It was a familiar tune at the box office this weekend. A second rate, low budget, hardly worth your time horror flick raced to the top while a moderately interesting but poorly executed concept comedy (lead by two actors who are joining the ever growing group of middle age comedians struggling to find roles that match their age) floundered in with only modest success. All in all, there was a number one, but there were no winners.
The Purge was produced on a minimal $3 million budget (unproven writer/directors, creepy masks, boring scripts and fake blood all come cheap) but managed to bank over $36 million for an eash number one.
Meanwhile Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn's medicore comedy The Internship only earned $18 million , settling for fourth place. That's a low point for director Shawn Levy who hasn't had a movie open under $20 million since Just Married ten years ago.
The movie that opened this weekend that was worth the price of admission was Joss Whedon's Much Ado About Nothing, but you could only see it if you were lucky enough to live near one of the five locations showing it. The Shakespeare adaptation took in $36,000 per location, the highest per theater total this weekend.
For the full weekend top ten, check out the chart below.
| 1. | The Purge * | $36,379,000 | Total: $36,379,000 | LW: N WR: 1 THTRS: 2,536 |
| 2. | Fast & Furious 6 | $19,760,000 | Total: $202,946,000 | LW: 1 WR: 3 THTRS: 3,771 |
| 3. | Now You See Me | $19,500,000 | Total: $61,374,000 | LW: 2 WR: 2 THTRS: 3,020 |
| 4. | The Internship * | $18,100,000 | Total: $18,100,000 | LW: N WR: 1 THTRS: 3,366 |
| 5. | Epic | $12,100,000 | Total: $84,155,000 | LW: 5 WR: 3 THTRS: 3,594 |
| 6. | Star Trek Into Darkness | $11,700,000 | Total: $200,140,000 | LW: 4 WR: 4 THTRS: 3,152 |
| 7. | After Earth | $11,200,000 | Total: $46,592,000 | LW: 3 WR: 2 THTRS: 3,401 |
| 8. | The Hangover Part III | $7,380,000 | Total: $102,374,000 | LW: 6 WR: 3 THTRS: 3,242 |
| 9. | Iron Man 3 | $5,787,000 | Total: $394,316,000 | LW: 7 WR: 6 THTRS: 2,351 |
| 10. | The Great Gatsby (2013) | $4,230,000 | Total: $136,175,000 | LW: 8 WR: 5 THTRS: 2,160 |
