Sony Pictures Animation finally has a gem of a franchise. Hotel Transylvania 2, despite somewhat muted expectations, outperformed its predecessor, pulling in a strong $47.5 million, for a per-venue average of a strong $12,653 from 3,754 locations. That pulls ahead of the first Hotel Transylvania ($42.5 million) to claim the record of the biggest opening weekend in the month of September. Its not very often a sequel does better than its predecessor, though the opening weekend difference calls to mind Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2, which opened $4.5 million ahead of its predecessor before ultimately falling short in the long run. Hotel 2 actually earned better reviews than its predecessor (52% on Rotten Tomatoes vs. 44% for the first), and the CinemaScore was the same (A-). Competition will be an issue, as Pan and Goosebumps both could pull in solid numbers in October. But, look for this to still play solidly through Halloween, and have a chance at at least matching its predecessor's $148 million domestic gross. It has yet to roll out overseas. Hotel Transylvania 2 was produced for $80 million by distributor Sony.2015 has been a great year for animation, as Hotel T 2 ranks fifth among animated movie openers this year, behind Minions ($115 million), Inside Out ($90 million), The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water ($55 million) and Home ($52 million). I saw Hotel Transylvania 2 on Saturday. I will have a review up this coming weekend.
Opening in second place with better-than-expected results was Nancy Meyers' The Intern. The dramedy opened to a solid $18.2 million, for a per-venue average of a decent $5,514 from 3,305 locations. For Meyers, this is her second-biggest debut in the last few years, trailing only 2009's Its' Complicated. The Intern provided a solid choice for older women, an audience that's been somewhat underserved lately. Despite mixed reviews (55% on Rotten Tomatoes), an A- CinemaScore bodes well for word-of-mouth. This could be a word-of-mouth hit. Distributor Warner Bros. produced the film for $35-40 million, and they expected a mid-teens opening.
Following its mixed debut, The Maze Runner: Scorch Trials fell 54% to $14 million, for an OK $51.7 million 10-day gross. That was a heavier drop than the original Maze Runner, which posted a 46% second weekend drop, and had earned $7 million more through the same point. At its current pace, the sequel will fall short of $100 million domestically.
After its fantastic start in limited release last week, Everest expanded to 3,006 locations, with decisively mixed results. Falling short of overall expectations, the climber thriller earned $13.1 million, for a per-venue average of a mild $4,355. Since its IMAX 3D launch last week, the Universal flick has earned an OK $23.1 million, as well as $75 million overseas. Everest could make up ground in the coming weeks if word-of-mouth is positive. But competition from The Martian and The Walk (as far as IMAX 3D screens are concerned too) will not make things easy.
After a solid start last weekend, mixed word-of-mouth hurt Black Mass. Johnny Depp's crime flick was down 49% to $11.5 million, for a decent $42.6 million gross in 10 days. Oscar buzz has quieted a bit, and unless it doesn't resurge, Mass may be in troublesome territory for holding power the remainder of its run. However, the budget was only $53 million here (marketing not included).
Faring much better in its third weekend was The Visit, which was down a light (for its genre) 42% to $6.8 million, for a great $52.3 million pick-up in 17 days. And that's all against just a $5 million production budget! The Perfect Guy, on the other hand, continued to plummet, down 51% to $4.8 million, for a decent $48.9 million gross in the same amount of time. Perfect Guy should finish just above No Good Deed's $55 million final gross.
Continuing to hold on strongly, War Room was down just 31% in its fifth weekend to $4.3 million. The Kendrick Brothers hit has earned a strong $56 million in one month of release, and is still on track to finish ahead of God's Not Dead ($65 million).
Opening in ninth place with OK numbers was horror flick The Green Inferno. The Eli Roth film earned $3.5 million from 1,540 locations (dismal $2,269 per-venue average). That was generally in line with analysts' expectations, but below newbie distributor High Top's hopeful $4-5 million. On a budget of $6 million, Inferno may or may not spill red ink. But, the "C-" CinemaScore doesn't portend to a long run in theaters either.
Rounding out the Top 10 was a limited surprise. Early Oscar favorite Sicario earned a fantastic $1.7 million from just 59 locations (a huge $30,000 per-venue). The well-reviewed (92% on Rotten Tomatoes) crime flick starring Emily Blunt and Benicio Del Toro expands nationwide next weekend, where it could very well surprise.
Next weekend, October kicks off with Ridley Scott's The Martian, as well as the IMAX 3D release of The Walk and the nationwide expansion of Sicario. Will they all start to propel the Fall season to record heights? We shall see.
