Box Office: ‘Sully’ Lands At the Top

Drew Dietsch
Movies
Movies

Tom Hanks once again proves his box office power. Sully easily claimed the #1 spot above all the other newcomers. It also dethroned Don’t Breathe‘s impressive hold. Sully is a pretty solid picture from what we’ve heard, so it’ll probably have some legs in the next few weeks. Seeing as how it’s targeted at older audiences, they usually wait a week or two to go see something.

Elsewhere, When the Bough Breaks put forth a second place win. That’s nothing to shake off. It’s a great debut for lead actress Jaz Sinclair and a big win for what is perceived as an erotic thriller. The same can’t be said for the other new releases. The Wild Life kept parents away and was barely able to top Kubo and the Two Strings‘ fourth week in release. And The Disappointments Room eerily echoed Morgan by opening in 17th place as well. Expect both of those films to be out of theaters in about a week.

A few tidbits from the box office numbers:

  • Both wide release films from last weekend, Morgan and The Light Between Oceans, are already shuffling out of theaters. It’s a tough world out there for tinier films.
  • After six weeks in release, Suicide Squad has remained in the top five spots for every weekend. You know a movie that didn’t achieve that? Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. Read into that what you will.

The Numbers Game

Each week, I will guess how much wide-release films will be making on their opening weekend. My estimates come from my heart and my gut. You’d think I’d use my brain but that makes far too much sense. Fandom editor Nick Nunziata will also be providing his guesses because two stabs in the dark are better than one.

Last Week:

Sully
My Guess: $24,000,000
Nick’s Guess: $17,000,000
Actual: $35,505,000
Result: This one flew higher than either of us expected. Okay, no more airplane puns.

When the Bough Breaks
My Guess: $14,000,000
Nick’s Guess: $9,000,000
Actual: $15,000,000
Result: A great win for this movie, and I’m counting it in my win column as well.

The Wild Life
My Guess: $4,500,000
Nick’s Guess: $6,000,000
Actual: $3,400,000
Result: Yup, parents saw this was a dud. Even I gave it a little more hope than necessary.

The Disappointments Room
My Guess: $2,750,000
Nick’s Guess: $3,000,000
Actual: $1,400,000
Result: We’ve had humongous horror duds two weeks in a row. This one is also getting forgotten immediately.

This week:

Blair Witch

Blair-Witch

The sequel no one expected hits this coming weekend. I’ve seen it and it’s likely to cause a big stir this weekend. It’s definitely going to be divisive for fans of the original, but it’s also made for a generation that hasn’t seen the first film. How interested are audiences in this? After the huge hit that was Don’t Breathe, expect this one to make a splash.

My guess: $26,000,000
Nick’s guess: $30,000,000

Bridget Jones’s Baby

box office bridget jones baby

Another sequel with some serious distance between its last entry. The trailers have been fairly low key and there’s definitely a built-in audience for this. However, third entries are often seen as the weakest entry in a trilogy. It doesn’t help that the last film was very poorly received. Still, it’s likely that a lot of audience members who don’t want to see Blair Witch will go to this instead.

My guess: $14,000,000
Nick’s guess: $16,000,000

Snowden

box office snowden

Oliver Stone’s biopic of controversial figure Edward Snowden is bound to cause some curiosity. In all likelihood, Snowden won’t change anyone’s opinion on the former NSA employee. Unfortunately, this take on the story looks to be a very over-the-top adaptation of real-life events. It’s a shame that most people won’t seek out the historically important documentary Citizenfour instead of this hypercharged Hollywood version. In such a polarizing election year, you can bet the subject matter alone is going to keep a lot of people away.

My guess: $8,000,000
Nick’s guess: $7,000,000

See you next week, box office buddies!

Source: Box Office Mojo

Drew Dietsch
Drew Dietsch has been professionally writing about entertainment for over a decade. His bylines include FANDOM - where he was a founding contributor and Entertainment Editor - Bloody Disgusting, SYFY WIRE, and more. He created and hosts GenreVision, a weekly film discussion show at genrevision.com.