A $500m global tally doesn't seem out of the question for Warner Bros's space smash, but Cumberbatch and co are suffering from lukewarm reviews and apathetic audiences across the Atlantic
Gravity soars
Warner Bros's space smash held on to its No 1 ranking in its third weekend – as it did internationally and therefore worldwide – and climbed to a whopping $170.6m (£105m) following an estimated $31m weekend take.
This is a seriously heavy number after such a short time and Gravity won't face any real competition until Thor: The Dark World arrives on 8 November. The worldwide running total has reached $284m (£182m) and a $500m global tally does not seem out of the question with the UK, China and Japan still to come.
Imax goes from strength to strength
The last two years or so has seen tremendous leaps and bounds for the large-screen format. Every studio has embraced it and it is seems it is de rigueur for pretty much every tentpole release to be accompanied by an Imax rollout. But Gravity has taken things to the next level. Over the weekend Imax screens generated around $7.1m (£4.9m) – or roughly a quarter of the overall North American weekend haul. Also of note, the top 25 US theatres for Gravity this weekend were all Imax sites.
The Fifth Estate flops
About halfway through the world premiere screening of The Fifth Estate at the opening night gala at the Toronto film festival in September, the thought occurred to me that this movie had problems. One: DreamWorks's latest awards hopeful was an uneven, tedious account of the birth of WikiLeaks. Two: even if it had been good, how many people in the 18-25 demographic would actually care about the story? Three: the fine Benedict Cumberbatch as Julian Assange remains something of an unproven commodity in the US and this was not going to be the vehicle to break him out. (It's still tricky to get Cumberbatch on the front of a US magazine – that Time cover story was in the international edition.) Word trickled out of Canada that the movie was a dud, and that was a death sentence because this is the kind of release that needs critical support. Sorely lacking in that respect, The Fifth Estate opened in eight place on a dismal $1.7m (£1.1m). What this does to Cumberbatch's potential as a leading-man awards contender remains to be seen.
12 Years a Slave opens in style
Speaking of leading men, Chiwetel Ejiofor is rock solid in Steve McQueen's adaptation of Solomon Northup's 19th-century autobiographical story and stands an excellent chance of getting into the mix alongside Tom Hanks, an early Oscar favourite with Captain Phillips. Fox Searchlight's limited release will only help matters as the movie opened at No 16 on $960,000 from 19 theatres for a $50,526 per-site average. This is exactly where 12 Years needs to be after a month or so of rave reviews from Telluride and Toronto: enjoying a notable opening weekend that will have moviegoers talking and voters craning their necks to get a (first or) second look.
Robert Redford sails into contention
Lest we forget, this year marks a rare foray into acting by Redford, who is also being spoken of as a possible awards winner. His performance in All Is Lost as an enigmatic, practically wordless man struggling to overcome a series of unfortunate events while out for a solo sail has tongues wagging. Distributor Roadside Attractions reunites with writer-director JC Chandor after his excellent debut, Margin Call, and staged an effective platform release that drew $97,400 (£60,200) from six theatres. A small distributor can make capital out of this kind of debut and a good box-office run in the weeks to come will bolster the argument of nostalgic voters keen to give the Sundance founder a crack at winning his first acting Oscar.
North American top 10, 18-20 October 2013
1. Gravity, $31m. Total: $170.6m
2. Captain Phillips, $17.3m. Total: $53.3m
3. Carrie, $17m
4. Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs 2, $10.1m. Total: $93.1m
5. Escape Plan, $9.8m
6. Prisoners, $2.1m. Total: $57.3m
7. Enough Said, $1.8m. Total: $10.8m
8. The Fifth Estate, $1.7m
9. Runner Runner, $1.6m. Total: $17.5m
10. Insidious: Chapter 2, $1.5m. Total: $80.9m
Action and adventure
Drama
Film industry
Benedict Cumberbatch
Jeremy Kay
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