A star-studded historical quasi-biopic beat out foul mouthed teenagers and the king of the iPhone to top this weekend’s box office.

According to estimates released midday Sunday, Lee Daniels’ The Butler has won the weekend box office with an opening haul of $25 million in receipts of the three day period. The film, which opened following weeks of mostly positive reviews and early Oscar talk, debuted on 2500 screens (and will likely expand in the weeks ahead).

The Butler‘s success was expected to an extent given the cast list, but the real surprise of the weekend is just how miserable every other new competitor failed with moviegoers. Kick-Ass 2 brought in $13.6 million, which ties it with Elysium for third overall following We’re The Millers ($17 million), while Ashton Kutcher’s turn as Steve Jobs in Jobs landed seventh with a measly $6.9 and Paranoia limped into thirteenth place with an extremely light $3.5 million expected between Friday and Sunday.

You can tell summer is beginning to fade when studios pack Fridays with mediocre offerings, and that has certainly been the case every weekend in August thus far. Luckily, both You’re Next and The World’s End open next week, so those of you starved for fun at the box office will finally have a reason to celebrate (two, in fact). Our reviews are not up yet, but if you follow UTG on Twitter you will be amongst the first to know when our scores are live.

• Author
• Recent Posts

James Shotwell

James Shotwell is the founder of Under The Gun Review. He loves writing about music and movies almost as much as he loves his two fat cats. He's also the co-founder of Antique Records and the Marketing Coordinator for Haulix. You should probably follow him on Twitter.

Latest posts by James Shotwell (see all)

• 2015’s Most Underrated Films - December 29, 2015
• Passing The Torch: The End Of An Era For UTG - December 1, 2015
• UTG PREMIERE: Before The Streetlights – “Private Browser” - November 26, 2015