The two big new releases this weekend both performed well, and proved to be a shot in the arm at the box office, which desperately needed it after last weekends pathetic results. Leading the pack is The Perfect Guy, starring Sanaa Lathan, Morris Chestnut, and Michael Ealy, all three black actors who have anchored successful efforts in the past. Chestnut particularly is high profile right now as promos for Rosewood help put his face front and center. The film didn’t score well with critics (31% on Rotten Tomatoes), but fared better with audiences (A- cinemascore), and that could bode well for the rest of its run. The Perfect Guy opened well in the same frame that No Good Deed performed in last year, so expect a similar thriller in 2016.
M Night Shyamalan sought redemption this weekend, and kinda found it with The Visit, which scored an OK 62% on Rotten Tomatoes, and an iffy B- cinemascore. Don’t be mad about that cinemascore, horror films tend to score lower on average than films of other genres. He stayed out of the C territory, so this is pretty much par for the genre. Word of mouth won’t be great, but he opened a movie made for 5 million to 25M, so he’s proving himself again as a viable director.
The Christian release 90 Minutes In Heaven managed a Top 10 opening, even with War Room still performing well. Also, the spanish language Un Gallo Con Mucho Huevos managed to stay in the Top 10. In limited release, Sleeping With Other People had a 20K per screen average, leading the pack of newbies. Of the holdovers, Transporter fell a disturbing 63% in week 2, dropping to 8th. There can’t possibly be more Transporter films, can there? At least, not without Jason Statham.
Next weekend, look for The Maze Runner: Scorch Trials to find some fire, Johnny Depp’s Black Mass will do well, and Captive opens in 800 screens while Everest only gets 500. In limited release, Tobey Maguire’s buzzy Pawn Sacrifice opens, as well as Elle Fanning in About Ray, and Emily Blunt in the well-reviewed Sicario.
1) The Perfect Guy- 26.7M Weekend, 26.7M Total
2) The Visit- 25.6M Weekend, 25.6M Total
3) War Room- 7.4M Weekend, 39.1M Total
4) A Walk In The Woods- 4.6M Weekend, 19.8M Total
5) Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation- 4.1M Weekend, 188.1M Total
6) Straight Outta Compton- 4M Weekend, 155.7M Total
7) No Escape- 2.8M Weekend, 24.1M Total
8) The Transporter Refueled- 2.7M Weekend, 13.3M Total
9) 90 Minutes In Heaven- 2.1M Weekend, 2.1M Total
10) Un Gallo Con Mucho Huevos- 1.9M Weekend, 6.6M Total
11) The Man From UNCLE- 1.8M Weekend, 43.1M Total
12) Ant-Man- 1.6M Weekend, 176.1M Total
13) Minions- 1.5M Weekend, 331.6M Total
14) Inside Out- 1.4M Weekend, 351.4M Total
15) The Gift- 1.4M Weekend, 42.4M Total
16) Jurassic World- 1.2M Weekend, 648.9M Total
??) Learning To Drive- 758K Weekend, 1.5M Total
??) Grandma- 736K Weekend, 2M Total
??) Sleeping With Other People- 103K Weekend, 103K Total