Box office update: 'The Butler' beats 'One Direction' over Labor Day

Box office update: 'The Butler' beats 'One Direction' over Labor Day

"Although One Direction: This Is Us topped the box office over the three-day weekend, the boy band couldn’t hold off Lee Daniels’ The Butler over the extended four-day frame. The Weinstein drama surged to $20 million during the Friday-to-Monday period (a 21 percent increase over last weekend), giving the Forest Whitaker showcase $79.3 million total against a $30 million budget. The Butler is now a lock to earn over $100 million domestically, though it won’t be able to achieve a fourth weekend in first place. Riddick will make sure of that.

One Direction: This Is Us finished in second place with $18 million. After an $8.9 million Friday, Sony was expecting This Is Us to earn about $24-25 million over the four-day weekend, but the film’s fangirl appeal made it even more frontloaded than the studio expected.

In fifth place, surprise hit Instructions Not Included continued its incredible run, scoring $10 million from 347 theaters over the holiday frame. The Spanish-language film starring Eugenio Derbez notched a sizzling $28,616 per theater average, and distributors Lionsgate and Pantelion plan on expanding the film substantially next weekend."

Getaway took in a mere $4.4 million, despite being in more than 2100+ theaters. That was the second-worst opening of the year for films in more than 2000 theaters, trailing only Paranoia, the Harrison Ford thriller which opened two weeks earlier.

Closed Circuit, the international conspiracy thriller with Eric Bana and Rebecca Hall, finished a dismal 15th with $2.5M.