`` Van Helsing . '' In second with $ 10.4 million was the political thriller `` The Ides of March . '' The R-rated film -- which George Clooney directed , co-wrote , and co-stars in along with Ryan Gosling , Philip Seymour Hoffman , Paul Giamatti , Evan Rachel Wood , and Marisa Tomei -- particularly appealed to older women . According to Sony , 58 percent of the audience was female and 60 percent was over the age of 35 . The $ 12.5 million movie earned a `` B '' grade from CinemaScore participants , which is a bit lower than expected considering its awards buzz and positive reviews . `` The Ides of March '' will need to hold up well the next few weeks if it wants to keep its Oscar hopes alive . The rest of the top five consisted of prior releases that all dropped around -LRB- a very commendable -RRB- 35 percent from last week . In third place , the family film `` Dolphin Tale '' slipped 34 percent for $ 9.2 million , pushing the film 's cumulative tally to $ 49.1 million . The Brad Pitt baseball drama ``
-LRB- EW.com -RRB- -- `` Real Steel '' showed what it was made of , as the robot-boxing action drama won the weekend with an estimated $ 27.3 million . That 's the strongest opening ever for a boxing-themed picture , beating `` Rocky IV '' 's $ 20 million debut in 1985 -LRB- when not adjusting for inflation -RRB- . DreamWorks ' $ 110 million film , which was released by Disney 's Touchstone Pictures , scored a superb `` A '' rating from CinemaScore graders . That bodes well for the movie 's box-office stamina , especially since there are no other major family films hitting theaters until `` Puss in Boots '' pounces on October 28 . Unsurprisingly for a movie about mechanical fighters beating up one another , `` Real Steel '' skewed male -- 66 percent of the audience according to Disney . It also attracted a younger crowd , with 44 percent under the age of 25 . The PG-13 movie 's respectable opening must also come as a relief to star Hugh Jackman , who has n't had a non-X-Men film open to more than $ 20 million since 2004â $ ² s