2004's The Chronicles of Riddick was a bloated, $105M PG-13 mess that felt completely disconnected from 2000's sleeper hit, Pitch Black. And so Vin Diesel, who had become a star thanks to the prior film, made a deal with Universal to return to the Fast & Furious franchise in exchange for producing rights to all future Riddick films. While $18M may not be a smash by any means, considering Diesel kept the film budgeted at below $40M, it may be just the tract needed to keep the series alive and lucrative. Diesel fronted much of the cost himself (with some reports that he mortgaged his home to do it), and it seems to have paid off. The adventures of Diesel's Furyan antihero have gained a stable, reliable audience who have followed the character from movies, to animated films, to successful video games, so there is a market out there. The only thing holding it back was cost, and assuming that stays under control Diesel should have another long-running
franchise to call his own.
2. Lee Daniels' The Butler- $8.9M/$91.9M
3. Instructions Not Included- $8.1M/$20.3M
In its second week, the surprising Latino-themed family comedy Instructions Not Included continued a strong run, expanding to over 700 theaters and earning a whopping $11k per site average.
4. We're the Millers- $7.9M/$123.8M
5. Planes- $4.2M/$79.2M
6. One Direction: This Is Us- $4.1M/$23.1M
The one direction was down, way down, for Morgan Spurlock's documentary on the pop boy band. The film dropped 74% in week two, meaning that your sister and her friends weren't clamoring for an encore performance.
7. Elysium- $3.1M/$85M
8. Blue Jasmine- $2.6M/$25.4M
9. Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters- $2.5M/$59.8M
You'll be surprised to know that despite being a total bust domestically, Percy Jackson's tepid sequel has gained $141M worldwide. Should we be worried about a sequel?
10. The World's End- $2.3M/$21.7M
