A wider and more successful release than last week’s “The Apparition,” horror film “The Possession” easily topped another light box office weekend.
The pre-Labor Day weekend is rarely a big one at the cinema, and “Possession” thus faced little challenge in claiming the industry’s top spot. With a respectable $6300 per-screen average, it grossed $17.7 million from Friday through Sunday.
Its total roughly doubled that attained by “Lawless,” which landed in second on $9.7 million in receipts. Since opening Wednesday, “Lawless” has grossed a very underwhelming $11.8 million.
“The Expendables 2” followed with $8.8 million for third, while “The Bourne Legacy” ($7.3 million) and “ParaNorman” ($6.6 million) completed the top five. The three films retained very well, dropping only 34%, 22% and 24% from their prior totals, respectively, but insofar as they did not light the world on fire in previous weeks, it is not as if their contributions to the movie industry this week were cause for celebration.
While interest in major releases has been disappointing across the board in recent weeks, no struggle can match that faced by “Oogieloves In The BIG Balloon Adventure.” The film grossed an average of only $207 per screen in its first outing, netting just $448,000 in the first weekend of a reasonably-wide release (2160 screens).