Box Office

YOUR WEAKEND BOX OFFICE: It was the kind of weekend where a non-debuting historical drama about the butler for Eisenhower and Reagan easily ran the table (though receipts were up 10% against the same weekend last year). That said, Lee Daniels’ The Butler served the competition a big tray of in-your-face in its second frame. As for the debuts, The Mortal Instruments had a middling first week for a YA adaptation, The World’s End foamed up a strong per-screen bow (recouping nearly half its budget) for a movie about pub-crawling Brits battling robots, and buzzing indie slasher You’re Next (widely thought to be a candidate for #1) fell on its own knife and landed below the Top 5 with just $7m. Meanwhile, road comedy We’re the Millers is on track to be August's biggest-grossing flick, having racked up $91m in three weeks.

1. Lee Daniels’ The Butler $17m, 3,110/$5,472 avg. (week 2)
2. We’re the Millers $13.5m, 3,445/$3,919 avg. (week 3)
3. The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones $9.3m, 3,118/$2,983 avg. (debut)
4. The World’s End $8.9m, 1,549/$5,773 avg. (debut)
5. Planes $8.5m, 3,378/$2,536 avg. (week 3)

With Oscar buzz and incredible word of mouth, Woody Allen's Blue Jasmine entered the Top 10 after going wide this week; it's already made $14m. This is no surprise to Hollywood execs, who always said butlers and depressed ladies are a sure thing. Meanwhile, the UMPG Gazette gave City of Bones a disappointing review because nobody rolled a single bone in the whole movie. Bogus! (8/26a)