Weekend Box Office: How Peculiar

One year ago at this time, ‘The Martian’ tore up the box office. Even the combined debut totals for this weekend’s two biggest releases couldn’t come close to matching that movie’s numbers.

Although both of the new wide releases opened in perfect alignment with studio expectations, this weekend was hardly anything to brag about. In addition, Relativity’s long-delayed comedy fell short and Disney’s dramatic expansion didn’t gain any traction with moviegoers.

Even when his live-action films are completely uninspired, Tim Burton’s name still draws audiences… for now. ‘Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children‘ may have topped this weekend’s charts, but the $110 million YA adaptation only grossed $28.5 million domestically. Overseas, however, it made $36.5 million. The $65 million worldwide opening may seem good enough, but the movie has a long way to go to recoup its budget and marketing costs, which I presume are steep since it was advertised incessantly over the last couple weeks. There’s no word yet on whether Fox will pursue adapting the other two books from the novel trilogy.

Opening in second place was Peter Berg’s true story disaster picture ‘Deepwater Horizon‘. The Mark Wahlberg vehicle earned $20.6 million domestically and $12.4 million from 33 overseas markets, only three of which were major. Also produced for $110 million, ‘Deepwater’ will similarly need strong holdover in the coming weeks. Thanks to good word-of-mouth and encouraging international numbers, it might not be hard to pull off.

The Magnificent Seven‘ had a hard time rounding up viewers over its second week. After underperforming in its debut last week, the remake dropped 55%. That $15.7 million draw places its ten-day total at $61.6 million. Even with $46.5 million from international showings, the $108.1 million worldwide total indicates that this $90 million Western isn’t likely to turn a profit at the box office.

On the other side of the coin, the #4 and #5 titles held over quite well. Warner Bros.’ animated family film ‘Storks‘ opened below expectations last week but only fell 35%. The additional $13.8 million brings its ten-day total to $38.8 million. It has also made $38.8 million overseas, giving this $70 million flick a worldwide total of $77.6 million.

In fifth place, the four-week-old ‘Sully‘ dropped a light 38% with $8.4 million, and crossed the domestic $100 million mark. ‘Sully’ continues to glide overseas as well. Combining the domestic $105.3 million with the overseas $46.3 million, the Clint Eastwood/Tom Hanks film has now earned $151.6 million worldwide.

Even with an ensemble cast of well-known comedic actors, Jared Hess’ ‘Masterminds‘ couldn’t find an audience. From more than 3,000 screens (who in the hell thought it would be a good idea to roll this eclectic thing out to that many theaters?), Relativity’s troubled heist comedy only pulled $6.6 million and finished in sixth place. There’s no word on how much the movie cost to produce, but considering that this isn’t typically the brand of comedy that plays well overseas, these domestic numbers can’t be good. Will any studio stand behind Hess after this considering his track record?

The expansion of Disney’s ‘Queen of Katwe‘ also disappointed. The film’s underwhelming limited roll-out was followed by a lackluster nationwide expansion. From 1,242 screens, the inspirational chess drama only collected $2.6 million. Luckily, that was enough to land in the #7 spot, but it’s the money that counts. So far, the $15 million picture has only made $3 million domestically and has yet to open overseas.

Top 10:

1. ‘Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children’ (Fox) – $28,500,000

2. ‘Deepwater Horizon’ (Summit) – $20,600,000

3. ‘The Magnificent Seven’ (Sony) – $15,700,000

4. ‘Storks’ (Warner Bros.) – $13,800,000

5. ‘Sully’ (Warner Bros.) – $8,400,000

6. ‘Masterminds’ (Relativity) – $6,600,000

7. ‘Queen of Katwe’ (Buena Vista) – $2,608,000

8. ‘Don’t Breathe’ (Screen Gems) – $2,375,000

9. ‘Bridget Jones’s Diary’ (Universal) – $2,330,000

10. ‘Snowden’ (Open Road) – $2,029,390

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