"Lee Daniels' The Butler” is on its way to a repeat victory at the weekend box office, as it easily outperformed three new wide releases Friday.
The Oprah Winfrey-Forest Whitaker civil rights saga brought in $4.8 million, and should finish with about $16 million for the three days. It's good news for the Weinstein Company. A solid second-week hold — it was off just 43 percent from last Friday — would indicate its mature-skewing Oscar hopeful has a good shot at playing through the awards season.
The debuting teen fantasy "Mortal Instruments: City of Bones” and horror movie "You're Next” failed to connect, and were bunched with the other wide opener, the Simon Pegg-Edgar Wright comedy "The World's End,” after Friday.