Warner Bros. The Town from co-writer/director/actor Ben Affleck gunned its way to an estimated $8.3 million at the box office on Friday for a surprising first place win. The Boston crime drama should easily top $20 million through the weekend, more than enough for Warner to start celebrating an unexpected fall box office hit.
The film everyone thought was a sure pick to win the weekend, Easy A with Emma Stone, took second Friday with around $7 million in ticket sales. It should come in around $17 million through the weekend which, while not sitting atop the box office results, is still an outstanding opening for the low budget teen dramedy.
The elevator thriller Devil shrugged off incessant backlash against M. Night Shyamalan projects to haul in $5 million on Friday and put it on pace for around $12.5 million through Sunday. The first in a proposed series of ‘Night Chronicles’ films will now likely not be the last given Devil’s rather minuscule $10 million budget. A step back from the director’s chair turned out to be just what M. Night needed to steer his career in the right direction.
The last newcomer, the CGI kids flick Alpha and Omega, took in around $2.3 million Friday and should finish the weekend somewhere in the neighborhood of $7.5 million.
Check back Sunday for the complete weekend box office results.