It took animation for Adam Sandler to rediscover box office success with Hotel Transylvania after the miserable debuts of That’s My Boy and Jack and Jill during the past year. Thank the assistance of younger demo-friendly voice cast member Selena Gomez or simply appearing in a film people actually want to see, but Sandler’s voice at least is finally back in the winning column.
Hotel Transylvania scared up a big $11 million opening day on Friday and scores a hit for not only Sandler, but co-star Kevin James and studio Sony Pictures Animation. The animated tale about a hotel for monsters and creatures is on pace to wrap its opening weekend somewhere in the range of $35 to $40 million. Based on the strong opening day and lack of new competition, I expect Hotel Transylvania to pick up steam on Saturday and close above $40 million through Sunday.
As expected, the sci-fi time travel tale Looper starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Bruce Willis took second place. Its $6.9 million opening day puts it on pace to wrap the weekend somewhere in the neighborhood of $20 million.
Third through fifth positions all went to holdovers from last weekend. End of Watch shaved off 48 percent of its opening day business to come in at $2.4 million. Not far behind was House at the End of the Street with $2.3 million off a 50 percent decline. Trouble with the Curve continues to miss the strike zone with moviegoers with a 45 percent drop to $2.3 million.
Stop back tomorrow to learn if Hotel Transylvania reached $40 million, if Looper reached $20 million, and if this weekend managed to finish close to or eclipse the same weekend a year ago, something that hasn’t been happening at the box office over the past two months.
