Coming off of a relatively lackluster summer movie season, September is not fairing much better at the box office. For the fifth consecutive weekend, the top twelve failed to make a combined gross of at least $100 million. Be that as it may, the remake of The Magnificent Seven shot its way through the competition to take the number one spot. Starring an all-star cast including Denzel Washington, Chris Pratt and Ethan Hawke, the film pulled in an estimated $35 million. For Denzel, this is a slight improvement over The Equalizer, also directed by Antoine Fuqua.
Storks, the latest animated film from Warner Bros, took second place this weekend with just over $21 million. By comparison to some of their previous opening weekends for films like Hotel Transylvania or Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, this was a relative disappointment. Starring the voices of Andy Samberg and Kelsey Grammer, the film opened in several international markets to $18 million. With very little animated competition in the near future, the possibility for continued success is wide open.
Despite moving down two spots compared to last weekend, Sully earned a respectable $13 million. This brings its domestic gross thus far to over $92 million. Starring Tom Hanks and directed by Clint Eastwood, the film has garnered both critical and commercial success. Speaking of which, you can find our review for Sully right here on the site.
The next three spots were all claimed by the wide releases from last week. Bridget Jones’s Baby took the number four spot this weekend with $4.5million. While it’s domestic gross currently stands at only $16 million, international markets have been much more favorable. The third film in the series now stands at a worldwide gross of $67 million.
Oliver Stone’s Snowden came in fifth place with a weekend gross of $4.1 million. Not only is this nearly a 50% drop compared to last week, this brings its total gross to only $15 million. Sixth place belonged to Blair Witch, the spiritual sequel to its 1999 predecessor. The film dropped nearly 60% in its second weekend, as it only pulled in just shy of $4 million. With a negative critical reception and a D+ rating on Cinemascore, the film can’t be considered anything except for a disappointment.
This upcoming weekend will see the release of Deepwater Horizon starring Mark Wahlberg and Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children. Will you be seeing either of these films? Did you enjoy The Magnificent Seven? Let us know in the comments below.
