It was yet another slow weekend at the US box office, allowing Resident Evil Retribution to top the chart with a decent but not particularly amazing $21 million. That’s lower than the previous three films, although slightly higher than the original (but if inflation and 3D premiums are taken into account, it sold fewer tickets). However as it grossed around $60 million in international territories, it’s still going to be judged a success and makes Resident Evil 6 more likely.
The only other new entry in the top 10 (or technically re-entry) was the 3D re-issue of Finding Nemo, which took $17 million to place second on the chart. It’s less than what The Lion King took when it got an extra dimension, but about on par with Beauty & The Beast.
However it was outside the top 10 that the most interesting news happened. The Master only made it to number 18 on the list, but its $730,000 in only five cinemas is the highest per average screen take ever for a live action movie with $146,000 per screen (topping Moonrise Kingdom’s $130,000 earlier this year). It bodes very well for its expansion onto 600 screens this Friday.
Take a look below for the US box office top 10, for the weekend of September 14th-16th 2012.
| Rank | Title | Weekend Gross (millions) | Total Gross to date (millions) |
| 1 | Resident Evil: Retribution | $21.1 | $21.1 |
| 2 | Finding Nemo (3D) | $17.5 | $17.5 |
| 3 | The Possession | $5.8 | $41.1 |
| 4 | Lawless | $4.2 | $30.1 |
| 5 | Paranorman | $3.0 | $49.3 |
| 6 | The Expendables 2 | $3.0 | $80.2 |
| 7 | The Words | $2.8 | $9.1 |
| 8 | The Bourne Legacy | $2.8 | $107.8 |
| 9 | The Odd Life Of Timothy Green | $2.5 | $46.2 |
| 10 | The Campaign | $2.4 | $82.8 |
There’ll be some glum faced in Hollywood this week, with news that on the international market, box office is down about 20% compared to where it was this time last year (that’s more than a billion dollars less), and the US has seen its worse weekend for years. It’s the first time since 2008 that a movie has managed to hit the top spot with less than $10 million, with some sources suggesting that overall it’s the worst three-day total since 2001.
There’s been little cheer at the US box office, due to what was easily the lowest grossing weekend of 2012 so far. The problem was that the holdovers weren’t that strong, while the new entries barely made a dent. The Expendables 2 stayed top of the list with $13.5 million, a 53% drop on its first weekend takings, so that it’s now noticeably trailing the take of the first film in the franchise.