Filed under: News
Although none of last week's five new releases were able to overtake 'The Expendables' atop the box office, Ice Cube's 'Lottery Ticket' had the highest per-theater average in the Top 10.
Averaging $5,639 per theater, the Cube produced comedy, which stars Bow Wow, Brandon T. Jackson, Ice Cube, Naturi Naughton, Mike Epps, and Terry Crews, came in fourth place with $11.1 million in less than 2,000 theaters (1973).
Prior to its opening, many box office experts indicated that the film would have brought in less than $10 million. Comingsoon.net pointed out that although Cube's previous 'Friday' and 'Barbershop' comedy franchises fared better, they also didn't open in late August, a time when it's difficult for new movies to break out.
Playing in 3270 theaters and losing 52.6% from last week's gross was Sly Stallone's 'Expendables,' which was number one for a second week with $16.5 million. The action film, which also stars Jason Statham, Jet Li, Terry Crews, Dolph Lundgren, Mickey Rourke, and Eric Roberts has taken in $64.8 million to date.
The spoof comedy 'Vampires Suck,' which opened on a Wednesday, came in second place with $12.2 million during the weekend and has a total gross of $18 million. The film was not screened for critics. Julia Roberts' latest film, 'Eat Pray Love,' came in third place with $12 million dollars and has generated $47 million in two weeks of release.
Rounding out the top five was the Will Ferrell-Mark Wahlberg comedy, 'The Other Guys,' with $10.1 million. With supporting roles by Samuel L. Jackson and Dwayne Johnson, the film has brought in $88 million at the box office thus far.
Meanwhile, the overly hyped horror film, 'Piranha 3D,' failed to lure in viewers and crack the top 5 despite its 3D prices. The film only grabbed $10 million from audiences. Boxofficeguru.com noted that despite positive reviews, it did not come close to last year's late-August horror pics 'The Final Destination' (which also had higher 3D ticket prices) and 'Halloween 2' which opened against each other with $27.4M and $16.3M, respectively.
Lastly, the Jennifer Aniston-Jason Bateman romantic drama, 'The Switch,' brought in dismal numbers at the box office, grossing $8.1 million for seventh place. That's less than the $20 million opener she had with Gerard Butler earlier this year in the critically panned film, 'The Bounty Hunter.'