Tyler Perry’s ‘Boo 2!’ tops dull weekend
Other new movies such as ‘Geostorm,’ ‘Only the Brave’ and ‘The Snowman’ have disappointing openings
LOS ANGELES — It was a spooky weekend at the box office for nearly everyone but Tyler Perry.
Perry’s comedy sequel “Boo 2! A Madea Halloween” scared up a healthy $21.7 million in its first weekend in theaters, but the waters were rough for other new openers, including the disaster epic “Geostorm,” the firefighter drama “Only the Brave” and the crime thriller “The Snowman.”
Made for a reported $25 million, Perry’s film drew a mostly older and female audience, who gave it an A- CinemaScore. “Boo 2!” did a little less business than the first film, which opened to $28.5 million last year.
But a slight drop for a sequel hardly compares to the catastrophe of “Geostorm,” a long-delayed $120 million disaster epic, starring Gerard Butler that opened to $13.3 million from North American theaters.
A co-production between Skydance Media and Warner Bros. Pictures, “Geostorm” marks the directorial debut of “Independence Day” producer Dean Devlin. The film was shot in late 2014 and lousy test screenings resulted in $15 million of reshoots, pushing back the release.
But the reshoots didn’t seem to help the final product, which has been widely panned by critics and shunned overall by audiences. Those who did turn out gave it a B- CinemaScore.
“Only the Brave,” about the Granite Mountain Hotshots who took on the June 2013 Yarnell Hill Fire, also failed to attract sufficient audiences. The Sony film starring Josh Brolin, Jeff Bridges and Jennifer Connelly opened in fifth place with $6 million.
Despite good reviews, it opened behind two holdovers — the horror pic “Happy Death Day” which landed in third place with $9.4 million and “Blade Runner 2049” which took in $7.2 million in its third weekend in theaters.
“The Snowman,” starring Michael Fassbender and based on the Jo Nesbo book, also failed to make a splash. The critically derided pic debuted in eighth place with $3.4 million from 1,812 theaters. Audiences gave it a D CinemaScore.
Theatrical exhibitors and studio distribution heads are gathering in Miami Beach, Fla., this week for the ShowEast Film Expo to discuss the state of movie going, and it couldn’t come at a better time, when old truisms about what works and what doesn’t work at the box office are being challenged weekly.
The industry will be looking to the big event films, like “Thor: Ragnarok,” out Nov. 3, “Justice League” and “Star Wars: The Last Jedi” to get the year back to even.