“Lee Daniels’ The Butler” rallied to overtake the concert film “One Direction: This Is Us” to win the Labor Day weekend box office race and become the first movie this year to finish No. 1 three consecutive weeks.
The Weinstein Company estimated the civil rights saga, starring Oprah Winfrey and Forest Whitaker, will bring in a little more than $20 million over the four-day holiday weekend. That was just enough to beat out Sony’s boy band music documentary, which finished with $18 million after leading the pack through the first three days.
“We’re surprised,” TWC’s distribution chief Erik Lomis told TheWrap, “and very proud.