Dark Tower rises above Dunkirk
LOS ANGELES — The long- awaited sci-fi- Western The Dark Tower, from Columbia Pictures, shot straight to No. 1 at the box office, unseating Christopher Nolan’s Dunkirk.
However, The Dark Tower, based on a Stephen King fantasy series, opened to a middling $ 19.1 million in U. S. and Canadian theaters.
Starring Idris Elba as nomadic gunslinger Roland Deschain and Matthew McConaughey as his nemesis, the Man in Black, the movie opened to generally poor reviews. Filmgoers ( 58 percent male, 42 percent female, and 58 percent over age 25) gave it a B grade from CinemaScore, compared to the 18 percent positive rating from critics on Rotten Tomatoes.
Dunkirk, Warner Bros.’ World War II drama, dropped to second place with $ 17.1 million. Its 34 percent drop from last weekend was among the smallest in the top 10. The film’s grosses have been bolstered by powerful reviews and widespread interest in Nolan’s rendering of the mission to rescue British soldiers as German forces closed in.
Coming in third was Columbia’s computer- generated comedy The Emoji Movie, with $ 12 million.
Universal’s R- rated ensemble comedy Girls Trip was fourth, with $ 11.4 million.
Rounding out the top five was Aviron’s Halle Berryled thriller Kidnap, which debuted to $ 10 million. The poorly reviewed film was finally released after sitting on the shelf for a couple of years.
Kathryn Bigelow’s well- reviewed Detroit arrived to $ 7.1 million in North American ticket sales over the weekend in eighth place, a limp result for a wide- release movie that cost at least $ 55 million to make and market.
Detroit, a harrowing account of the riots that engulfed that city in 1967, with a focus on the killings of black teenagers by police, was not Hollywood’s most expensive new offering. But it was the release that Hollywood was watching most keenly, partly because it represented an effort by Annapurna Pictures to join the movie- business big leagues.
The film increased to 3,000 screens over the weekend after a limited release on 20 the week prior. Reviews have been positive, with a 95 percent fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes for the film starring John Boyega, Will Poulter, Algee Smith and Anthony Mackie.
“We wish more people would have shown,” said Erik Lomis, Annapura’s president of distribution.
In limited release, Fox Searchlight’s Step took in $ 145,000 across 29 locations in its first weekend. The documentary chronicles a high school step dance team in Baltimore. Step received a 94 percent approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes and will add 24 cities this week.
Weinstein Co.’ s Wind River opened in four locations, taking in $ 164,167. The murder mystery, directed by Taylor Sheridan, is set on an American Indian reservation in Wyoming and stars Jeremy Renner and Elizabeth Olsen.
Coming today are Warner Bros.’ horror prequel Annabelle: Creation, Open Road Films’ indie animated sequel The Nut Job 2: Nutty by Nature, and Lionsgate’s drama The Glass Castle, an adaptation of the memoir by Jeannette Walls.