Weekend Box Office: 90 Minutes of Fame

It’s only fitting that the weekend that sees M. Night Shyamalan return to form would feature a few twists.

The first twist is that Shyamalan’s new horror movie didn’t finish at the top of the box office. Instead, and despite a lack of advertising, the romantic thriller ‘The Perfect Guy‘ claimed first place with $26.7 million. Showing on 2,221 screens, the film’s draw resulted in an exceptional $12,022 per-screen average. Although expected to have a huge second week drop-off, for something made on a $12 million budget, the movie is already a much-needed win for Sony during this awful year.

The Visit‘ came in just $1 million behind that. From 3,069 screens, Shyamalan’s PG-13 horror flick grossed $25.7 million. That’s just $2 million behind his ‘After Earth’, which had a much bigger star in the lead. Making the feat even more impressive is the movie’s micro budget of just $5 million. Much like ‘The Perfect Guy’, at this point ‘The Visit’ is already a big success despite an inevitable drop in attendance next week.

War Room‘, the faith-based drama that made the big jump to first place last week, slipped down to third this week with a 22% decrease in attendance. Its $7.4 million brings the film’s 17-day total up to $39.1 million, which is quite the accomplishment for a $3 million picture.

Robert Redford and Nick Nolte’s ‘A Walk in the Woods‘ stumbled 44% and dropped one spot in its second week. Its fourth place finish and $4.6 million brings its theatrical run up to $19.8 million.

Rogue Nation‘ is the ‘Mission: Impossible’ entry that simply won’t give up. After seven weeks, the fifth theatrical installment is still in the Top 5. The Paramount picture added $4.1 million, bringing its domestic total up to $188.1 million. Overseas, it has made $424.8 million, giving the film a worldwide total of $612.9 million. Domestically, it’s the third-best of the franchise behind ‘Mission: Impossible II’ and ‘Ghost Protocol’. Worldwide, it’s the second-best behind ‘Ghost Protocol’.

With ‘War Room’ hogging the faith-based crowd’s attention, ‘90 Minutes in Heaven‘ had a difficult time connecting with its demographic. The Hayden Christensen/Kate Bosworth drama collected $2.1 million from 878 screens and finished in ninth place. Unless it can capitalize on the audience that has fueled ‘War Room’ thus far, the success of the $5 million film will be marginal for the small distributor.

Following suit with ‘The Perfect Guy’ and ‘The Visit’, IFC’s limited release ‘Sleeping with Other People‘ saw great success from its five screens. The raunchy Jason Sudeikis/Alison Brie indie comedy earned $103,125 and a per-screen average of $20,625, which is the best of any other title this weekend.

IFC’s second limited release of the weekend wasn’t as successful. The Richard Gere/Jena Malone drama ‘Time Out of Mind‘ opened to $15,216 from three locations, for a per-screen average of $5,072.

Top 10:

1. ‘The Perfect Guy’ (Screen Gems) – $26,700,000

2. ‘The Visit’ (Universal) – $25,690,000

3. ‘War Room’ (TriStar) – $7,400,000

4. ‘A Walk in the Woods’ (Broad Green) – $4,620,099

5. ‘Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation’ (Paramount) – $4,150,000

6. ‘Straight Outta Compton’ (Universal) – $4,090,000

7. ‘No Escape’ (Weinstein) – $2,879,000

8. ‘The Transporter Refueled’ (EuropaCorp) – $2,700,000

9. ’90 Minutes in Heaven’ (Goldwyn) – $2,160,911

10. ‘Un Gallo con Muchos Huevos’ (Pantelion) – $1,900,000

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