Tyler Perry’s Boo! A Madea Halloween took advantage of the upcoming Halloween holiday to remain the number one movie in North America this weekend. The news wasn’t as good for the new Tom Hanks thriller Inferno. The weekend’s sole new opener debuted with downright scary numbers –for a high-profile franchise- in second place. Overall, multiplexes were ghost towns nationwide thanks to Halloween festivities, the World Series and a tired selection of cinematic offerings.
Courtesy of a massive 70% spike in Saturday business, Boo! A Madea Halloween wound up easing only 41% in its second round on 2,299 screens to earn an estimated $16.6 million. It’s ten-day total stands at $52 million. Once Halloween comes and goes on Monday, the film should find itself in a post-holiday free fall, which will probably translate into a final gross near the $70 million mark. Should the $20 million production reach that milestone, Boo! will become Tyler Perry’s second-biggest grosser as a filmmaker.
It appears that the decade-long national nightmare known as the Robert Langdon franchise has come to an end. The Sony Pictures series that began in 2006 with The Da Vinci Code and continued with 2009’s Angels and Demons came to an end this weekend with the dismal $15 million earned from 3,576 theaters for the third feature, Inferno.
As was the case with Da Vinci and Angels, reviews were dismal for the $75 million Inferno, which reunites series director Ron Howard with star Tom Hanks, who plays code cracker Robert Langdon. The 20% approval earned by the new feature was slightly below the 25% branded on Da Vinci and well below the 37% earned by Angels and Demons. While ticket buyers tended to ignore the negative feedback on Da Vinci and Angels, they seem to be listening to the warnings on Inferno.
Sony can also take some of the credit for the film’s non-opening. While the first two films were heavily marketed and opened at the start of the summer movie season, Inferno was quietly dumped into the market during one of the worst weekends of the year for business (that dismal poster didn’t help much either). Given the chilly domestic reception, Sony will be lucky to see Inferno reach the $35 million mark by the end of its run, $11 million below the opening weekend numbers for Angels and Demons and a whopping $42 million lower than the debut for Da Vinci Code.
Despite its quick death in North America, the foreign markets for Inferno tell another story. The feature has ignited a sizeable $132 million so far after three weeks, which could help Sony recoup its investment and perhaps help the movie push into profitability. Let’s just hope it’s not enough to justify another Robert Langdon big screen adventure.
Another sequel that no one was asking for, Paramount’s Jack Reacher: Never Go Back, crumbled by 58% in its second round to earn $9.5 million from 3,780 theaters. After ten days, the total for the Tom Cruise sequel stands at $39.6 million with a $50 million domestic final possible. Foreign totals are currently $54 million for Reacher’s second and final cinematic go around.
Warner’s The Accountant remained in fourth place for a second weekend. The Ben Affleck thriller earned $8.5 million from 3,402 theaters to bring its total to $61.2 million. The feature should wind down with approximately $80 million. Rounding out the top five was Universal’s horror prequel Ouija: Origin of Evil with $7 million. Off 50%, the $9 million production has earned $24.6 million and should finish with a profitable $35 million.
Getting a jump on next weekend’s domestic debut, Disney/Marvel’s Doctor Strange conjured up a big $86 million from overseas this weekend. The Benedict Cumberbatch fantasy epic opens Stateside on Thursday and is forecasted to earn between $65-75 million next weekend, an opening in line with the first Thor and Captain America features.
- The Girl on the Train (Universal) $4.2 million (-40%); $66 million
- Miss Peregrine (Fox) $3.9 million (-33%) $80 million
- Keeping Up with the Joneses (Fox) $3.3 million (-38%); $10.7 million
- Storks (Warner) $2.7 million (-30%); $68.2 million
- Ae Dil Hai Mushkill (FIP) $2.1 million (NEW)
In addition to Doctor Strange, next weekend sees the arrival of the animated feature Trolls and the latest directorial effort from Mel Gibson, the acclaimed war drama Hacksaw Ridge.
