Carl Roberts 
Downton Abbey fights of Rambo and Brad Pitt to claim top spot at the weekend box office
It was billed as the battle of the men. It was to be Stallone Vs Pitt. Old school against (Fairly) new school. In the end and to our surprise, neither could take the top spot. Coming out of nowhere and regally taking the top spot was the big-screen version of British Television drama ‘Downton Abbey‘ with an impressive $31million opening. Audiences flocked to see the continuing saga of the Crawley family and their staff in their droves. Alongside the $30.8million taken around the world, the film has a nice $61.8million against a budget of $20million, almost certainly guaranteeing a further visit will be royally decreed somewhere in the very near future. Critics seemed to enjoy their visit to the Yorkshire estate, giving the film an 85% average score.
Rocketing into the chart in the second position came Brad Pitt’s new movie, the science fiction film ‘Ad Astra‘. Co-starring legendary actor Tommy Lee Jones, Ruth Negga and Liv Tyler, the film took $19.2million domestic and $26million worldwide against a cost of $80million, gaining the film an opening gambit of $45.2million. Once again, critics were impressed with the film, giving it an 82% average score. Moviegoers, however, didn’t agree, only granting the film an average of 45%. Time will tell if the film manages to make a profit. The film itself is being hailed as a potential Oscar-Winner.
Exploding out of retirement and storming to the third place is ‘Rambo: Last Blood‘, the fifth and reportedly final film in the franchise. The Sylvester Stallone starring action film opened domestically with $19million against its budget of $50million. The worldwide figures haven’t come in yet so the film could have made it’s budget back already. The critics completely savaged the film, only granting it an extremely poor 29% average. It has been reported (but not confirmed) that Rambo creator David Morrell hates the film and has expressed his displeasure at it. Audiences though don’t agree, giving the film an 82% average and seemingly enjoying it. You can check out our review right here:
Pennywise, after two weekends leading the chart, has started to sink. The air is leaking from his balloons. ‘IT Chapter Two‘ has slipped down to the fourth position after scaring up a $17.2million weekend. The murderous clown can’t be too downhearted though as he now has a domestic total of $179.1million and a global gross of $358.8million against a cost of $70million.
Dropping off the dancing pole and tumbling three places, ‘Hustlers‘ came home in the fifth position with a $17million weekend. Jennifer Lopez and crew have managed to grab the fact-based drama $62.5million of moviegoers cash at the U.S box office and $72.3million globally, It’s $20million budget looking like a good investment now.
His roar is diminishing, his teeth are dropping out and his claws are starting to get blunt after hanging around for over two months in the chart but Disney’s ‘The Lion King‘ still managed to grab the sixth position with takings of $2.5million, clawing its way to $537million domestic and $1.62billion worldwide on a $250million budget. Jon Favreau’s second live-action remake for Disney has once again turned up trumps for the actor/director and Disney Studios.
‘Good Boys‘ have started to misbehave themselves as they fell to a seventh-placed finish. After another $2.5million weekend, the curious youngsters have a domestic total of $77.3million and a worldwide total of $98.7million, just short of hitting the $100million benchmark against its budget of $20million.
‘Angel Has Fallen’ has, well, fallen down the chart to land at this weekend’s eighth position with takings of $2.4million, giving the film a running total of $64.6million domestically and $118.2million worldwide.
The ninth place went to the faith-based drama ‘Overcomer‘ with another $1.5million added to its haul, gaining it a running total of $31.5million against its modest $5million budget.
Closing out the top ten this week after its brakes have finally failed comes ‘Fast And Furious: Hobbs And Shaw‘ with $1.4million. The Dwayne Johnson/ Jason Statham spin-off is on the verge of departing from the top ten but has stolen $170.6million domestic and sped off with $750million worldwide after eight weekends of release.
Dropping out of the chart this weekend after it had its wings viciously clipped by critics and audiences alike was ‘The Goldfinch‘ after a single week of release. The film was mentioned before release as a potential Academy Award botherer but has become one of the years biggest flops both critically and financially. Also leaving us was ‘The Peanut Butter Falcon‘ and after her vines snapped, ‘Dora And The Lost City Of Gold‘ fell out of the top ten.
Rob Zombie’s much-awaited followup to ‘House Of 1000 Corpses‘ and ‘The Devil’s Rejects‘ opened in limited release and made itself $1.8million against its budget of $3million. ‘3 From Hell‘ had a special three-day release (Monday to Wednesday) ahead of its debut on DVD and Blu-Ray next month. The film is also due to be screened in London during the upcoming London Film Festival and has an engagement at London’s Prince Charles Cinema too.
Next weekend, we have only one film opening at the box office widely in the form of the animated family yeti movie ‘Abominable‘. In limited release. we have the Renee Zellweger biopic ‘Judy‘ depicting events in the last few weeks of Hollywood legend Judy Garland. The reviews I’ve seen so far have given the film an above average report but everyone is in agreement that the film could possibly be Zellweger’s masterpiece performance and making her a complete shoo-in for a nomination at next years Academy Awards with many saying that she HAS to win the Best Actress statue. It may surprise some people out there but I’m really interested in seeing the film as I’m quite the secret (Not anymore!) musicals fan. Not so much of the recent ones, more the classics like The Sound Of Music, White Christmas, Singin’ In The Rain and the like. Adding to the mix is the trailer, which blew me out of the water. Renee Zellweger IS Judy Garland. I’m almost certain that I will be in agreement with the critics and say this is her masterpiece performance. I’m seeing the film sometime next week as it doesn’t open in the U.K until the first weekend of October but as I own and pay for a monthly Cinema pass, I am entitled to go to a preview screening of the film next Tuesday evening at my local multiplex so I’ll be able to report back once I’ve seen the film.
As next weeks releases are extremely thin on the ground, what do you think will take the top spot? Will ‘Downton Abbey‘ continue to serve the audience and hold onto the number one position? Will Brad Pitt’s ‘Ad Astra‘ fire its boosters and rocket to the top? Or will ‘Rambo: Last Blood‘ explode into action once again and storm the summit? Check back next week to find out. Until then…Happy Moviegoing!
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Carl Roberts is a Senior Staff Writer and Books and Literature Correspondent for Future of the Force. He is passionate about Star Wars, Marvel, DC, Indiana Jones and Horror movies. Follow him on Twitter @CarlRoberts2 where he uses the force frequently!
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Carl Roberts is the News Editor for The Future of the Force. Aside from being our horror genre aficionado, he is also passionate about Star Wars, Marvel, DC, and the Indiana Jones movies. Follow him on Twitter where he uses the force frequently!
