3D was in even worse shape with $8 million, although it doesn’t have a $100 million budget to recoup. None of that compares to the failure of Chasing Mavericks, however; the Gerard Butler surfing flick opened at #13 with just $2.2 million. Yikes. It’s also worth noting that Paranormal Activity 4 dropped an astounding 70% from its opening weekend. Heading into November, it’s seems unlikely that any of these movies will redeem themselves in the coming weeks.


Updated Monday Numbers

1. Argo — $12.1M
2. Cloud Atlas — $9.61M
3. Hotel Transylvania — $9.44M
4. Paranormal Activity 4 — $8.51M
5. Silent Hill: Revelation 3D — $8.02M
6. Taken 2 — $7.72M
7. Here Comes the Boom — $5.21M
8. Alex Cross — $5.13M
9. Sinister — $5M
10. Fun Size — $4.1M