Sony (SONY -0.71%) Pictures' science fiction action film Elysium, directed by District 9 director Neill Blomkamp and starring Matt Damon and Jodie Foster, topped the domestic box office this week, raking in $30.5 million. Overall, the film took in $41.4 million worldwide, according to media measurement site Rentrak.
Elysium managed to take the top spot domestically despite a crowded weekend at the box office. Sony's competing film Smurfs 2 captured the worldwide top spot this past weekend despite Elysium's strong domestic debut, as the family film pulled in $44.1 million across the globe (including $9.5 million domestically) to bring its cumulative total to more than $156 million.
Comedy film We're the Millers, distributed by Time Warner (TWX) subsidiary Warner Brothers, captured the runner-up spot at the domestic box office with sales of $26.5 million. Overall, the film has grossed sales of just over $38 million over its run.
Disney (DIS 0.16%) has put in a particularly strong run as of late, as its most recent film, Planes, opened to a strong third-place finish this weekend with a domestic run of $22.5 million. Apart from Planes, Disney's already hit the jackpot this summer with Iron Man 3, the latest product of its Marvel subsidiary that raked in more than $1.2 billion across the globe. That haul was enough to make the most recent film in the Iron Man saga the fifth highest-grossing film in history, according to a Wikipedia entry.
The weekend was enough to push the box office just past the pace of last year, which means that despite several spectacular flops this summer, Hollywood's 2013 is currently equal to its 2012. The year-to-date gross of $7 billion is even with last year, although attendance is down 2.9%.
-- Material from The Associated Press was used in this report.
