"The Magnificent Seven" Opens at #1

[JamesG]

With $35 Million The Magnificent Seven Tops Another Lackluster September Weekend
by Brad Brevet
September 25, 2016


At the top, Sony and MGM's The Magnificent Seven turned in an estimated $35 million opening from 3,674 theaters, just a few thousand behind the opening of Sully two weeks ago and just ahead of Denzel Washington's The Equalizer from 2014, which was also directed by Antoine Fuqua.

It's tough to say exactly where this one will go from here as Westerns aren't your typical blockbuster for the modern era. The film delivered an "A-" from opening day audiences and currently holds a 63% RottenTomatoes score. A run over $100 million is possible.







For Storks it was a second place finish with an opening weekend estimated at $21.8 million, just over half of Hotel Transylvania's 2012 opening, which was then a September record. It's also behind the $30.4 million opening for Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs from September 2009, which carried a $100 million budget ($30 million more than Storks) and enjoyed a leggy run, finishing just shy of $125 million domestically and spawned a sequel.

Whether Storks will also be the start of an animated fall franchise depends entirely on how it holds over. Initial impressions would suggest a sequel would be unlikely, but an "A-" CinemaScore (A+ from those 25 and under), which is on par with all four Hotel Transylvania and Cloudy films, suggests audiences liked it.

Will they like it enough for it to see a second weekend drop similar to the first Cloudy film, which dipped only 17%? That's the big test, not to mention its international prospects.







Beyond the week's new wide releases, finishing in third place is Clint Eastwood's Sully with an estimated $13.8 million, just a 36% drop in its third weekend as the film climbs to an estimated $92.3 million domestically.







Fourth through sixth is where we find all three of last weekend's new releases beginning with Universal's Bridget Jones's Baby, which dropped 47% for an estimated $4.5 million as its domestic cume now stands at $16.4 million.

Internationally is where this one is strongest as it brought in an estimated $21.9 million from 47 territories, bringing its overseas cume to $67.1 million for a worldwide total of $83.6 million. Included in those results is a second weekend at #1 in the U.K. and Ireland where it accounted for 50% of the overall market share, dropping only 19% for an estimated $8.4 million.







Open Road's Snowden dropped 48%, bringing in an estimated $4.1 million as its cume climbs to $15.1 million and Lionsgate's Blair Witch was pretty much right on average for films that scored a "D+" CinemaScore.

Finishing in seventh and eighth positions were Don't Breathe and Suicide Squad, both dropping right around 33% as their domestic cumes now stand at $81.1 million and $318.1 million respectively.

It should be mentioned that Suicide Squad is now the 14th highest grossing superhero release domestically having just passed Iron Man 2.







In limited release, Disney's Queen of Katwe brought in an estimated $305,000 from 52 theaters ($5,865 PTA).

Directed by Mira Nair and starring Madina Nalwanga, Lupita Nyong'o and David Oyelowo, the film will expand next weekend into approximately 1,500 theaters. The film scored an "A+" CinemaScore and played to an audience of which 77% were over the age of 25.







Additionally, Broadgreen's release of The Dressmaker, starring Kate Winslet, brought in an estimated $180,500 from 36 theaters ($5,015 PTA); Cinema Libre's The Best Democracy Money Can Buy brought in an estimated $10,000 from one theater; Generation Startup finished with an estimated $6,032 from one theater; Oscilloscope's Girl Asleep debuted in one theater with an estimated $2,700; and Monument's release of Chronic, which won Best Director at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival, brought in an estimated $1,912 from two theaters.

http://www.boxofficemojo.com/news/?id=4225&p=.htm









September 23-25, 2016 Weekend Studio Estimates:


1. The Magnificent Seven $35,000,000
2. Storks $21,805,000
3. Sully $13,830,000 / $92,393,447
4. Bridget Jones's Baby $4,520,000 / $16,457,675
5. Snowden $4,144,989 / $15,139,215
6. Blair Witch $3,950,000 / $16,128,695
7. Don't Breathe $3,800,000 / $81,110,808
8. Suicide Squad $3,110,000 / $318,133,343
9. When the Bough Breaks $2,500,000 / $26,613,349
10. Kubo and the Two Strings $1,103,000 / $45,954,573