Oprah's Butler Opens at No. 1

Pulls in $25M in first movie in 15 years
By Polly Davis Doig,  Newser Staff
Posted Aug 18, 2013 12:46 PM CDT
Oprah's Butler Opens at No. 1
Oprah Winfrey as Gloria Gaines and Forest Whitaker as Cecil Gaines in a scene from "Lee Daniels' The Butler."   (AP Photo/The Weinstein Company, Anne Marie Fox, File)

Oprah Winfrey closed out her first weekend at the box office in 15 years as a winner, with The Butler pulling in a cool $25 million to claim the No. 1 spot. The movie was supposed to be neck-and-neck with Kick Ass 2, notes the LA Times, but the latter performed significantly short of expectations with only $13.6 million and the No. 4 position. “Oprah Winfrey is a huge factor as to why this movie was so popular,” says a Weinstein Co. exec. “People really want to see her, and she worked very hard on it.” Rounding out the weekend's new releases were Jobs at No. 7 with a truly underwhelming $6.7 million, and Liam Hemsworth insta-flop Paranoia, with $3.5 million. (Read more box office stories.)

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