GRAVITY REMAINS NO. 1, BUT SLAVE MAKES MASTERFUL DEBUT

Warner Bros.’ Gravity continued to resist the customary drop in ticket sales after multiple weeks in release. According to studio estimates, it fell just 28 percent in its third week to $31.03 million, putting it well ahead of Sony’s remake of the horror flick Carrie, which box-office pundits had predicted would give it a run for the money. Instead, Carrie, which had received decent reviews, considering its genre, managed to collect just $17 million and may only have placed third on the weekend index. It was probably edged out by another Sony film, Captain Phillips, which also had a small drop of 33 percent in its second week to $17.3 million. Yet another Sony film, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2, had no trouble weathering the competition in is fourth week as it dropped just 27 percent to $10.1 million, bringing its gross to $93.14 million and putting it into position to cross the $100-million mark by next weekend. Rounding out the top five was the Sylvester Stallone-Arnold Schwarzenegger thriller Escape Plan, which opened with a mediocre $9.8 million. Also making its debut this weekend was the Wikileaks movie The Fifth Estate. It was expected to bomb, but it left a crater bigger than anyone had expected — earning just $1.71 million, making it the worst opening for any film in wide release this year. The real stand-out for the weekend was Fox Searchlight’s 12 Years a Slave. While the film received exceptional reviews and is being touted for multiple Oscar nominations, several critics expressed concern that it might be too intense for many moviegoers. In the end, however, their concern did not appear justified, at least not if the 19 theaters where it opened is any indication. Many of them appeared to have sold out. The film grossed $960,000 or a whopping $50,526 per theater. By contrast, Gravity, which played in 3,820 theaters and, unlike Slave, commanded a 3D surcharge, averaged $8,123 per theater.

The top ten films for the weekend, according to studio estimates compiled by Box Office Mojo:

1. Gravity, $30 million; 2. Captain Phillips, $17.3 million; 3. Carrie, $17 million; 4. Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs 2, $10.1 million; 5. Escape Plan, $9.8 million; 6. Prisoners, $2.1 million; 7. Enough Said, $1.8 million; 8. The Fifth Estate, $1.7 million; 9. Runner Runner, $1.6 million; 10. Insidious Chapter 2, $1.5 million.