ENDER’S GAME ENDS UP AT NO. 1

There were no surprises at the box office this weekend. All three movies that opened wide earned about what analysts had predicted. Lionsgate’s Ender’s Game, which had been favored to take the lead with around $25=30 million, did so with $28 million, according to studio estimates.The comedy Last Vegas from CBS Films and the animated Free Birds from Relativity Media, each of which had been expected to make around $15-20 million, came in with just above $16 million — Vegas with $16.52 million and Birds with $16.2 million, to wind up in third- and fourth-place respectively (although those positions could change when final results are announced Monday afternoon). Last week’s top film, Paramount’s Jackass Presents Bad Grandpa,dropped a respectable 39 percent in its second week to about $20.5 million. Meanwhile, Fox Searchlight expanded 12 Years a Slave to 410 theaters, where it brought in $4.6 million, or $11,219 per theater. It remained the top earner among all films in wide release on a per-theater average. (Playing in nine theaters, Dallas Buyers Club hauled in $264,128 or $29,347 per screen.) By contrast, Ender’s Game earned $8,200 per theater.