As most box office watchers expected, Thor: The Dark World stayed on top of the US box office, taking another $38.4 million for a gross so far of $147 million. The 55% drop from the last weekend is about in line with other big movies, and should ensure it ends up with a North American total somewhere around $250 million.
However the real surprise was the movie in second place, The Best Man Holiday, a follow up to the 1999 movie The Best Man, which took just over $30 million. By now the success of films aimed at African-American audiences shouldn’t be a surprise anymore, but every time it happens even veteran watchers treat it like some bizarre anomaly, mainly because the film hasn’t been marketed to them and so they don’t know much about it.
Best Man Holiday was the only new movie in the top 10, as it was a quiet weekend before things gear up this Friday in the run up to Thanksgiving with the likes of Hunger Games: Catching Fire. Take a look below for the US box office top 10 for the weekend of November 15th-17th.
| Rank | Title | Weekend Gross (millions) | Total Gross to date (millions) |
| 1 | Thor: The Dark World | $38.4 | $146.9 |
| 2 | The Best Man Holiday | $30.5 | $30.5 |
| 3 | Last Vegas | $8.8 | $46.9 |
| 4 | Free Birds | $8.3 | $42.2 |
| 5 | Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa | $7.6 | $90.2 |
| 6 | Gravity | $6.2 | $240.5 |
| 7 | Ender’s Game | $6.2 | $53.7 |
| 8 | 12 Years A Slave | $4.7 | $24.9 |
| 9 | Captain Phillips | $4.5 | $97.6 |
| 10 | About Time | $3.4 | $11.5 |
There was no doubt that Thor: The Dark World would top the US box office this weekend, with the only question being how big its opening would be. The first film took $65 million in its opening three days, but The Dark World got an Avengers boost, taking $86 million on its debut.
Despite calls for boycott from gay groups angry at Ender’s Game author Orson Scott Card’s virulent homophobia, the adaptation of the novel has landed at the top of the US box office with $28 million. It’s difficult to tell whether the boycott calls had any effect, as while tracking has suggested a $30 million+ opening for the film, many have suggested the publicity around the planned boycott may actually have acted as free advertising for the film.
As many expected, the power of Jackass won out over the weekend, with Bad Grandpa taking the top spot with $32 million. Although that’s around $20 million less than the opening of Jackass 3-D, the film cost little to make and will prove very profitable.
Gravity has continued its impressive box office run, topping the US box office for a third week with $31 million, once more dropping less than 30% from the previous weekend (most films fall around 40-60% each week). It’s made $170 million in North America so far and is expected to gross another $100 million before the end of its run.
While some weren’t sure whether Gravity’s incredible visuals would translate into box office success, the film is now a bona fide hit, taking $44 million in its second weekend to top the box office once more. That’s just a 20% drops, which is incredibly unusual for a film that took over $50 million in its first outing (indeed it’s the best hold ever for such a film outside the holidays).
