Box office
“House With a Clock” hits at right time.
NEW YORK – The gothic family fantasy “The House With a Clock in Its Walls” exceeded expectations to debut with an estimated $26.9 million in ticket sales at the weekend box office, while audiences showed considerably less interest in Michael Moore’s Donald Trump-themed documentary, “Fahrenheit 11/9,” than his George W. Bushthemed one.
“The House With a Clock in Its Walls” was easily the biggest draw on a quiet weekend at movie theaters, where the other three new wide releases all disappointed or outright flopped.
“Fahrenheit 11/9” opened with $3.1 million in 1,719 theaters – a huge debut for most documentaries but a fraction of the $23.9 million opening generated in 2004 by Moore’s record-breaking “Fahrenheit 9/11.” That film went on to make $222.4 million worldwide, a record for documentaries.
Moore’s new film, which examines the rise of Trump, had been predicted to open with $5 million to $8 million.
But despite a surge in success for documentaries at the box office – including “RBG,” “Won’t You Be My Neighbor” and “Three Identical Strangers” – “Fahrenheit 11/9” didn’t catch on.
Dan Fogelman’s “Life Itself ” and the home invasion thriller “Assassination Nation” both barely made a blip. Though Fogelman’s “This Is Us” is one of TV’s top-rated series, his “Life Itself ” bombed with $2.1 million, despite a cast including Olivia Wilde, Oscar Isaac and Antonio Banderas.
The film drew some of the most scathing reviews of the year, landing it a 13 percent “fresh” rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
Sam Levinson’s thriller “Assassination Nation” did even worse, grossing just $1 million.
But “The House With a Clock in Its Walls,” based on the book written by John Bellairs and illustrated by Edward Gorey, capitalized on a recent dearth of child-friendly options. The film, directed by Eli Roth stars Jack Black and Cate Blanchett.
“We really saw an opportunity to kick off the fall season with this PG family film,” says Jim Orr, head of distribution at Universal.
A few specialty films hit theaters, drawing packed theaters in limited release. “Colette,” starring Keira Knightley as the iconic French author, made its debut with $156,000 in four theaters, good for a per-screen average of $39,000.
Jacques Audiard’s dark Western “The Sisters Brothers,” starring Joaquin Phoenix and John C. Reilly, opened with
$122,000 in four theaters for a $30,500 per-screen average.
Last week’s top film, “The Predator,” slid fast with a 65 percent drop, earning
$8.7 million in its second week to finish fourth. Holding stronger in second place was “A Simple Favor,” Paul Feig’s suburban noir starring Blake Lively and Anna Kendrick, dropping only 35 percent for
$10.4 million.
Rounding out the top five: “The Nun” was third with $10.3 million, and “Crazy Rich Asians” finished fifth with
$6.5 million in its sixth week in theaters, and $159.4 million to date.
“Fahrenheit 11/9” may have decent weeks ahead leading up to the November midterm elections. ComScore’s PostTrak survey found that 82 percent of viewers gave it four out of five stars. It landed an A grade on CinemaScore.
“Those who did see it really enjoyed it,” says Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst for comScore. “It’s very easy to second-guess how to release a documentary like this. It’s one of the most difficult types of films to release.”
Final numbers are out Monday.