Box office

BOX OFFICE IN ORBIT: This week, the headlines write themselves, as in “There’s No Holding Down Gravity.” Alfonso Cuaron’s breathtaking 3-D space movie is a hit, slipping a mere 20% in week two and zooming past the $100m mark domestically, while putting the movie, director and star Sandra Bullock smack dab in the middle of the Oscar conversation. Ditto for the weekend’s other big story, the debuting Captain Phillips, which is setting up nicely for director Paul Greengrass, leading man Tom Hanks and newcomer Barkhad Abdi. Sony also captured the third spot with animated feature Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs 2, which continues to do decent if unspectacular business; its total gross after three weeks is $78m.

1. Gravity (WB) – $44m (-20.7%), 3,660/$12,094 average (week 2)
2. Captain Phillips (Sony) – $26m, 3,020/$8,609 average (debut)
3. Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs 2 (Sony) – $14.2m (-32.2%), 3,874/$3,665 average (week 3)
4. Machete Kills (Open Road) – $3.8m, 2,538/$1,496 average (debut)
5 3 Runner Runner (Fox) – $3.7m (-51.7%), 3,026/$1,231 average (week 2)

Aside from the top three, the only movie with any momentum to speak of is Nicole Holofcener’s grown-up romcom Enough Said (Fox Searchlight), which averaged $3,193 on 606 screens (-11.8%) to finish at #11 in its fourth week of limited release. More at Box Office Mojo. (10/14a)