Appropriately enough for a period beginning on Friday the 13th, the nation's theaters were scared into submission this past weekend. The movie taking the top position in ticket sales over that time frame was a fresh debut, the horror movie sequel Insidious: Chapter 2. According to data compiled by Box Office Mojo, the film -- which is distributed by privately held FilmDistrict -- brought in $41 million over the weekend. That figure, incidentally, is more than three times that of the original Insidious' opening in 2011.
Second place belonged to another fresh release, mafia comedy The Family, starring Robert De Niro and Tommy Lee Jones. The film lagged quite a bit behind Insidious 2, grossing $14.5 million over the weekend, said Box Office Mojo. Like its better-performing rival, The Family is distributed by a privately held concern, Relativity Media.
Coming in third was another sequel, now in its second week of release. Riddick, the third film in a grim science-fiction series that began with 2000's Pitch Black, collected just over $7 million in ticket sales, according to Box Office Mojo. Comcast's (CMCSA 12.90%) Universal distributes the movie.
Rounding out the top five was a pair of veterans, Lee Daniels' The Butler and We're the Millers. Those offerings took in $5.6 million and $5.4 million, respectively, said Box Office Mojo. The former is served up by privately held distributor Weinstein Company, and the latter by Time Warner (TWX +0.00%) unit Warner Bros.
