Matt Damon’s Elysium wins over Jennifer Aniston’s We’re the Millers at U.S. box office

Too much firepower helped Matt Damon’s innovative action movie Elysium beat Jennifer Aniston’s pot comedy We’re the Millers at the houseful U.S. box office over the weekend. Director Neill Blomkamp’s sequel to District 9, Elysium grossed a projected $30.5 million in three days, followed by the R-rated comedy earning $26.5 million.

The box-office weekend was crowded with four major releases. Disney's Planes opened in the third spot with $22.5 million and the teen fantasy Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters emerged fourth with $14.6 million. Though Elysium has been a huge grosser till date, Sony expected much more from Elysium in the domestic market. As projected by analysts, Elysium was supposed to gross $35 million in its first weekend. Hence the international market will prove very crucial to the film’s financial success. In Russia Elysium opened at No. 1 with $6.8 million.

Sony's head of distribution Rory Bruer stated, "We're very happy to be in the Neill Blompkamp business,” adding that, "There's a lot of summer left here in the U.S. and the tracking from overseas looks very good, so we're confident." We’re the Millers has been the second summer success for Warner Bros. and New Line, which have also delivered the latest horror hit The Conjuring. Warner Bros. distribution chief Dan Fellman told, “The screenings were very well-received and we had a lot of confidence in its playability. We figured the sooner we got it out there and let the word of mouth kick in the better, and you see what happened.” Planes has also proved a financial success for Disney though Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters couldn’t meet the expectations.