It turned out to be a pretty predictable weekend as IT held on to a lot of its audience while holding off the two newcomers. We learned that maybe Dylan O’Brien isn’t ready to carry his own action movie as AMERICAN ASSASSIN opened with just over $15 million at the weekend box office. Michael Keaton can only do so much for a film and the film had Taylor Kitsch in it, so it was destined to underperform. AMERICAN ASSASSIN didn’t have a great haul, but it was better than MOTHER!, which had Jennifer Lawrence’s star power behind it. Even with J-Law in the lead, I knew there was no way a Darren Aronofsky artsy genre film was going to do too much damage at the box office. I think around $8 million for MOTHER! seems about right given the bad word of mouth for the film.
Next week should be an interesting weekend, especially for a mid-September weekend. First up is KINGSMAN: THE GOLDEN CIRCLE, which is the sequel to the surprise 2014 hit. The question is whether or not there’s actually a franchise here or if this is another sequel no one cares about. Next is THE LEGO NINJAGO MOVIE, which is piggy-backing on the string of successful LEGO themed movies. I realize I’m not the target audience, but I don’t know what a “Ninjago” is. Finally, we have BATTLE OF THE SEXES, starring Steve Carell and Emma Stone, fresh off her Oscar win. I’m not sure Kingsman has enough juice to beat out IT and I think BATTLE OF THE SEXES has a broad enough appeal. THE NINJAGO MOVIE is the wild card next weekend, but I still think IT will remain on top. Note: the numbers below will be updated as they become final.
1. It $60m
2. American Assassin $15.4m
3. Mother! $7.8m
4. Home Again $5.3m
5. The Hitman’s Bodyguard $3.5m
6. Wind River $2.5m
7. Annabelle: Creation $3.8m
8. Leap! $2.1m
9. Spider-Man: Homecoming $1.9m
10. Dunkirk $1.3m
(Deadline)
