Last week's winner Taken 2 repeated as box office champion with an estimated $22.5 million, edging out the Ben Affleck-directed Argo, which debuted in the number two spot with an estimated $20.1 million.  With the $3 million horror film Sinister exceeding expectations with a $18.2 million debut, the total estimated box office this weekend was up 47.1% from the same frame last year when Reel Steel repeated as box office champ.

 

Taken 2, which cost $45 million to produce, has now earned $86.8 million domestically (and $218.8 million worldwide).  Liam Neeson, who was paid $10 million for Taken 2, was reportedly considered too expensive for Taken 3, but given the kind of business that Taken 2 is doing, the producers can probably afford to bring him back.

 

Weekend Box Office (Studio Estimates): October 12-14, 2012
	Film	Weekend Gross	Screens	Avg./ Screen	Total Gross	Wk#
1	Taken 2	$22,500,000	3,706	$6,071	$86,759,000	2
2	Argo	$20,120,000	3,232	$6,225	$20,120,000	1
3	Sinister	$18,250,000	2,527	$7,222	$18,250,000	1
4	Hotel Transylvania	$17,300,000	3,375	$5,126	$102,193,000	3
5	Here Comes the Boom	$12,000,000	3,014	$3,981	$12,000,000	1
6	Pitch Perfect	$9,336,000	2,787	$3,350	$36,085,000	3
7	Frankenweenie	$7,014,000	3,005	$2,334	$22,035,000	2
8	Looper	$6,300,000	2,605	$2,418	$51,442,000	3
9	Seven Psychopaths	$4,275,000	1,480	$2,889	$4,275,000	1
10	The Perks of Being a Wallflower	$2,166,000	726	$2,983	$6,151,000	4

 

Ben Affleck's Argo, which chronicles the true story of the escape of six Americans from Iran during the hostage crisis of the late 1970s, earned a spectacular 94% positive rating from the critics on Rotten Tomatoes and is considered a serious contender for multiple Oscars.  Argo's audience surged 47% from Friday to Saturday, a boost that was probably due to great word of mouth since the film received an exceptional "A+" CinemaScore from the opening weekend crowd.  It was very much an older crowd with 93% over 25 and 52% over 50 with females in the majority (54%).  The studio believes that the great word of mouth and reviews will expand the audience for the film, which should be in theaters for quite some time.

 

With a cost of just $3 million, Sinister, which stars Ethan Hawke as a true crime writer who discovers a box of gruesome home movies that put him and his family in danger, is easily the most lucrative film of the weekend, though it declined 8% from Friday to Saturday and received a poor "C+" CinemaScore, which typically presages a precipitous decline in weekend 2.  The R-rated film skewed male (54%) and younger with 66% of the audience between 18 and 34.  It will face stiff competition for the horror audience in the coming weeks.

 

Sony's animated Hotel Transylvania dropped only 36.1% as it added $17.3 million and drove its domestic cumulative to $102.2 million.  Hotel Transylvania in its third weekend still had enough juice to squash its chief competitor for the family audience, Sony's live-action comedy Here Comes the Boom that stars Kevin James as a school teacher who has to volunteer to participate in a mixed martial arts event in order to raise funds for his school.  Here Comes the Boom did earn a very solid "A" CinemaScore, which means it could develop some serious "legs."  Families made up 45% of the audience, with kids under 12 accounting for 26% of the crowd.

 

Universals a cappella musical Pitch Perfect slid just 37% and finished in sixth, followed by Tim Burton's Frankenweenie, which dropped 38.5% and finished seventh, and the science fiction action film Looper, which fell 48% and finished eighth with an estimated $6.3 million. 

 

The quirky dark comedy Seven Psychopaths debuted in just under 1,500 theaters and finished a somewhat disappointing ninth as it earned an estimated $4.2 million.  The Ayn Rand adaptation Atlas Shrugged, Part II debuted outside the top ten in spite of being in over 1,000 theaters. 

 

The comic book inspired Dredd 3D earned a mere $123,000 and appears to be done with miserable domestic cumulative of just $13.2 million.  The worldwide total for the film is just $23.3 million versus a cost of $50 million.  Whatever its artistic merits, financially the film is a bomb.

 

Check back next week when the horror film Paranormal Activity 4 debuts along with a film featuring James Patterson's Alex Cross, and Bigfoot: The Lost Coast Tapes.