There was a lot of complaining this past summer over the needless surplus of sci-fi and comic book tentpoles delivered by the studios, but no one seems to have pointed out that if the studios really had any sense, they'd do nothing but put out smart horror films with production budgets roughly equivalent to Robert Downey Jr.'s personal grooming rider. While these films may make a splash and then quickly disappear, that splash is almost always enough to put the project into the black, and in the case of Insidious: Chapter 2, notch the second best September opening of all time. This was a strong weekend all around—The Butler went over $100M gross, and  a $14.5M opening for The Family must have its producers very happy.

Insidious: Chapter 2: $41M

James Wan
Paradigm - Scott Henderson
Stacey Testro International - Stacey Testro

Patrick Wilson
CAA - Rick Kurtzman
Anonymous Content - Tony Lipp

Rose Byrne
CAA - Hylda Queally
RGM Artists Pty Ltd (AU) - Robyn Gardiner

The Family: $14.5M

Luc Besson
Lichter, Grossman - Peter Nichols (attorney)

Robert De Niro
CAA - Josh Lieberman

Michelle Pfeiffer
CAA - Kevin Huvane
Management 360 - Suzan Bymel

Riddick: $7.01M 

David Twohy
ICM Partners - John Burnham

Vin Diesel
CAA - Jason Heyman
Brillstein Entertainment Partners - Stacy O'Neil

Katee Sackhoff
Gersh - Brett Norensberg
Bleu - Leland LaBarre

Lee Daniels' The Butler: $5.58M

Lee Daniels
CAA - Craig Gering

Forest Whitaker
WME - Brad Slater
Brillstein Entertainment Partners - JoAnne Colonna

Oprah Winfrey
WME - Ari Emanuel

We're the Millers: $5.42M

Rawson Marshall Thurber
CAA - Gregory McKnight

Jason Sudeikis
CAA - Jason Heyman
Brillstein Entertainment Partners - Geoff Cheddy

Jennifer Aniston
CAA - Kevin Huvane
Brillstein Entertainment Partners - Aleen Keshishian

Source: Box Office Mojo