Sony execs will be smiling today, as while September is usually seen as a bad time to release family films in the US, Hotel Transylvania took a strong $43 million, which isn’t just good for an original animated movie, but is actually the biggest weekend gross any movie has ever taken in September. Indeed the month is normally such a slow time the previous record holder was Sweet Home Alabama, which took $35.6 million on its opening in 2002.
Looper also did well thanks to lots of buzz and great reviews, taking $21 million in its first three days. Although that may not seem a lot for a sci-fi film, it’s actually very good for the sort of cerebral sci-fi the movie deals in. Word of mouth should also ensure it has a long run.
The real overperformer was Pitch Perfect, which may have only reached number six on the chart and $5.2 million, but it did so on only 335 screens, giving it the highest per-screen average of the weekend. It bodes well as the Anna Kendrick movie expands onto more screens over the next few weeks.
The final new entry is Won’t Back Down, which rather flopped as despite the Maggie Gyllenhaal and Viola Davis movie opening on 2,550 screens, it took just $2.7 million. That’s the second worst opening ever for a film opening on more than 2,500 screens (indeed many have wondered why it got such a big screen count, considering the minimal marketing push).
Take a look below for the US box office top 10 for the weekend of September 28th-30th.
| Rank | Title | Weekend Gross (millions) | Total Gross to date (millions) |
| 1 | Hotel Transylvania | $43.0 | $43.0 |
| 2 | Looper | $21.2 | $21.2 |
| 3 | End Of Watch | $8.0 | $26.1 |
| 4 | Trouble With The Curve | $7.5 | $23.7 |
| 5 | House At The End Of The Street | $7.1 | $22.2 |
| 6 | Pitch Perfect | $5.2 | $5.2 |
| 7 | Finding Nemo (3D) | $4.0 | $36.4 |
| 8 | Resident Evil: Retribution | $3.0 | $38.7 |
| 9 | The Master | $2.7 | $9.6 |
| 10 | Won’t Back Down | $2.7 | $2.7 |
Normally by Monday morning, we know which movie has topped the chart over the weekend, but not so today, as there are three movies which could end up on top when final figures are released later on. Based on estimates, both End Of Watch and House At The End Of The Street took $13 million, while Trouble With The Curve was close behind with $12.7. There’s a chance any of those movie could end up at number one when final figures are tallied.