After three weeks of holding down the top of the box office, Tom Hanks and “Sully” have made way for another A-list star and his latest project, saddling up a remake of a classic Western.
“The Magnificent Seven” rode into cities across the country to the tune of $35 million. The film proved once again that movie stars don’t come much more bankable than Denzel Washington, who earned the third-biggest opening of his career with the flick (“American Gangster” and “Safe House” are in the first two slots). For director Antoine Fuqua, this is the best opening of his career to date, and it’s probably not much of a surprise why the filmmaker and star are looking to keep their lucrative relationship going by filming “The Equalizer 2” next year. If “The Magnificent Seven” follows the same trajectory as “The Equalizer” (which opened to $34 million), the Western should have no problem hitting the $101 million domestic that picture did, and should arguably do a bit more given its PG-13 rating. However, that film didn’t travel much overseas (only $90 million), so it’ll be interesting to see whether or not the more international cast with “The Magnificent Seven” makes much difference in that regard.
Flying into second place this week is Warner Bros. animated “Storks” with $21.8 million, which is on the very low end of what other animated hits like “Zootopia” and “The Secret Life Of Pets” did in their massive debut bows this year. This can’t be viewed as anything other than a disappointment for the studio, particularly for a film that cost $70 million. For comparison’s sake, “The Lego Movie” cost $60 million and earned $69 million on its opening weekend. Clearly, family audiences didn’t take to the concept or were too busy in the thick of the new school year and other fall activities to head out to the cinema.
Leading the limited release pack was Disney‘s “Queen Of Katwe,” with the warmly reviewed movie earning $305,000 on 52 screens. The per-screen average of $5,865 isn’t sensational, but the modest movie should do respectable business when it goes wide next week.
Elsewhere at the arthouse, things were mostly quiet with Kate Winslet‘s “The Dressmaker” earning $180,522, “Girl Asleep” taking in $2,700 from a single screen, and “Chronic” tallying $1,912 from a pair of theaters.
1. “The Magnificent Seven” — $35 million
2. “Storks” — $21.8 million
3. “Sully” — $13.8 million ($92.3 mil.)
4. “Bridget Jones’s Baby” — $4.5 million ($16.4 mil.)
5. “Snowden” — $4.1 million ($15.1 mil.)
6. “Blair Witch” — $3.9 million ($16.1 mil.)
7. “Don’t Breathe” — $3.8 million ($81.8 mil.)
8. “Suicide Squad” — $3.1 million ($318.1 mil.)
9. “When The Bough Breaks” — $2.5 million ($26.6 mil.)
10. “Kubo And The Two Strings” — $1.1 million ($45.9 mil.)