'Riddick' Box Office Tops The Weekend, Besting 'The Butler'
Vin Diesel's Riddick bested The Butler to become the new box office champion for the fall, The Los Angeles Times reported September 8.
Riddick , the live adventure flick, took in nearly $19 million. The character in the movie is what brought Diesel to prominence early on in his career. Previous movies in the installment include the 2000 film Pitch Black and the 2004 sequel The Chronicles of Riddick. The latter was a flop and the studio took its time before putting out another movie in the series. They were pleased by the performance of the latest offering.
"His audience, they adore him," said Nikki Rocco, Universal's president of domestic distribution. "I think he delivers to the action crowd."
The critics were also just as receptive to the Diesel led film. Michael Phillips reviewed the movie for the Times.
"The audience comes away sated. In the 13 years since the first Riddick chronicle, Diesel has discovered what it means to be a certain kind of movie star, working hard but not too, serving material that, here, does what it's supposed to do," Phillips said.
Riddick easily defeated previous box office champion The Butler. The Lee Daniels directed movie took in another $8.9 million, bringing its total to $92 million. We're the Millers came in fourth place with an estimated $7.9 million. It has now grossed $124 million. One Direction: This Is Us, the documentary following One Direction pulled in $4.1 million.
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