AUG 16-18 BOX OFFICE REPORT: BUT(LER)-KICKS-ASS

Four new films opened nationwide in the US over the weekend, but only one of them impressed. Occupying the same mid-August slot that proved successful for Julie & Julia, Eat, Pray, Love and The Help in recent years, Lee Daniels' The Butler scored $24.6 million, which is behind only The Help among those titles. Comedy sequel Kick-Ass 2 flopped pretty hard, even by the first movie's middling standards: a weak $13.3 million start was only good enough for fifth place. Jobs, starring Ashton Kutcher, fared even worse, with $6.7 million, opening in seventh place. But lowest of the lot was corporate thriller Paranoia (13), whose $3.5 million was lower than Despicable Me 2 (11) in its seventh week and The Conjuring (12) in its fifth. It's now set to become the lowest-grossing film of star Harrison Ford's entire career, not even adjusting grosses for inflation.

We're the Millers was certainly the best performer among last weekend's four new releases. With just a 32% drop-off, it held on to second place, and is now significantly outgrossing Elysium, last weekend's No. 1. Elysium, Planes and Kick-Ass 2 were in a tight race for third place, with Elysium coming up top, and Kick-Ass 2 bottom. Neill Blomkamp's film's chances at a $100 million+ final total are now pretty much dead. Blue Jasmine (14) noted only a small decline in its earnings as it nearly doubled its theatre count. Limited openers were many, but none of them very successful. The highest was Austenland (45), and Ain't Them Bodies Saints (55) heavily disappointed, with a lower per-theatre average than Austenland despite opening in one less theatre. Lower down, The Patience Stone (72) failed to capitalise on its arthouse credentials.

The Winner / Highest Opener: Lee Daniels' The Butler ($24,637,312)

Top Per-Theatre Average: You Will Be My Son ($15,301)

Box Office Mojo has all the details you'll need.