Death Day rises, Mountain falls
LOS ANGELES — It has been a great season for horror, with Blumhouse’s Happy Death Day becoming the latest such film to top the domestic box office in its opening weekend.
The $5 million movie, a bloody riff on the classic Groundhog Day concept, brought in about $26 million in U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to figures from measurement firm ComScore.
“We are absolutely thrilled with the opening,” said Jim Orr, Universal’s executive vice president of domestic distribution.
Happy Death Day is Blumhouse’s ninth picture to open at No. 1 and its third to debut at the top this year alone, following Split and Get Out. The latest from producer Jason Blum and Universal Pictures, the film, about a woman who relives the day of her murder until she learns her killer’s identity, has a B rating on CinemaScore and a 64 percent fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
In its second week, Alcon Entertainment’s Blade Runner 2049 came in second, earning $15.5 million, a 54 percent drop, for a total of about $61 million.
STX Entertainment’s Jackie Chan-Pierce Brosnan action thriller, The Foreigner, debuted at No. 3 with about $13 million in ticket sales. The $35 million movie, about a London businessman out for revenge after his daughter is killed by terrorists, is the latest attempt to create a coproduction with China that has global appeal, and it has already grossed $75 million in other countries, including China. Directed by Martin Campbell, the film earned an A-minus rating on CinemaScore and a 57 percent rotten rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
In fourth was New Line Cinema’s It, now in its sixth weekend. It brought in about $6 million for a cumulative total of about $315 million.
Rounding out the top five is Fox Searchlight’s The Mountain Between Us, now in its second weekend, which earned $5.7 million.
In limited release, Open Roads Films premiered the Chadwick Boseman historical drama Marshall, based on an early trial in the career of Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall, to the tune of $3 million. The $12 million film was directed by Reginald Hudlin (Boomerang) and also stars Kate Hudson and Sterling K. Brown.
Professor Marston & the Wonder Women, from Annapurna Pictures, placed 15th at the box office. Released in just over 1,200 theaters, the movie collected just $737,000. The R-rated film tells the story of psychologist William Moulton Marston, who created Wonder Woman.
Fox Searchlight opened the Domhnall Gleeson-Margot Robbie drama Goodbye Christopher Robin in nine locations to $56,000. The film explores the relationship between Winnie the Pooh author A.A. Milne and his son Christopher Robin, whose toys inspired the classic.
This week, Warner Bros. opens Geostorm, Columbia Pictures debuts Only the Brave, Pure Flix premieres Same Kind of Different as Me, Universal has The Snowman, and Lionsgate drops Tyler Perry’s Boo 2! A Madea Halloween. Abramorama opens the Jane Goodall documentary Jane in limited release.