Weekend Box Office (October 28 - 30, 2016)

by Gitesh Pandya

THIS WEEKEND Tyler beat Tom as the comedy Boo! A Madea Halloween held onto the number one spot for a second time leaving the Hanks sequel Inferno to settle for second place with a soft opening. Dropping only 40% from its stellar debut, Madea Halloween kept its box office crown grossing $17.2M, according to final studio figures. The Lionsgate hit has banked a superb $52.6M in ten days of play.

Normally, Perry's films see sharp second weekend tumbles of 50-60% as the fan base rushes out on the first week. But with the timely Halloween theme, many moviegoers were still interested in spending this final weekend before the pumpkin holiday seeing Madea dish out her patented brand of humor. Even with post-Halloween erosion, Boo! is set to become the second highest grossing film ever in Perry's directing career behind only 2009's Madea Goes to Jail which did $90.5M. A final tally of $70-75M may result.

Tom Hanks and director Ron Howard failed to pull in much of a crowd for their latest Robert Langdon film Inferno which opened to $14.9M from 3,576 locations for a mild $4,156 average. Moviegoer interest was lackluster as the PG-13 pic did not even come close to the results of its two predecessors. The DaVinci Code bowed to $77.1M in 2006 and 2009's follow-up Angels & Demons debuted to $46.2M - both in prime mid-May slots in the early part of the summer movie season. Those have stood as the two best live-action openings ever for Hanks, but clearly fans were not excited to revisit that world this time around.

Inferno followed a lengthy seven years later and was adapted from a less popular book. Plus its target audience of mature adults has been bombarded with numerous other star-driven dramas this fall with Inferno being the eighth one in as many weeks. The marketplace just did not need so many. Also impacting the box office this weekend was the World Series having games every night with ratings being the best in a decade.

Reviews were lousy for Inferno which also turned off ticket buyers. The Sony release carries a $75M budget - reasonable for a franchise film anchored by a major star. Overseas markets are being counted on big time here and the global cume is just under $150M already with top markets China and Japan launching this weekend.

More major Hollywood men followed with their latest films. Tom Cruise's Jack Reacher: Never Go Back tumbled 58% in its second round to $9.6M for a $39.8M cume for Paramount. Ben Affleck saw his action title The Accountant take in $8.5M, down 38%, for a $61.3M total for Warner Bros.

Universal saw two films follow with $7.1M for the horror sequel Ouija: Origin of Evil and $4.4M for The Girl on the Train. The fright pic declined by a reasonable 49% thanks to Halloween approaching and the crime thriller dipped 39%. Totals are $24.7M and $66M.

Fox also had a pair of releases. Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children dropped only 31% to $4.1M with $80M to date as one of the fall season's top grossers. But the comedy Keeping Up with the Joneses took in $3.4M, off 38%, and has banked a weak $10.8M to date. The Warner Bros. toon Storks followed with $2.9M, down just 29%, and $68.3M overall.

The Bollywood film Ae Dil Hai Mushkil opened at number ten with $2.2M from 302 locations for a solid $7,252 average. The FIP release is only the third foreign language film of 2016 to crack the North American top ten this year.

The top ten films grossed $74.2M which was up 27% from last year when The Martian stayed number one with $11.7M; but off 1% from 2014 when Ouija remained in the top spot with $10.7M.


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Watch the teaser for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2.

Compared to projections, Inferno debuted below my $22M forecast.

Be sure to check back on Thursday for a complete summary, including projections, for next weekend when Doctor Strange, Trolls, and Hacksaw Ridge all open.

# Title Oct 28 - 30 Oct 21 - 23 % Chg. Theaters Weeks AVG Cumulative Distributor
1 Boo! A Madea Halloween $ 17,220,312 $ 28,501,448 -39.6 2,299 2 $ 7,490 $ 52,564,655 Lionsgate
2 Inferno 14,860,425 3,576 1 4,156 14,860,425 Sony
3 Jack Reacher: Never Go Back 9,640,747 22,872,490 -57.9 3,780 2 2,550 39,769,924 Paramount
4 The Accountant 8,481,052 13,643,132 -37.8 3,402 3 2,493 61,263,224 Warner Bros.
5 Ouija: Origin of Evil 7,110,185 14,065,500 -49.4 3,168 2 2,244 24,678,810 Universal
6 The Girl on the Train 4,387,015 7,166,015 -38.8 2,758 4 1,591 66,035,495 Universal
7 Miss Peregrine's Home... 4,073,674 5,894,943 -30.9 2,797 5 1,456 79,977,854 Fox
8 Keeping Up with the Joneses 3,390,107 5,461,475 -37.9 3,022 2 1,122 10,794,420 Fox
9 Storks 2,851,140 4,003,270 -28.8 1,901 6 1,500 68,310,752 Warner Bros.
10 Ae Dil Hai Mushkil 2,190,042 302 1 7,252 2,190,042 FIP
11 Deepwater Horizon 2,094,121 3,399,466 -38.4 2,054 5 1,020 58,354,366 Lionsgate
12 Kevin Hart: What Now? 1,713,200 4,118,255 -58.4 1,656 3 1,035 21,941,755 Universal
13 The Magnificent Seven 1,338,477 2,285,095 -41.4 1,330 6 1,006 91,224,003 Sony
14 Middle School 1,262,430 2,178,487 -42.1 1,295 4 975 18,487,501 Lionsgate/CBS
15 Sully 932,251 1,490,479 -37.5 855 8 1,090 122,350,216 Warner Bros.
16 Moonlight 850,114 402,075 111.4 36 2 23,614 1,420,907 A24
17 Denial 624,607 954,159 -34.5 587 5 1,064 3,008,212 Bleecker St.
18 The Birth of a Nation 557,021 907,974 -38.7 404 4 1,379 15,084,172 Fox Searchlight
19 I'm Not Ashamed 450,982 927,161 -51.4 516 2 874 1,638,966 Pure Flix
20 A Man Called Ove 365,314 258,275 41.4 150 5 2,435 1,296,021 Music Box
Top 5 $ 57,312,721 $ 86,248,585 -33.5
Top 10 74,204,699 109,125,994 -32.0
Top 20 84,393,216 119,836,482 -29.6
Top 20 vs. 2015 84,393,216 70,148,569 20.3

Last Updated: November 1, 2016 at 4:50PM ET

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