Box Office: People Love Epidemics, ‘Contagion’ Opens Big

Steven Soderbergh seems to have found his new Clooney, as Matt Damon has helped the man snag a #1 spot twice now with The Informant! and as of this weekend, Contagion.

Hard to believe a film about a virus wiping out the likes of Gwyneth Paltrow, Jude Law, and Laurence Fishburne could bring in $25 million worldwide in the first weekend, but that’s just what it’s done. Not terrible, considering the film’s budget was a measly $60 million (most of which likely went to the ensemble cast).

Following up in the top 5, The Help finally got knocked from its #1 spot for the first time in 3 weeks and finally hit the $140 million mark. In third, another new release, as the “Rocky of UFC” movie, Warrior, opened to a quiet response, with only $5.6 million.

In fourth place, political thriller The Debt managed to drop off significantly from last week and only pull in an estimated $5 million this weekend.

Finally, the truly sad news of the weekend is that the Nick Swardson vehicle Bucky Larson: Born to Be a Star had a pretty terrible weekend. The film opened in 15th place with only $1.4 million total. Between the C-list cast and the film’s extensive marketing strategy, that $1.4 was only a drop in the bucket of the film’s $10 million budget.

Next weekend, Disney tries to drain more blood from their Lion King franchise with a 3D re-release, Sarah Jessica Parker attempts to capitalize on the trail of her Sex and the City popularity, and the reboot of Straw Dogs opens to the world.