This Weekend @ The Box Office: 2016.Oct.23

There is plenty to discuss in a weekend where Lionsgate's Boo! A Madea Halloween is crowned champion of the largest three-day weekend the 2016 box office has seen in over two months. Boo!, along with fellow new releases Jack Reacher: Never Go Back, Ouija: Origin of Evil and Keeping Up with the Joneses, generated 61.6% of the top twelve's overall gross of nearly $114 million, up 28% from last weekend and up 20% from last year. The weekend also saw a stellar opening for A24's Moonlight in limited release, delivering the largest opening per theater average of the year, and there are plenty of overseas results to discuss.

Topping the weekend box office, Tyler Perry's Boo! A Madea Halloween brought in a stellar $27.6 million from 2,260 theaters ($12,212 PTA), the largest opening for a Madea branded feature and for a Tyler Perry-directed film overall since 2009's Madea Goes to Jail.

As far as Madea-branded titles are concerned, after a couple of $25 million openings with 2011's Big Happy Family and 2012's Witness Protection, A Madea Christmas saw a bit of a drop as it opened in the holiday corridor in 2013 with $16 million and finished its domestic run just over $52.5 million. Madea's three year absence from theaters must have been just what the character needed as audiences certainly showed up for this one, and with an "A" CinemaScore from opening day audiences it should hold over quite well with Halloween just a week away. How it plays following the holidays will determine just how much over $50 million it can bank.

In second we find Tom Cruise back as the title character in Paramount's Jack Reacher: Never Go Back with an estimated $23 million from 3,780 theaters ($6,085 PTA). The demographic breakdown saw the film play 57% male vs 43% female with 82% of the audience over the age of 25.

Looking ahead, while Never Go Back's opening is well above the $15.2 million debut for 2012's Jack Reacher, the response isn't nearly the same. After its opening weekend, the first Jack Reacher held on throughout the holidays to finish with $80 million domestically (a 5.26x multiple). That film, however, was bolstered by strong reviews and an "A-" CinemaScore. While Never Go Back's CinemaScore is just a notch lower at a "B+" you can look to things such as the film's 6.7/10 IMDb rating, which is .7 lower than Jack Reacher was the Sunday after its release, to help determine what kind of the buzz the film is receiving. The 40% on RottenTomatoes isn't helping either, compared to the 62% for the original film. All told, this one may have to scratch and claw its way to $60+ million domestically, but all is not lost as international grosses accounted for 63% of the first film's worldwide revenue.

Never Go Back brought in an estimated $31 million from over 40 overseas markets this weekend. The opening represents approximately 75% of the film's ultimate international footprint. The international debut was led by an estimated $5.6 million in China where it opened up against Mechanic: Resurrection and was soundly throttled as early estimates for Mechanic show a China opening around $24 million. The first Reacher debuted with $5.2 million in China over the course of two days as it debuted on a Saturday compared to the first Mechanic film, which brought in $5.9 million in its opening weekend in China back in August 2012.

Elsewhere, Reacher played relatively well, bringing in $3.3m from the UK, $2.8m in France, $2m in Australia, $1.9m in Russia and Indonesia, and $1.5m in Taiwan. Overall the film opened with $54 million worldwide, 28% higher than 2012's Jack Reacher, which went on to gross over $200 million worldwide. Territories yet to open include Mexico, Germany, Brazil, Japan and Korea.

Third place is a bit of a battleground as Universal's Ouija: Origin of Evil narrowly edged out Warner's The Accountant in its sophomore session by a mere $35,000. The prequel to 2014's Ouija brought in an estimated $14 million from 3,168 theaters ($4,438 PTA) on a $9 million budget, but while reviews for the film were glowing (81% on RottenTomatoes) compared to the original (7%), the opening day audience response was the same as both film's received a "C" CinemaScore. The film's audience was split 50% female vs. 50% male with 57% of the audience coming in under the age of 25.

