The chill of October is in the air, and that means the next few months are going to be logjammed with blockbusters and awards-season movies as we head toward the end of the year. And this weekend certainly wasn’t lacking in spectacle for moviegoers.
Leading the way at the multiplex was Tim Burton‘s “Miss Peregrine’s Home For Peculiar Children,” which took the number one slot with $28.5 million. It’s certainly a nice bounce back for the director who saw his last couple of pictures, “Big Eyes” and “Frankenweenie,” struggle at the box office. And while “Dark Shadows” did eke out a slightly bigger opening a few years back with $29.6 million, that picture also cost more, and was a summer release starring Johnny Depp; expectations were much higher. I can’t imagine 20th Century Fox had any bigger goals in mind for ‘Peregrine,’ which has mostly been sold on its concept rather than its stars. And if it follows the “Dark Shadows” trajectory, it will wind up around $80 million domestic and a total in the neighborhood of $250 million worldwide. Basically, it’ll end up doing fine.
A bigger question mark, however, surrounds “Deepwater Horizon.” The first of two team-ups this fall from director Peter Berg and Mark Wahlberg, the oil-spill disaster drama somehow cost $156 million. So, Lionsgate and Summit will certainly be looking at the $20.6 million opening for the movie with some concern. Outside of his tentpole material, the numbers are still on the low end for Wahlberg (you’d have to go back to 2013’s “Pain & Gain” for a similar figure), and unless this really legs it out or becomes a big player internationally, the studio will likely be aiming for a break-even at the box office as the best-case scenario. But right now, that seems like a challenge.
Relativity might have angled their way out of legal trouble, but they still can’t manage to release a hit. The forever-delayed “Masterminds” starring Zach Galifianakis, Kristen Wiig, Owen Wilson and Jason Sudeikis fizzled with $6.6 million. It’s the worst opening for the studio since last year’s Kevin Costner racial-harmony drama “Black & White” that you forgot existed, and “Masterminds” opened on nearly 1,000 more screens. Will Relativity ever get back on track?
In limited release, the three-hour-plus Indian cricket drama “M.S. Dhoni: The Untold Story” was the highlight, earning $1.2 million from just over 250 screens. Elsewhere at the arthouse: Rachel Weisz‘s Holocaust drama “Denial” earned $102,000 on five screens; “American Honey” took home $75,370 on four screens; “A Man Called Ove” did $61,000 in nine cinemas; and “Do Not Resist” scored $7,150 from a single theater.
1. “Miss Peregrine’s Home For Peculiar Children” — $28.5 million
2. “Deepwater Horizon” — $20.6 million
3. “The Magnificent Seven” — $15.7 million ($61.6 mil.)
4. “Storks” — $13.8 million ($38.8 mil.)
5. “Sully’ — $8.4 million ($105.3 mil.)
6. “Masterminds” — $6.6 million
7. “Queen Of Katwe” — $2.6 million ($3 mil.)
8. “Don’t Breathe” — $2.37 million ($84.7 mil.)
9. “Bridget Jones’s Baby” — $2.33 million ($20.9 mil.)
10. “Snowden” — $2 million ($18.7 mil.)