‘ HITMAN’ STAYS ON TOP
Hampered by a hurricane and a high- profile boxing match, weekend box- office results in North America were the slowest in nearly 16 years, allowing previous leader The Hitman’s Bodyguard to hold its top spot with an unimpressive $ 10.1 million take.
Harvey, the deadly hurricaneturned- tropical storm, led to some theater closings in Texas, while Floyd Mayweather’s much- hyped bout against Irishman Conor McGregor proved to be one of the biggest payper- view shows in history, variety. com noted.
That left the overall weekend box office around $ 65 million, its lowest since a weekend shortly after the September 11, 2001 terror attacks.
“This,” as website boxofficemojo. com summed it up, “was a miserable weekend.” Hitman, an action comedy from Lionsgate, saw its estimated three- day take drop by about half from its $ 21.4 million opening a week earlier, industry website Exhibitor Relations reported.
The film tells the story of a famous bodyguard ( Ryan Reynolds) hired to protect a notorious hitman ( Samuel L. Jackson) who is about to testify in a high- profile trial.
In second place for the weekend was Warner Bros’ horror flick An
nabelle: Creation, part of the popular Conjuring franchise. The film, starring Stephanie Sigman, Talitha Bateman, Miranda Otto and Anthony LaPaglia, took in $ 7.4 million, adding to the franchise’s worldwide gross of more than $ 1 billion.
Next was Leap!, a new release from Weinstein Co., at $ 5 million – a remarkably small take for a third- place film. The animated family picture tells the story of a young orphan, voiced by Elle Fanning, who dreams of becoming a ballet dancer in 19th century Paris.
Fourth place went to Wind River, another Weinstein production, at $ 4.4 million, improving on its 10th- place finish last week. It stars Jeremy Renner and Elizabeth Olsen as federal agents trying to solve a murder on an Indian reservation in Wyoming.
Bleecker Street’s Logan Lucky, Steven Soderbergh’s first film since his self- proclaimed retirement four years ago, also took in $ 4.4 million. The film stars Channing Tatum, Adam Driver and Riley Keough in an unconventional heist comedy set at a NASCAR race. Rounding out the top 10 were:
Dunkirk ($ 4 million)
Spider- Man: Homecoming ($ 2.7 million) Birth of the Dragon ($ 2.5 million) The Emoji Movie ($ 2.4 million) Girls Trip ($ 2.3 million)