BOX OFFICE SLUMP DEEPENS

The 2013 box office continued to lose ground to the 2012 box office as last weekend’s films earned 8 percent less than those screened during the comparable weekend a year ago, when Disney’s Wreck-It Ralph opened with $49.04 million. The top film this weekend was Summit Entertainment’s Ender’s Game, which grossed $27.02 million. Two other new films had mediocre debuts, CBS Films’ Last Vegas with $16.33 million and Relativity Media’s Free Birds with $15.81 million. Continuing to impress, however, was Fox Searchlight’s 12 Years a Slave, which brought in $4.79 million as it added 287 screens for a total of 410. Its per-screen average of $11,588 was the highest among all films in wide release. Making a strong debut in nine theaters in New York and Los Angeles, Dallas Buyers Club collected $260,865 for an average of $28,985 per theater.