THE BUTLER Sweeps Weekend Box Office with $25 Million; KICK-ASS 2 Flails, jOBS Falters, PARANOIA Fails

By: Aug. 18, 2013
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Lee Daniels' THE BUTLER, featuring media mogul Oprah Winfrey, served up $25 million at the box office this weekend - leaving its competition out in the cold.

The film, also featuring Forest Whitaker, Mariah Carey (PRECIOUS), John Cusack, Jane Fonda, Cuba Gooding, Jr., and many more, s inspired by Wil Haygood's Washington Post article about an African-American man who served as a butler (Whitaker) to eight Presidents in the White House for over thirty years. From this unique vantage point, THE BUTLER traces the dramatic changes that swept American society, from the civil rights movement to Vietnam and beyond, and how those changes affected this man's life and family. It took in $9 million on Friday.

WE'RE THE MILLERS took the second spot with $17.7 million, while Sony's ELYSIUM rounded out the top three, taking in an additional $13.6 million

Superhero comedy KICK-ASS 2 opened in fourth with a meager $13.5 million, earning just $5.5 million on Friday. The first KICK-ASS film opened to $19.8 million in 2010.

Open Road's Steve Jobs biopic JOBS, starring Ashton Kutcher, took just $2.4 million on Friday, with a total of $6.7 million for the weekend.

PARANOIA, the final new film opening this weekend, took the 13th spot - despite its reputable cast, including Harrison Ford, Liam Hemsworth, and Gary Oldman. It brough in just $3.6 million.

Rentrak announced the top 12 earners for the weekend (August 16-18). Check them out below:

1 Lee Daniels' The Butler The Weinstein Company $25,010,000 $25,010,000
2 We're The Millers Warner Bros. $17,780,000 $69,513,485
3 Elysium Sony $13,600,000 $55,914,306
4 Kick-Ass 2 Universal $13,568,100 $13,568,100
5 Planes Disney $13,141,000 $45,090,000
6 Percy Jackson: Sea Of Monsters 20th Century Fox $8,375,000 $38,903,658
7 Jobs Open Road $6,700,000 $6,700,000
8 2 Guns Universal $5,572,105 $59,221,450
9 Smurfs 2 Sony $4,600,000 $56,912,189
10 Wolverine, The 20th Century Fox $4,425,000 $120,458,156
11 Conjuring, The Warner Bros. $3,910,000 $127,862,870
12 Despicable Me 2 Universal $3,781,440 $345,987,560


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