The original film debuted with $19.8 million despite those negative reviews and went on to gross just over $50 million with a 2.55x multiple. Should Origin of Evil perform similarly we're talking about a domestic run around $36 million, which, given the budget, isn't anything to complain about, especially if the film can deliver internationally where it opened in 20 markets with an estimated $7.9 million this weekend. This includes #1 openings in Argentina, Colombia, Mexico, Panama and Paraguay, all delivering results bigger than the first film. It also brought in $707k in Australia where the first film wasn't released. The $943k in the UK was, however, a big decline from the first film which opened with $2.19 million and the $754k in Germany is also light compared to the $1.18 million the original opened with.

As already mentioned, The Accountant was in a virtual tie with Ouija for third, bringing in an estimated $14 million in its second weekend, representing a 43.2% drop. This is a strong result given the fact it faced new competition in Jack Reacher as the film's domestic cume climbs to $47.9 million and $58.1 million worldwide.

Rounding out the top five is Universal's The Girl on the Train with an estimated $7.2 million (-40.6%) as it now stands just shy of $60 million domestically. Internationally it added another $6.2 million as the film's worldwide cume has now topped $100 million on a $45 million budget.

Moving to seventh we find the fourth new wide release of the weekend, Fox's ensemble comedy Keeping Up with the Joneses, which didn't make much of a dent, bringing in an estimated $5.6 million from 3,022 theaters ($1,853 PTA). This is nearly one million less than Relativity's Masterminds saw in its opening four weeks ago and that film fell out of over 1,500 theaters this weekend, looking to finish its domestic run with less than $20 million. Joneses may struggle to reach $18 million.

Outside the top ten, Pure Flix's I'm Not Ashamed didn't have much of an impact on the weekend, bringing in an estimated $900,000 from 505 theaters for a $1,782 per theater average. And Lionsgate's American Pastoral, the directorial debut for Ewan McGregor, opened with $151k from 50 theaters for a $3,020 per theater average, but all was not so quiet in limited release.

Delivering the largest opening per theater average of the year so far, A24's Moonlight opened with an estimated $413,174 from just four theaters for a $103,685 per theater average. This ranks as one of the top 25 all-time opening averages as the film rides a wave of positive buzz, which includes a 99% on RottenTomatoes and 99% on Metacritic. The film will open in an additional markets this upcoming weekend before going nationwide November 4.

Also in limited release, Park Chan Wook's The Handmaiden, which Magnolia and Amazon Studios released in five theaters, brought in an estimated $91,600 ($18,320 PTA). The film will expand into 25 markets this coming Friday.

Michael Moore is self-distributing his Donald Trump documentary Michael Moore In TrumpLand and the film brought in an estimated $50,200 from two theaters this weekend ($25,100 PTA) after opening on Wednesday, and Janus Films re-released 1985's Tampopo in one theater this weekend where it brought in an estimated $17,200.

Additionally, Focus World's In a Valley of Violence opened with an estimated $30,000 from 33 theaters ($909 PTA); Kino Lorber's foreign language Oscar contender Fire at Sea delivered $11,350 from two theaters ($5,675 PTA); IFC's King Cobra tallied $9,500 from one theater; Drafthouse's We are X opened with $8,300 from one theater; Hannover's Spices of Liberty premiered in one theater with $6,625; and Abramorama's The Uncondemned opened with an estimated $5,146 from one theater.

International highlights include Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children crossing $150 million overseas as its worldwide cume is just shy of $225 million. Fox has also now released Trolls in 14 international markets where it generated an estimated $18 million this weekend, bringing its international cume to $21.1 million ahead of its November 4 domestic release.

Another international highlight includes next weekend's domestic release of Inferno, which premiered internationally last weekend and has brought in $94.8 million so far overseas. The film is set to premiere in ~3,400 theaters next Friday. It will also be opening day-and-date next weekend in both China and Japan with a November 9 release in France in the future.

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