Weekend Wrap-up
Sully Leads Again; Blair Witch Scares Nobody
By Tim Briody
September 18, 2016
In fourth place we have Snowden, Oliver Stone’s biopic on the man responsible leaking large amounts of classified surveillance information, starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt. Earning just $8 million, it’s shaping up to be a disappointment. It’s actually one of the lowest openings in Stone’s career. He hadn’t had a wide release open to less than $10 million since 1998’s U-Turn. The topic is something people generally don’t like to talk about, and given that Stone essentially portrays Snowden as a hero, it’s not a film with a big audience. The cast (also Nicolas Cage, Timothy Olyphant, Shailene Woodley, Melissa Leo and Zachary Quinto) may have drawn a few people in, but I don’t think they got what they were expecting. It’ll disappear quickly from here.
Horror hit Don’t Breathe is in fifth with $5.6 million, down 32% from last weekend. It’s earned $75.3 million in four weekends in theaters. It’s made its reported $10 million budget back many times over, and is one of the biggest horror hits of the year. It’s headed to a total of about $90 million.
African-American targeted thriller When the Bough Breaks takes a big hit in its second weekend, down a big 61% to sixth place and $5.5 million. That’s generally par for the course for this genre; September 2014’s No Good Deed and September 2015’s The Perfect Guy each had over 60% declines in their second frames after solid opening weekends. When the Bough Breaks has earned $22.6 million in 10 days and is headed to about $40 million, just fine for its $10 million budget.
Suicide Squad isn’t ending its run without a fight, it takes seventh place on the weekend with $4.7 million, off 18% from last weekend. After some concerns it wouldn’t hit $300 million after a $133 million opening, its now earned $313 million in seven weekends in theaters. The jewel(?) of the DC Cinematic Universe is headed to $330 million.
Animated entry The Wild Life surprised last weekend and holds pretty well with $2.6 million, down 21% from last weekend. With nothing else out there for younger audiences, it’s made $6.6 million on pure “well, gotta take the kids to see *something*” alone.
More animated entries occupy the bottom of the top ten, as Laika’s Kubo and the Two Strings is in 9th with $2.5 million, giving it $44.2 million in five weekends and Pete’s Dragon takes tenth with $1.9 million, putting it at $72.8 million in six weekends.
Outside the top ten, faith-based entry Hillsong looked to crash the top ten after taking eighth place on Friday with $628,000, but its $1.3 million weekend was only good for 13th place.
This weekend of box office couldn’t hold a candle to last year, when Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials and Black Mass both opened well, giving the top 12 films $98.6 million, while this year’s top 12 could only manage $74.6 million. Next weekend, The Magnificent Seven remake looks to turn things around, as well as something new for families in the form of the animated Storks.
| 1 |
Sully |
Warner Bros. |
$22,000,000 |
-37% |
$70,541,000 |
| 2 |
Blair Witch |
Lionsgate |
$9,650,000 |
New |
$9,650,000 |
| 3 |
Bridget Jones's Baby |
Universal |
$8,240,000 |
New |
$8,240,000 |
| 4 |
Snowden |
Open Roads Films |
$8,023,329 |
New |
$8,023,329 |
| 5 |
Don't Breathe |
Sony |
$5,600,000 |
-32% |
$75,329,000 |
| 6 |
When the Bough Breaks |
Sony |
$5,525,000 |
-61% |
$22,698,000 |
| 7 |
Suicide Squad |
Warner Bros. |
$4,710,000 |
-18% |
$313,782,000 |
| 8 |
The Wild Life |
Lionsgate |
$2,650,000 |
-21% |
$6,664,269 |
| 9 |
Kubo and the Two Strings |
Focus Features |
$2,500,000 |
-21% |
$44,250,000 |
| 10 |
Pete's Dragon |
Disney |
$2,041,000 |
-34% |
$72,805,525 |
| 11 |
Hell or High Water |
Lionsgate |
$1,925,000 |
-22% |
$22,725,000 |
| 12 |
Bad Moms |
STX Entertainment |
$1,789,000 |
-31% |
$110,000,000 |
| |
Also Opening/Notables |
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Box office data supplied by Exhibitor Relations
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