Weekend Box Office Estimates: Lee Daniels' "The Butler" is Number One

As the summer movie season draws to a close, many films are under performing, including The Smurfs 2 and Elysium. Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters is also off to a slow start, but its overseas take is expected to be much greater, similar to the first installment, Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief. Even newly released films are having a tough time, including Jobs, which opened with under $7 million, and Paranoia, which failed to crack the top ten. However, Lee Daniels' The Butler (pictured above) is off to a strong start and captured the top spot, with an estimated $25 million. In addition, the comedy We're the Millers is nearing the $70 million mark in its second week of release and only dropped about 30% from its debut, making it very profitable for Warner Bros. and New Line.

Here are the Top Ten Weekend films, according to early estimates (numbers are in millions):

 1. Lee Daniels' The Butler - $25.0 (Weinstein Company)

2. We're the Millers - $17.8 (Warner Bros./New Line)

3. Elysium - $13.6 (Sony/TriStar)

4. Kick-Ass 2 - $13.6 (Universal)

5. Planes - $13.1 (Disney)

6. Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters - $8.4 (Fox)

7. Jobs - $6.7 (Open Road)

8. 2 Guns - $5.6 (Universal)

9. The Smurfs 2 - $4.6 (Sony/Columbia)

10. The Wolverine - $4.4 (Fox)