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 |
Last month 
The last few months have seen numerous rumours and allegations emerge about John Travolta having a bit of a thing for male masseurs. However before individual masseurs came forward to make allegations there was Robert Randolph’s self-published book, You’ll Never Spa In This Town Again and a 
Marc Forster had a difficult time in the last few years. He was blamed for many of the dramatic failures of Quantum Of Solace, which resulted in it taking a couple of years for him to get his next movie off the ground. However it looked like he was coming back with a vengeance with the Brad Pitt zombie movie World War Z, but that film has now been severely delayed amid reports of huge problems and the need for massive reshoots.
A few weeks ago it was revealed Terrence Malick is set to produce the directorial debut of AJ Edwards, who worked with Malick on The New World, The Tree Of Life and To The Wonder. The film is all about Abraham Lincoln’s youth and already has Diane Kruger and Jason Clarke attached to play Lincoln’s step-mother and father.
Stephen Frears is one of the most eclectic director’s around, having taken on everything from Dangerous Liaisons and the Queen, to the likes of High Fidelity, Tamara Drewe and Accidental Hero. However he first made his name in the movie world with the 1985 gay-themed hit, My Beautiful Launderette. Now he’s lined up a new movie which also has LGBT-interest, Philomena, and 
Working Title Films and Universal have announced that shooting has begun on The World’s End, the final part of Edgar Wright, Simon Pegg and Nick Frost’s Three Flavours Cornetto trilogy, which started with Shaun Of The Dead and Hot Fuzz. And with news that cameras have started rolling comes the info that Martin Freeman and Eddie Marsan have joined the cast.
While we knew Andrew Garfield would almost definitely be back for The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (as he signed a multi-film contract), there’s been some uncertainty over whether director Marc Webb would be back. However now it’s been confirmed to return for web-slinging follow-up.
Keep The Lights On is undoubtedly the most buzzed about LGBT-themed movie of the year. It arrives in the UK on November 2nd, following screenings at the upcoming London Film Festival (we’ve seen it and it’s well worth watching, but you’ll have to wait for our full review for all our thoughts). Now Peccadillo Pictures has released the UK quad poster for the movie, which you can see above.