Box Office: Hotel Transylvania 2 Marks Top September Open With $47.5-M
$SNE, $TWX, $CMCSA,$IMAX, $FOX, $LGF
Sony’s (NYSE:SNE) Hotel Transylvania 2 marked the top September opening of all time with a North American debut of $47.5-M.
Transylvania 2, playing in 3,754 locations, opened higher than Hotel Transylvania (2012), the previous record-holder for top September opening with $42.5-M. “We had a great date, and this is a big win for Sony Pictures Animation,” said Sony president of marketing.
The $80-M sequel opened to a respectable $29.2-M from 32 territories overseas, but that was not enough to win the foreign race. The victor was Chinese film Lost in Hong Kong, which opened to a dazzling $100-M in China. The comedy also debuted in select theaters in the US earning a strong $558,900 from 27 theaters for
The Intern, starring Anne Hathaway and Robert De Niro, opened in the #2 slot with $18.2-M from 3,305 theaters. That’s a solid placing Warner Bros. a unit of Time Warner (NYSE:TWX), considering Director Meyers’ film targeted older adults, who do not rush out on opening weekend but tend to deliver a long run, the movie played well in every part of the country.
Overseas box office, The Intern launched in 40 markets, or 38%of the marketplace, grossing $11.8-M for a global box office debut of $30-M. Many markets delivered Ms. Meyers her best opening to date. Like Transylvania 2, the movie earned an A- CinemaScore.
Baltasar Kormakur’s Everest came in behind expectations in North America with $13.1-M from 3,006 theaters as it expanded nationwide after a limited 3-D engagement last weekend in Imax (NYSE:IMAX) and premium large-format theaters. The film’s 10-day domestic box office take is $23.1-M.
Everest is a bigger player overseas, grossing a strong $33.8-Min its 2nd weekend from 62 markets for a foreign box office take of $73.7-M and global haul of $96.8-M for Universal, Working Title, Cross Creek Pictures and Walden Media.
Also opening this weekend was Eli Roth’s The Green Inferno, which is being released via Blumhouse’s new label BH Tilt, whose aim is to avoid a big marketing spend by opening genre fare in targeted theaters. In this case, Green Inferno only went out in 1,540 locations. The horror movie, Mr. Roth’s 1st directorial effort in 8 years, grossed just $3.5-M to come in # 9.
Placing # 3 was Fox’s (NASDAQ:FOX) Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials, which fell 54% in its 2nd weekend to $14-M from 3,792 locations for a domestic take of $51.7-M, pacing somewhat behind the 1st installment, which grossed $58-M at the same point in its run.
Internationally, Scorch Trials pasted the $100-M mark, earning $28.4-M from 70 territories for a foreign box office take of $121.8-M and global haul of $173.5-M.
Johnny Depp’s Black Mass rounded out the Top 5, dipped 49% in its 2nd frame to $11.5-M for a 10-day North American box office of $42.6-M.
At the specialty box office
Denis Villeneuve’s acclaimed crime-thriller Sicario continued to score as it expanded into a total of 59 theaters in its 2nd frame. The Lionsgate (NYSE:LGF) movie movedinto the Top 10, grossing $1.8-M for one of the best location averages of the weekend.
Edward Zwick’s Pawn Sacrifice, starring Tobey Maguire as chess champion Bobby Fischer and Liev Schreiber as his Russian rival, Boris Spassky, is expanding in its 2nd weekend. The drama, from Bleecker Street, grossed a $1.1-M from 781 locations for a $1.3-M take.
Ramin Bahrani’s financial drama 99 Homes, starring Andrew Garfield, Michael Shannon and Laura Dern. The film earned $32,807 from 2 theaters in New York for a modest location average of $16,403.
Roland Emmerich’s Stonewall was DOA in its start, grossing $112,414 from 127 theaters for a location average of $871. The historical drama was a passion project for the director, and recounts the events surrounding the 1969 Stonewall Riots, a standoff with police outside a Greenwich Village gay bar that is widely credited with kicking off the modern gay-rights movement.
Have some fun, see a movie this week.
HeffX-LTN
Paul Ebeling
The post Box Office: Hotel Transylvania 2 Marks Top September Open With $47.5-M appeared first on Live Trading News.