Box Office: Romantic Thriller ‘The Perfect Guy’ Beats Horror Thriller ‘The Visit’
$VIA, $CMCSA, $FOX
Romantic thriller The Perfect Guy looks to have narrowly beaten M. Night Shyamalan’s horror-thriller The Visit at the North American box office with $26.7-M from 2,221 theaters.
The Visit took in an estimated $25.7-M from 3,068 theaters, the top opening of 2015 so far for a horror film. The final weekend order of the 2 films could change if Sunday projections are off.
Both titles, kicking off the Fall box office, exceeded expectations thanks to females of all ages.
The international box office race was dominated by MI— Rogue Nation, which opened to a massive $86-M in China. Fox’s Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials also impressed as it began its overseas roll out a week ahead of its US launch, grossing $26.8-M, while Minions has become the # 2 animated film of all time worldwide behind Frozen..
Perfect Guy, recieved an A- CinemaScore $12-M to produce. African-Americans made up more than 60% of the audience, while females made up 70% of all ticket buyers.
Following box-office bomb After Earth, Mr. Shyamalan needed a winner. The director produced and financed The Visit on his own for just $5-M. The comedic-laced thriller, earning a B- CinemaScore, follows the saga of 2 children who are sent to spend time with their grandparents, only to find evil lurking.
Mr. Shyamalan showed an early cut of The Visit to producer Jason Blum, who then brought it to Universal, a unit of Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA), where Mr. Blum has a distribution deal. Universal quickly agreed to release the film, believing The Visit would be a big draw for teenagers, and particularly females. Nearly 60% of the audience was under the age of 25, with females accounting for 56% of ticket buyers. It is the #1 horror opening of this year.
Overseas, The Visit opened in 14 markets, grossing $3.8-M, including a 3rd-place finish in the UK and a # 1 finish in Spain.
War Room placed #3 in its 3rd frame with $7.4-M for a domestic box office total of $39.2-M.
Broad Green Pictures’ Robert Redford and Nick Nolte’s A Walk in the Woods followed with an estimated $5-M from 2,135 theaters for a 10-day domestic box office take of $20-M.
MI— Rogue Nation rounded out the Top 5 with an estimated $4.2-M, beating Straight Outta Compton and pushing its North American take to $188-M and worldwide take to $613-M.
Also open at the weekend in North America was IDP/Samuel Goldwyn’s Christian drama 90 Minutes in Heaven, starring Hayden Christensen and Kate Bosworth. The film, directed by Michael Polish, is based on Don Piper’s biography recounting how he spent 90 mins in heaven following a horrific car crash. 90 Minutes is the 1st title from Giving Films, a sister company of Family Christian Stores. 90 Minutes in Heaven grossed an estimated $2.2-M from 838 theaters to come in # 9.
At the specialty box office
Oren Moverman’s homeless drama, Time Out of Mind, starring Richard Gere, and Sleeping With Other People, starring Jason Sudeikis and Alison Brie. Sundance Film Festival entry Sleeping With Other People, whose producers include Will Ferrell and Adam McKay, earned $103,125 from 5 theaters for a solid location average of $20,625 for IFC Films.
Time Out of Mind, also from IFC, grossed $15,216 for the weekend from three theaters for a location average of $5,072.
Radius-TWC did nicely by Goodnight Mommy, an Austrian horror film opening to $60,286 from 4 locations for a theater average of $15,072. Directed by Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala, the film is Austria’s official entry for this year’s Oscar race.
Documentary Meet the Patels opened in five theaters to $75,597 for Alchemy, one of the best numbers of the year to date for a documentary. The film’s location average was $15,119.
Have some fun, see a movie this week.
HeffX-LTN
Paul Ebeling
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