Here’s a question we’ll be pondering for the next little while: Did Elysium succeed because it’s exactly the same movie as District 9, but dumber? Was it the absence of a clunky apartheid metaphor that let Neill Blomkamp’s dull-witted SF action thriller connect to megaplex audiences, or was it just the presence of Matt Damon and the promise of awesome splattery action? Because Elysium has not a thought in its head beyond “District 9 but louder“, and Blomkamp doesn’t even have that much going on in his. It’s terrible, but it opened in first place with $30.5 million, and that’s ultimately all that matters.
The week’s other new releases did okay too. We’re the Millers came in second with $26.6 million; Planes was a distant third with $22.5 million and Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters was fourth with $14.6 million. 2 Guns dropped down to fifth place with $11.1 million, which is probably the most depressing thing about this week; it’s the one August release that’s actually fun and engaging, and everyone seems to have decided it’s already over.
People suck, is what I’m saying. And this is why we can’t have nice things.
Although it came in first this weekend, Elysium opened $7 million less than District 9 did four years ago, and District 9 didn’t have any notable stars or the benefit of IMAX ticket prices (not to mention the rise of general ticket prices in the meantime). So, as far as that goes, Elysium didn’t connect to megaplex audiences as well as hoped.
I can live with that. Christ, it was awful.