Battle at the Box Office 8/19

Because it was decreed by the deity known as “Oprah”, Lee Daniels’ The Butler took the top spot at the box office this weekend, taking in $25 million, on par with The Help which had a similar theme and came out around the same time in 2011.  It’s a huge hit with older audiences, so it should stick around for a while.  We’re the Millers stayed in second place with another $17.8 million while Elysium dropped 50% and went down to third with $13.6 million.  Kick Ass 2 came in a mediocre fourth place (although it could actually be third if the actual numbers change) and was over $6 million off from the debut of the first movie.  Planes rounded out the top 5 with $13.1 million.  Jobs debuted to a pretty sad seventh place and $6.7 million, but the movie only cost $12 million to make, so it could at least break even.  It’s nowhere near the over $22 million opening for The Social Network.  The lowest opening of the Summer award was taken by Paranoia over the weekend, not even getting into the top 10, debuting in 13th place with only $3.5 million off a cost of $35 million for the movie.