Ticket Sales For “Riddick” Of Vin Diesel Reach $18.7 Million
“Riddick” of Vin Diesel opened with $18.7 million in ticket sales as it topped the box office in the domestic market recently. The third installment of the movies series was expected to open at around $20 million basing on prerelease monitoring. The initial installment of the series, “Pitch Black,” debuted with $11.6 million over a decade ago in February 2000. “The Chronicles of Riddick” opened with $24.3 million when it was initially released in June 2004
The rights to the character of the movie are currently owned by Vin Diesel. Universal, which produced the first two installments of the series, has the distribution rights of the movie in the US.
The weekend following the Labor Day is normally listless, but Riddick helped in increasing revenue 24 percent compared to the same weekend last year. Imax theaters in 314 locations earned $2.5 million for the movie. A big percentage of the audience was composed of males and Hispanics.
Although Universal expected the movie to reach $20 million in sales, it was still a good result, according to Nikki Rocco of Universal. In addition to Vin Diesel, the movie also has Matt Nable, Jordi Molla, Dave Bautista, Katee Sackhoff, Bokeem Woodbine, and Raoul Trujillo on its cast.
Coming in second was “The Butler” of Lee Daniels as it grossed $8.9 million. The movie stars Oprah Winfrey and Forest Whitaker. Sales of the historical drama have already reached $91.9 million in the North American market. Third place went to “We’re the Millers” as ticket sales reached $7.9 million. The R-rated comedy from New Line has already earned $123.8 million.
“Instructions Not Included,” a Spanish-language movie grossed $8.1 million as it opened in over 700 locations. Sales of the comedy from Lionsgate and Pantelion have already reached $20.3 million.
“Riddick” is expected to open in twenty-two international markets over the coming weekend.