September is usually a soft month at the box office and this one was no exception. It was an easy victory again for Resident Evil: Retribution, while The Expendables 2 and Ted hit some noteworthy milestones.
The people have once again spoken with their wallets (more so in Japan) and after grossing $29.8 million this past weekend, Resident Evil: Retribution is now at $103.7 million internationally and $138.4 million worldwide. Made for $65 million, the latest in the long running zombie series has already doubled that budget in just 10 days. So currently Retribution passed the first three films internationally but the $236.1 million made by Resident Evil: Afterlife, the 4th one, won’t be matched anytime soon, if ever. Either way Resident Evil: Retribution is a hit so expect to hear news of a 6th (and hopefully last) entry sometime in the near future. Although I can’t shake the feeling that maybe Paul W.S. Anderson wrote himself in a tighter corner then he can navigate at the end of Retribution, so the 6th film has to somehow round out this gibberish (if that is even possible at this point).
One of my favorite action flicks of the summer, The Expendables 2, came in 2nd after a $12.4 million weekend which brought the film’s total past the $200 million mark internationally. Worldwide it has $285.8 million which is more than the $274.4 million of the 2010 original. So can we have The Expendables 3 in 2014 now please?
Pot-smoking teddy bear Ted made $9.4 million for a glorious 3rd place and an even more glorious $202.9 million internationally, making this only the 2nd R-rated comedy (after The Hangover Part 2) ever to collect this much outside North America. Worldwide Ted has $420.8 million and I think Seth MacFarlane will be a very busy guy in the next few years.
We can’t have a week at the international box office without a foreign film and this time its White Deer Plain from China with $8.9 million in 4th. Quite a few Chinese films we’ve seen in this top 5 in 2012 thus far.
Speaking of top 5s, guess which film rounds out this one? You probably guessed wrong unless you said The Bourne Legacy. Anyway, this did $8.7 million for an international total of $102.6 million. Worldwide it’s at 213.2 million, a bit disappointing for a $125 million film but Universal already announced plans for a sequel so who am I to say what is a hit and what isn’t for them.
Finally I have a bit of news for the Batman fans out there. The Dark Knight Rises is now the 7th highest grossing film of all time worldwide with a new total of $1,067 million, passing Toy Story 3 ($1,063.2 million) and Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest ($1,066.2 million) this past weekend. For now this is as high as this film can go.
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