Weekend box office: Snowden, Bridget Jones and Blair Witch can’t beat Sully
Critics and Oscar followers were probably looking forward to SNOWDEN (click the link to read our review), but in reality, it wasn’t the kind of movie that was going to light up the weekend box office. But I’m a little surprised it’s going to finish under $10 million, given the timeliness of it and the star power. But maybe more surprising than SNOWDEN’s under-performance in the under-performance of BLAIR WITCH, which finished just above SNOWDEN, but it also couldn’t crack the top ten. Even bad horror movies typically do well, but BLAIR WITCH had the name going for it, so I expected it to take the top spot. The other new movie of the weekend was the threequel, BRIDGET JONES’S BABY, which finished in the third spot. The other two movies under-performed, but the argument could be made that Bridget Jones over-performed with $8 million given we haven’t seen Renee Zellwegger in years and we haven’t seen Bridget Jones in over a decade.
Next week should belong to THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN, starring Denzel Washington and Chris Pratt. I think audiences are going to show up to this one, even though critics have been giving it harsh reviews. I know everyone is sick of remakes and Westerns are less than proven at the box office, but Denzel Washington and Chris Pratt together is too much to pass up. The other new movie is the animated film STORKS, which hasn’t been getting the publicity you’d expect, but it should be primed for a decent opening since there are no other animated films in the top five. Note: the numbers below will be updates as they become final.
1. Sully $21.5m
2. Blair Witch $9.3m
3. Bridget Jones’s Baby $8.5m
4. Snowden $7.6m
5. Don’t Breathe $4.9m
6. When the Bough Breaks $4.5m
7. Suicide Squad $4.2m
8. The Wild Life $2.8m
9. Kubo and the Two Strings $2.4m
10. Pete’s Dragon $2.2m
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