LOS ANGELES:

Tyler Perry bested Tom Cruise at the box office this weekend.

Perry’s “Boo! A Madea Halloween” opened in the top spot with an estimated $27.6 million, edging Cruise’s “Jack Reacher: Never Go Back” into second place, according to studio estimates Sunday.

It’s the third best opening for a “Madea” movie, behind “Madea Goes to Jail” and “Madea’s Family Reunion” and a sign of the character’s longstanding appeal to audiences.

To market the film, which reportedly cost $20 million to produce, Lionsgate leveraged the social media audiences of Perry and his cast as well as promotional videos like one featuring Jimmy Fallon as Trump alongside Madea that ended up going viral.

“Tyler Perry is a movie star. Tyler Perry is a mogul. The Madea character has provided box office dividends for years. It’s a perfect combination, Madea and Halloween right before Halloween,” said comScore senior media analyst Paul Dergarabedian.

That timing, along with the promising A CinemaScore, should bode well for the film’s second weekend over Halloween.

“A Madea Halloween” proved to be the strongest of the slew of sequels this weekend, topping even the star power of Tom Cruise, whose “Jack Reacher: Never Go Back” took in $23 million for Paramount Pictures. (AP)