Here are your top five films for the weekend of Oct 5th-7th:

1. Taken 2 - $50m (Opening Weekend) - ($45m production budget)
2. Hotel Transylvania - $26.3m = $76,000,000 10-Day Total - ($85m production budget)
3. Pitch Perfect - $14.7m = $21,600,000 10-Day Total - ($17m production budget)
4. Looper - $12.2m = $40,300,000 10-Day Total - ($30m production budget)
5. Frankenweenie - $11.5m (Opening Weekend) - ($39m production budget)

After a relatively slow month of September, which was capped off with a record breaking opening set by Hotel Transylvania, the month of October got kicked off to a huge start with all top five films earning eight figures at the box office. With two new wide releases and the expansion of limited release film the previous week, the one to top them all was the action sequel, Taken 2, starring Liam Neeson. In its opening weekend, the film doubled its predecessor’s opening take at $50 million this past weekend, easily surpassing its $45 million production budget. 

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After capping off the month of September with a record breaking opening of $43 million, Hotel Transylvania settled in nicely to a second place finish of $26.3 million in its second weekend. Over the course of its ten days of release, the film has grossed an estimated $76 million, just $9 million short of its $85 million production budget, and may surpass the $100 million mark by the end of the next weekend. 

Rising up to third is the musical comedy, Pitch Perfect. After getting a limited release last weekend, the movie expanded for a nation wide release resulting in a weekend gross of nearly $15 million. Over the first ten days of its release, the film has grossed over $21 million, surpassing its $17 million production budget. 

Dropping down from second to fourth is the sci-fi action thriller, Looper, from writer/director Rian Johnson. The film, starring Bruce Willis and Joseph Gordon-Levitt, settled for a weekend take of over $12 million bringing up its domestic total to over $40 million in ten days. 

Rounding out the top five is Tim Burton’s animated flick, Frankenweenie. 2012 is turning out to be a terrible year for the renowned director as each of his subsequent films has opened up to less and less money following his directed feature, Dark Shadows, and his produced action flick, Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter. Frankenweenie opened to paltry $11.5 million, less than 1/3 of its reported production budget of $39 million. 

Here’s how the rest of the top ten plays out:

6. End of Watch - $4m = $32,846,000 17-Day Total - ($7m production budget)
7. Trouble with the Curve - $3.87m = $29,710,000 17-Day Total - (production budget n/a)
8. House at the End of the Street - $3.698m = $27,531,000 17-Day Total - ($10m production budget)
9. The Master - $1.84m = $12,315,000 24-Day Total - (production budget n/a)
10. Finding Nemo 3D - $1.555m = $38,969,000 24-Day Total - (production budget n/a)

[BoxOfficeMojo]