Your Weekend Box Office Actuals (10.03.16)
0Film | Weekend | Opening Weekend | Current Gross | |
Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children | $28.871 million | $28.871 million | $28.871 million | |
Deepwater Horizon | $20.223 million | $20.223 million | $20.223 million | |
The Magnificent Seven | $15.626 million | $34.703 million | $61.532 million | |
Storks | $13.476 million | $21.311 million | $38.487 million | |
Sully | $8.272 million | $35.028 million | $105.260million |
Director Tim Burton might be in some hot water with critics and fans for tone-deaf comments last week about the racial makeup of his newest movie, but it didn’t affect audience turnout at all. Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, adapted from the novel of the same name by Ransom Riggs, opened on the higher end this weekend, making a total of $28.8 million domestically (and a decent $37 million internationally). It’s the highest opening for Burton since 2012’s Dark Shadows (which opened only $1 million higher than Miss Peregrine) as well as a solid opener for lead actor Eva Green, falling short of her biggest films Casino Royale and 300: Rise of an Empire but topping other films she’s appeared in such as The Golden Compass and Kingdom of Heaven. It’s also one of the best openings for the younger star Asa Butterfield. However, if you’re not Alice in Wonderland, Burton films have a tendency to drop by about 50 percent give or take from their first to second weekends and it’s likely the same will happen to this film.
Deepwater Horizon, the new disaster film starring Mark Wahlberg, Kurt Russell, Gina Rodriguez, and teen favorite Dylan O’Brien opened to a lukewarm $20 million, which is a long way off its $110 million budget. The film doesn’t have the conservative right appeal of Lone Survivor nor the broad appeal of his comedies like Ted, Ted 2, and Daddy’s Home. Which is to say nothing of the behemoth that is Transformers. So all-in-all it wasn’t a great opening for the Lionsgate/Summit picture, especially given its budget, but it landed in its expected ballpark range and there’s certainly a lot worse it could have done. However, while it’s earning good reviews (it’s certified fresh at 83 percent on Rotten Tomatoes, better than any other film in the top five right now), it’s likely it will end up getting lost in the overwhelming shuffle of fall movies given it’s neither a superhero or sci-fi blockbuster and also not an awards contender.
Meanwhile, The Magnificent Seven remake fell 55 percent, which was a little more than expected. It’s crossed the $100 million worldwide, which bodes well for its $90 million budget and making a profit sometime in the near future, but it can’t be called a breakout film in any sense of the word, especially with the mixed reviews it’s received so far. Westerns have carved out an interesting spot for themselves in the 21st century, never quite disappearing completely, but with only a handful being able to make an impression on critics and audiences alike. As fun as people may find this film, it’s not changing the genre at all (except on the diversity front, which is definitely a good thing).
The Warner Bros. animated film Storks managed to fall less than 37 percent in its second weekend, capturing the remaining family audiences who hadn’t seen the film in its opening weekend. Hopefully it continued to enjoy the top five as it likely won’t make it there again in its third weekend, with high-profile films like The Birth of a Nation (as controversial as it may be) and The Girl on the Train opening, as well as a new family film, Middle School: The Worst Years of My Life. Plus, all three of those films are opening in at least 2,000 theaters, which won’t help any previously released films.
Finally, Sully crossed over $100 million domestically this weekend and currently sits at $151 million worldwide. While it won’t be in the top five again, it will still continue to make money and perhaps even get close to $200 million. It’s even more impressive when you realize this is Tom Hanks’ best opening since 2010’s Toy Story 3 and one of his best openings in his entire career. Yes, beloved Tom Hanks, America’s favorite actor, is not known for having the biggest openings in his career. Besides Toy Story 3, his last films that topped $30 million in the opening weekends were Angels & Demons in 2009 and The Da Vinci Code in 2006 and those had the added benefit of being based on bestselling novels (of which there is another film adaptation, also starring Hanks, opening at the end of the month, so we’ll see how that one does)
As mentioned previously, there are some big films opening this weekend and they’ll shake up the top five.
(Source: boxoffice.com, boxofficemojo.com. Figures represent numbers at time of writing, and may have changed.)
Anya Crittenton | Associate Editor