Weekend Box Office (September 30 - October 2, 2016)
THIS WEEKEND The fantasy adventure Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children rides into the global box office hoping to connect with fans of the best-selling novel and beyond. Tim Burton directs this PG-13 pic which is high on visual effects, action, and fun. A broad age range may get excited by the Fox release which should appeal to males and females alike.
The second weekend of Storks will distract some of the family crowd, but Peregrine will appeal to older kids and will play to adults familiar with the book too. With October about to kick off, the time is right for a mildly spooky film and Burton's name has worked for fall films in the past. Launching in 3,522 locations, Miss Peregrine may open to around $24M this weekend.
Mark Wahlberg's disaster thriller Deepwater Horizon enters the marketplace expecting to take in some cash. The PG-13 film should tap into the starpower of its lead who has anchored his fair share of box office hits over the years. Good reviews will help, but competition from recent hits from double Oscar winners Denzel and Hanks will split the pie. Lionsgate has had a nice marketing push here, but there are other good American heroes to see at theaters this weekend. Hitting 3,000 theaters, Deepwater Horizon could find itself with around $19M this weekend.
Bumped around the release schedule, the comedy Masterminds starring Owen Wilson, Zach Galifianakis, Kristen Wiig, and Jason Sudeikis stumbles into multiplexes with a tough task. Greeted with lackluster reviews, the PG-13 film will try to pull in audiences wanting a laugh but will probably find few takers. Relativity opens Masterminds in 3,042 theaters and could scoop up about $7M.
Disney expands its chess film Queen of Katwe nationwide into 1,242 sites after its limited release last weekend. Based on its opening weekend average at its level of play, this crowded weekend may see only about $2M or so get collected.
Denzel Washington led his team to number one last weekend with The Magnificent Seven. Audience buzz is good and competition for older adults is not too fierce so a drop of 45% may result. That would put Sony at about $19M for the frame and a cume to date of $65M.
Get earlier box office updates and analysis by following BoxOfficeGuru.com on Twitter.
Watch the trailer for Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.
LAST YEAR Matt Damon rocked the box office with his future Golden Globe winner for Best Picture - Comedy or Musical, The Martian, which bowed to $54.3M on its way to a career high $228.4M domestic and $629M global for Fox. Sony's Hotel Transylvania 2 followed dropping to second with $33.2M for a sturdy sophomore frame. Lionsgate expanded its Oscar hopeful Sicario nationwide and saw a moderate $12.1M on its way to $46.9M. The Intern and Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials rounded out the top five with $11.7M and $7.8M, respectively.
This column is updated three times each week: Thursday (upcoming weekend's summary), Sunday (post-weekend analysis with estimates), and Monday night (actuals). Opinions expressed in this column are those solely of the author.
Last Updated: September 29, 2016 at 4:20PM ET
©1997 - 2016 Box Office Guru