"The Perfect Guy" Makes #1 during 9/11 Weekend Box Office

[JamesG]

The Perfect Guy Takes Weekend #1 with Shyamalan's Visit a Close Second
by Brad Brevet
September 13, 2015


The weekend box office was bolstered by two strong openings for both new, major releases.

The Screen Gems thriller, The Perfect Guy topped the box office with $26.7 million and M. Night Shyamalan's micro-budget thriller The Visit was a very close second with an estimated $25.6 million.



The Perfect Guy, which stars Michael Ealy, Sanaa Lathan and Morris Chestnut, is now the third film in a row featuring a predominantly African American leading cast to take #1 at the box office, capping a five weekend streak started by Straight Outta Compton and continued by War Room.

While it wasn't screened for critics, The Perfect Guy appears to have appealed to its opening day audience, receiving an a "A-" CinemaScore. Even with that score expect it to drop 55+% next weekend, similar to the nearly 60% drop last year for No Good Deed.



Made on only a $12 million budget, however, low budget domestic thrillers toplined by black casts such as The Perfect Guy, No Good Deed and Obsessed are clearly hitting home with audiences.

The timing for the release of this sub-genre, the second weekend in September, just might be the perfect slot as The Perfect Guy is looking at entering the list of top fifteen September openings.







Shyamalan's The Visit is a win for the filmmaker who has struggled as of late with his studio features. Made on a $5 million budget, The Visit was picked up by horror's new master producer, Jason Blum, who took it to Universal where he has a multi-picture deal and it appears to have worked out well for all involved.

The Visit also opened in 14 markets in Europe where it brought in an estimated $3.8 million for a worldwide total of nearly $30 million, six-times its production budget.



Fans of Shyamalan that have stood by The Sixth Sense director as his career wobbled in recent years with the likes of The Happening, The Last Airbender and 2013's After Earth also seem satisfied, though the opening day, "B-" CinemaScore suggests this one may suffer a steep drop next weekend.

That's fairly normal for front-loaded horror features and with such a small budget and strong opening weekend The Visit has already done its job. It will be interesting to see where Shyamalan goes next.







On the heels of War Room's recent success, Samuel Goldwyn Films came to the table with a faith-based title of their own in 90 Minutes in Heaven. The film, which stars Hayden Christensen and Kate Bosworth, opened in 878 theaters and brought in an estimated $2.1 million.

This was the widest opening for Goldwyn since 1992's Rock-A-Doodle and the largest three-day total since 2008's Fireproof.

Speaking of War Room, last weekend's #1 film added 121 theaters this weekend and was right on par with predictions, bringing in an estimated $7.4 million this weekend.







When it comes to last weekend's new releases, Broadgreen's A Walk in the Woods dropped 44% for an estimated $4.6 million second weekend.

EuropaCorp's The Transporter Refueled plummeted a hefty 63% for a second weekend total of $2.7 million as its cume now sits at $13.3 million, a number that just barely tops the opening weekend of 2008's Transporter 3.







In limited theaters, IFC's Sleeping with Other People, starring Jason Sudeikis and Alison Brie, opened on five screens in NY and LA, pulling in an estimated $130,125 for a $20,625 per theater average.

Oren Moverman's latest, Time Out of Mind, starring Richard Gere and Jena Malone, opened this past Wednesday and brought in $15,216 over the weekend on only three screens, with a five-day estimated cume now at $19,228.

Finally, Disney's Inside Out pulled it off; the latest from Pixar moved just ahead of Furious 7 and is now the third highest grossing domestic release of 2015 with $351.4 million and a worldwide total of $747.3 million placing it fifth for 2015.

http://www.boxofficemojo.com/news/?id=4105&p=.htm









September 11-13, 2015 Weekend Studio Estimates:


1. The Perfect Guy $26,700,000
2. The Visit $25,690,000
3. War Room $7,400,000 / $39,188,327
4. A Walk in the Woods $4,620,099 / $19,877,024
5. Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation $4,150,000 / $188,172,518
6. Straight Outta Compton $4,090,000 / $155,712,600
7. No Escape $2,879,000 / $24,155,935
8. The Transporter Refueled $2,700,000 / $13,343,496
9. 90 Minutes in Heaven $2,160,911
10. Un Gallo con Muchos Huevos $1,900,000 / $6,667,352

[isiahthomas]

I'm gonna see The Perfect Guy this weekend and I love Sanaa Lathan. I wanna have sex with her hahahahahahahahahahaha. I like Michael Ealy, Morris Chestnut, and Charles Dutton who are also in it.