Weekend Box Office: Eek!

This weekend brought some surprising twists. Chief among them, Tyler Perry’s latest comedy beat out Tom Cruise’s new action flick, which was expected to win the box office.

Tyler Perry’s ‘Madea’ franchise has had a very successful track record, but the last one, ‘Tyler Perry’s A Madea Christmas’, hit a franchise low with its debut. Three years later, Madea is not only back, but back to kicking high. From 2,260 screens, ‘Boo! A Madea Halloween‘ opened in first place with $27.6 million, making it the third-biggest opening of the seven ‘Madea’ movies. Produced on a light $20 million budget (looking at the production quality in the trailers, I’m surprised it cost that much), Madea is undead and well.

In 2012, Tom Cruise’s ‘Jack Reacher‘ had a horrible domestic opening. Grossing just $15.2 million from 3,352 screens, it made Hollywood question whether Cruise still had star power. Two years later, the same happened with ‘Edge of Tomorrow’. However, not only did both of those movies hold over well, they made an absolute killing at the international box office. As a result, this weekend delivered a second adaptation from Lee Childs’ ‘Jack Reacher’ book series. While its box office returns were good, it would have been nice if the movie itself could have delivered. From 3,780 screens, ‘Jack Reacher: Never Go Back‘ drew $23 million, a nearly $8 million improvement over the first. Another $31 million came from overseas, giving the $60 million follow-up a $54 million worldwide kick-off. Although ‘Never Go Back’ is off to a much better start, with attendance declining between Friday and Sunday, it’s unlikely that it will reach the $218.3 million worldwide heights of the first.

Two titles are currently neck-and-neck for third place. The weekend estimates figure one slightly ahead of the other, but that could all change when the actuals are announced later today.

For now, the title in the #3 spot is the horror prequel ‘Ouija: Origin of Evil‘. On this same weekend in 2014, the original ‘Ouija‘ opened to $19.8 million. Although raked over the coals by critics, its $103 million global returns made the $5 million PG-13 picture a huge success. Although ‘Origin of Evil’ opened behind the original with $14 million, reviews and word-of-mouth are much stronger. Overseas, it earned $7.9 million, for a global start of $21.9 million. Produced on a $9 million budget, it’s nearly profitable already, meaning that we’ll likely see more ‘Ouija’ in the near future. Outlook Good… oh wait, that’s from the Magic 8 Ball. When do you think Hollywood will turn that toy into a movie franchise?

Estimated to be just $35,000 behind ‘Ouija’ is last week’s winner, ‘The Accountant‘ . With a mild 43% dip in the face of ‘Jack Reacher’, these numbers are excellent. Produced on a $44 million budget, the Ben Affleck thriller has now earned $47.9 million domestically and $10.2 million from a handful of mid-size international markets.

Rounding out the Top 5, three-week-old ‘The Girl on the Train‘ fell 41%, which is also pretty good considering the competition. The film’s $7.2 million weekend brings its 17-day total up to $58.9 million. To date, the $45 million thriller has made $45.1 million overseas, for a worldwide gross of $104 million.

Four weeks ago, Zach Galifianakis’ ensemble comedy ‘Masterminds’ opened to $6.5 million. This weekend, his new ensemble action-comedy had an even worse start. From 3,022 screens, ‘Keeping Up with the Joneses‘ debuted in the #7 spot to $5.6 million. With a production budget estimated at $40 million, this opening and its accompanying $1,853 per-screen-average point to it being a flop.

Top 10:

1. ‘Boo! A Madea Halloween’ (Lionsgate) – $27,600,000

2. ‘Jack Reacher: Never Go Back’ (Paramount) – $23,000,000

3. ‘Ouija: Origin of Evil’ (Universal) – $14,060,000

4. ‘The Accountant’ (Warner Bros.) – $14,025,000

5. ‘The Girl on the Train’ (Universal) – $7,270,000

6. ‘Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children’ (Fox) – $6,000,000

7. ‘Keeping Up with the Joneses’ (Fox) – $5,600,000

8. ‘Kevin Hart: What Now?’ (Universal) – $4,110,000

9. ‘Storks’ (Warner Bros.) – $4,085,000

10. ‘Deepwater Horizon’ (Summit) – $3,625,000

1 comment

  1. Bolo

    So maybe we’ll get ‘Jack Reacher 3’? I liked the first one, but everybody seems to agree the second installment had all the fun sucked out of it (I haven’t seen it yet). Cruise should recruit Guy Ritchie or Brian Helgeland (or both) to bring the energy and snap back for the third one if it happens.

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