BOX OFFICE REPORT (OCT. 11-13): 'Captain Phillips' and Tom Hanks Can Defeat Pirates But Are No Match for 'Gravity'

This weekend's box office gave us a glimpse at what lies in store for 2014's Oscars, with Gravity and Captain Phillips taking the top two spots. Both films are favorites for Best Picture nominations, with Gravity also angling for Best Director, Best Actress and Best Supporting Actor nominations and Captain Phillips being one of Tom Hanks' two 2013 roles that could earn him a Best Actor nomination.

Both Gravity and Captain Phillips continue the growing trend of Oscar contenders also doing surprisingly well at the box office. Last year, we saw Lincoln, Silver Linings Playbook and Argo grab moviegoers' attention.

1. Gravity (1)
Weekend gross: $44.27 million / Total domestic gross: $123.40 million / 
Percent drop: 20.7
With $123.40 million grossed through just it's second weekend, it's clear that Gravity is a blockbuster.* How high can Gravity's box office total go now? The $200 million mark should be an easy accomplishment. One of Box Office Mojo's reporters even thinks Gravity could gross $300 million. That would make it director Alfonso Cuaron's highest grossing movie, passing Harry Potter and Prisoner of Azkaban's $249.54 million. Yes, a simple film about a woman stuck in space could trump an installment of the great and powerful Harry Potter franchise.

2. Captain Phillips (N)

Weekend gross: $26.00 million / Total domestic gross: $26.00 million / 
Percent drop: NA
Captain Phillips is an excellent movie, but I don't know if it'll be the one that gives Hanks his record-tying third Oscar for Best Actor. His performance in Captain Phillips is top notch, but I didn't really emotionally connect with his character until the film's closing minutes. I'm very curious to see how Saving Mr. Banks, the movie featuring Hanks as Walt Disney, will impact the Captain Phillips/Best Actor campaign.

3. Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 (2)

Weekend gross: $14.20 million / Total domestic gross: $78.04 million / 
Percent drop: 32.2
After three weekends, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 is still running slightly behind its predecessor's box office numbers, trailing the first movie by roughly $3.5 million. When you take inflation and 3D ticket prices into account, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 should have higher numbers just to keep pace.

4. Machete Kills (N)

Weekend gross: $3.80 million / Total domestic gross: $3.80 million / 
Percent drop: NA
Machete was never a box office smash, but it still managed to wrangle up $11.42 million for its 2010 opening weekend. Machete Kills couldn't even gross $4 million. Yikes. Looks like this franchise has reached the end of its rope.

5. Runner Runner (3)

Weekend gross: $3.73 million / Total domestic gross: $14.11 million / 
Percent drop: 51.7

Would Ben Affleck and Justin Timberlake be better off if Runner Runner never even existed? I think so. The last thing Warner Bros. and Affleck needed leading up to the actor taking over the role of Batman was a box office stinker. That goes right in the face of the "Affleck's career evolution" storyline that we've been hearing for the past few years. If Argo was that tale's high note, Runner Runner was that awkward fart-noise sound a trumpet makes sometimes.

*I want to take this moment to note that a blockbuster is a movie that's done huge business at the box office. A lot of sites use "tentpole" and "blockbuster" interchangeably, which is wrong. For example, The Lone Ranger was a blockbuster that flopped. It was a tentpole movie that flopped. It was never a blockbuster since it only made like $7.

Next week's predictions

1. Carrie

2. Gravity

3. Captain Phillips

4. Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2

5. Escape Plan

SOURCE: Box Office Mojo