Weekend Box Office: 'Carrie' Disappoints, 'The Fifth Estate' Implodes

There were several lessons to be learned at the box office this weekend. The most obvious was that "Gravity" still has a lot of life left in it. For the third week in a row, Sandra Bullock's space thriller easily outpaced every other film to win the box office race. That was a foregone conclusion going into the weekend, though. The week's other lessons wouldn't be clear until mid-day Sunday.

First of all, we learned that "Gravity" and "Captain Phillips" are still willing to play nicely together at the box office. Tom Hanks' nautical thriller took second place for the second weekend in a row. The film took in an estimated $17.3 million this weekend.

Next, we learned that low-budget horror isn't necessarily a sure thing. The reboot of Stephen King's "Carrie" brought in $17 million, but it fell short of "Captain Phillips" and didn't even come close to "Gravity." If it has the typically horror-movie second-week drop off, its long-term performance will be disappointing.

Then we learned that Arnold Schwarzenegger's career as a superstar action hero is probably over—and Sylvester Stallone's doesn't look so healthy, either. "Escape Plan," the action flick starring the two big names from the 80s, opened with a very weak $9.8 million. It's the second straight disappointing performance for Schwarzenegger, whose "The Last Stand" flopped in January.

Finally, we learned that not many movie-goers are interested in the story of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. "The Fifth Estate" was the big bomb of the week; it took in only $1.7 million and will likely close under $10 million.