Box Office: 'Hotel Transylvania' is no. 1 as 'Pitch Perfect' sounds lovely in limited release

'Looper' hits $21.2 million

By Gregory Ellwood Sunday, Sep 30, 2012 2:58 PM

Rebel Wilson in "Pitch Perfect."

Credit: Universal Pictures

After 10 years of middling success, Sony Pictures Animation may finally have another breakout hit. The studio's new animated comedy "Hotel Transylvania" ran away with the top spot at the box office and exceeded expectations with $43 million. Sony Animation's previous top grosser was "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs" which debuted to $30.3 million just over three years ago. "Transylvania" has competition next week with Tim Burton's stop motion animated "Frankenweenie" opening, but it should still eventually cross the $100 million mark. It's a nice surprise considering Sony Pictures Animation doesn't always receive the respect it deserves from the media or its peers.

Another Sony release hit the second spot as "Looper" grossed an impressive $21.2 million. The Rian Johnson directed thriller cost only $30 million after shooting in both China and Louisiana. Sony Pictures and Endgame Entertainment are hoping for strong word of mouth in the weeks to come especially after averaging an 84 on Metacritic and a superb 93% on Rotten Tomatoes.

Three films all followed with a similar take in the third through fifth slots. End of Watch" made another $8 million for $26.1 million also in just 10 days. "Trouble with the Curve" grossed $7.5 million for $23.7 million also in its first 10 days. And finally, "The House at the End of the Street" took in $7.1 million for $22.2 million in the same period.

Universal Pictures released "Pitch Perfect" in just 335 and audiences are singing their song as it made $5.2 million over three day. That's an absolutely knockout $15,522 per screen average. "Perfect" expands to over 2,700 theaters nationwide on Friday.

Unfortunately, there was some bad news at the local multiplex. 20th Century Fox and Walden Media's "Won't Back Down" was nothing but a disaster finding just $2.7 million on 2,500 screens. The teachers vs. the teacher's union drama landed one of the worst openings of the year.

New releases this Friday include the aforementioned "Frankenweenie" and "Taken 2." The latter is polling at a massive $50 million plus opening.

Box Office actuals are released on Monday.

Gregory Ellwood
Editor-in-Chief, Co-Founder

With over a decade of experience in the movie industry, Ellwood survived working for two major studios and has written for Variety, MSN and the LA Times. A co-founder of HitFix, Ellwood spends his time relaxing hitting 3’s on the basketball court and following his beloved Clippers.