Weekend Box Office: Grand Re-Opening

In an all-around successful weekend, both Adam Sandler’s animated sequel and Nancy Meyers’ new film opened to solid numbers, alongside the expansions of some films that did well in limited release.

Sony has had a hard time filling seats this year, so the new September record-holder ‘Hotel Transylvania 2‘ comes as a major win for the studio. The original ‘Hotel Transylvania‘ set September’s highest-opening record with $42.5 million in 2012, yet the sequel just trumped it with $47.5 million. With positive word-of-mouth, the film’s success won’t stop here.

Starring Robert De Niro and Anne Hathaway, Nancy Meyers’ latest was also a nice win. ‘The Intern‘ pulled in $18.2 million, making it Meyer’s third-best opening to date. Also carrying very positive word-of-mouth, it’s estimated that the dramedy will hold over well and have a very healthy theatrical run.

Last weekend’s top movie, ‘Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials‘, saw so-so second week success with $14 million. The 54% drop-off in attendance shows that fans front-loaded the debut weekend, but the movie still had decent draw outside the established fan base. After ten days, the $61 million YA adaptation has earned $51.6 million domestically and $121.7 million overseas so far. It’s certain that Fox will continue the franchise.

Pushing its IMAX-exclusive release to all types of theater screens, ‘Everest‘ closed out its expansion weekend with $13 million. The $55 million true story drama now has $23.1 million under its belt, not to mention $73.7 million from overseas showings.

Dropping 49% in attendance, last weekend’s second place release ‘Black Mass‘ rounded out the Top 5. The Johnny Depp organized crime drama added $11.5 million to its run, giving it a ten-day total of $42.6 million.

Eli Roth’s long-delayed cannibal horror flick ‘The Green Inferno‘ debuted to $3.4 million from 1,540 locations. That equates to an unfortunate per-screen average of $2,269. The low totals and ninth place opening come as a disappointment to distributor High Top Releasing.

With an expansion to 59 screens, Lionsgate’s theatrical run of war-on-drugs thriller ‘Sicario‘ continues to outdo expectations. Rounding out the Top 10, the film’s $1.7 million second week gave it a ten-day total of $2.3 million. The momentum ought to help ‘Sicario’ during this coming third week when it expands nationwide.

Meanwhile, Roland Emmerich’s ‘Stonewall‘ had a terrible opening. From 129 locations, the clichéd drama only grossed $112,414 for a lousy per-screen average of just $871.

Top 10:

1. ‘Hotel Transylvania’ (Sony) – $47,500,000

2. ‘The Intern’ (Warner Bros.) – $18,225,000

3. ‘Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials’ (Fox) – $14,000,000

4. ‘Everest’ (Universal) – $13,090,000

5. ‘Black Mass’ (Warner Bros.) – $11,510,000

6. ‘The Visit’ (Universal) – $6,750,000

7. ‘The Perfect Guy’ (Screen Gems) – $4,750,000

8. ‘War Room’ (TriStar) – $4,275,000

9. ‘The Green Inferno’ (HTR) – $3,494,000

10. ‘Sicario’ (Lionsgate) – $1,770,000

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