Box office: ‘Gravity’ keeping ‘Captain Phillips’ down

Alfonso Cuarón’s “Gravity” remains a force at the box office.

Now in its second week of release, the 3-D outer space thriller outpaced the debut of “Captain Phillips” with an estimated $12.7 million earned on Friday. “Captain Phillips,” starring Tom Hanks and directed by Paul Greengrass, opened with $8.5 million in sales, according to estimates.

According to prerelease audience surveys, “Gravity” could stand to earn $40 million in its second weekend, which will push the film past the $100-million mark in U.S. and Canada. Targeting an adult audience, “Captain Phillips” was expected to open this weekend with $20 million.

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Based on the true story of a U.S. cargo ship captain who was kidnapped by Somali pirates in 2009, “Captain Phillips” received strong critical notice upon its release with a 95% positive score on the film review aggregation site Rotten Tomatoes. The only film to be ranked higher this season is “Gravity,” which earned a 97% positive rating.

Also opening this weekend, Robert Rodriguez’s sequel “Machete Kills” opened off the pace with an estimated $1.4 million in ticket sales on Friday. The numbers thus far place the action film starring Danny Trejo behind the earnings of the animated sequel “Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs 2,” which took in an estimated $3.5 million on Friday, but ahead of “Runner Runner.” The film starring Ben Affleck and Justin Timberlake is tracking for fifth place on the weekend after $1.1 million in sales on Friday.

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Twitter: @chrisbarton