Weekend Box Office: October 7 – 9

#1 Real Steel from Buena Vista debuts at #1 with an opening weekend gross of $27.3 million in 3440 theaters. Budget is unknown.

#2 The Ides of March from Sony debuts at #2 with an opening weekend gross of $10.4 million in 2199 theaters. Budget is unknown.

#3 Dolphin Tale from Warner Brothers drops from #1 to #3 with a weekend gross of $9.1 million (-34.4%) in 3478 theaters (-37). Total gross to date is $49.0 million. Budget was $37 million.

#4 Moneyball from Sony drops from #2 to #4 with a weekend gross of $7.4 million (-38.0%) in 3018 theaters (+25). Total gross to date is $49.2 million. Budget was $50 million.

#5 50/50 from Summit holds at #5 with a weekend gross of $5.6 million (-34.6%) in 2479 theaters (+21). Total gross to date is $17.4 million. Budget was $8 million.

#6 Courageous from TriStar drops from #4 to #6 with a weekend gross of $4.8 million (-46.6%) in 1161 theaters (no change). Total gross to date is $16.1 million. Budget was $2 million.

Rounding out the top 12 are:

#7 The Lion King 3D drops from #3 to #7 with a weekend gross of $4.5 million (-56.7%) in 2267 theaters (-73). Total gross to date is $86.0 million. Budget is unknown.

#8 Dream House drops from #6 to #8 with a weekend gross of $4.4 million (-44.9%) in 2664 theaters (+3). Total gross to date is $14.4 million. Budget was $50 million.

#9 What’s Your Number? drops from #8 to #9 with a weekend gross of $3.1 million (-42.3%) in 3011 theaters (+9). Total gross to date is $10.3 million. Budget was $20 million.

#10 Contagion holds at #10 with a weekend gross of $2.9 million (-40.0%) in 2250 theaters (-494). Total gross to date is $69.0 million. Budget was $60 million.

#11 Abduction drops from #7 to #11 with a weekend gross of $2.8 million (-48.4%) in 2591 theaters (-527). Total gross to date is $23.3 million. Budget was $35 million.

#12 Killer Elite drops from #9 to #12 with a weekend gross of $2.2 million (-55.2%) in 2411 theaters (-575). Total gross to date is $21.6 million. Budget was $70 million.

The combined gross of the top 12 movies this weekend was $85.1 million (-5.0%).

New movies debuting in wide release this weekend are The Big Year, Footloose (2011), and The Thing (2011).

A note on “Gross”: On average, studios will earn approximately 55 percent of the final gross.

Sources:
Box Office Mojo