It was a tale of two twos at the box office this weekend and the one that was not a sequel won out. Denzel Washington’s latest action pic 2 Guns topped Smurfs 2, which struggled amidst the glut of family films released in the past few weeks.
2 Guns, which co-stars Mark Wahlberg and was directed by his Contraband director Baltasar Kormákur, won with just $27.4 million over the weekend, notes Entertainment Weekly. The film cost Emmett/Furla Films and Foresight Unlimited $61 million to make and earned a B+ CinemaScore grade from audiences, so it should have a tough time at least making back its budget.
Hugh Jackman and Fox’s The Wolverine scored a second place finish with $21.7 million in its second weekend. It’s up to $95 million and cost $120 million, which is relatively cheap for a 2013 superhero pic. So far, its up to $255.2 million worldwide.
For Sony, Smurfs 2 was a huge disappointment, at least in North america, where the film made jsut $18.2 million over the weekend. According to Box Office Mojo, even if you add total gross from Wednesday and Thursday, that only brings it up to $27.8 million. The first film made $35.6 million over its first three days. Smurfs 2 did make $52.5 million overseas, so at least the international appeal the first had hasn’t disappeared.
The Conjuring has come out of nowhere to go past the $100 million mark after three weeks. It added $13.7 million this weekend and is up to $108.6 million. Despicable Me 2 rounded out the Top 5 with $10.4 million.
Also worth noting, The Hollywood Reporter confirmed that Pacific Rim, which failed to do huge business in North America, is doing exactly what Legendary was hoping it would - make huge bucks in China. There, the film debuted to $45.2 million, the sixth-biggest for a Hollywood movie in China ever. In the U.S., it has only earned $92.3 million since it opened.
image: Sony