One Direction: This Is Us earned $8. 9 million on its first day in theaters ($2. 7 million from late Thursday shows), easily pummeling the competition.
Image Credit: Christie Goodwin
One Direction fans are known for being, er, passionate and their passion sent the boy band’s 3-D concert doc straight to the top of the chart on Friday. One Direction: This Is Us earned $8. 9 million on its first day in theaters ($2. 7 million of which came from late Thursday shows), easily pummeling the competition. This Is Us, which only cost about $10 million to produce, fared better on its first day than Michael Jackson’s This Is It ($7. 4 million), though it trailed Justin Bieber: Never Say Never ($12. 4 million). Over the four-day weekend, Sony expects the film to pull in about $24 million, which would make it director Morgan Spurlock’s highest grossing film by far, surpassing Super Size Mes $11. 5 million total.
Lee Daniels’ The Butler stepped down into second place with $3. 6 million, with We’re the Millers close behind in third at $3. 1 million. The leggy performers should finish the four-day weekend with $16 million and $14. 5 million, respectively.
In fourth place, Planes flew away with $1. 7 million, while Elysium rounded out the Top 5 with another $1. 6 million. Both holdovers, which are currently in their third weekend, drew bigger crowds than Warner Bros.’ new release Getaway, which pulled in an anemic $1. 4 million from 1,553 theaters. The poorly reviewed Ethan Hawke/Selena Gomez vehicle might take in just over $5 million against an $18 million budget across the long weekend.
1. One Direction: This Is Us $8. 9 million
2. Lee Daniels The Butler $3. 6 million
3. We’re the Millers $3. 1 million
4. Planes $1. 7 million
5. Elysium $1. 6 million