The big news on this lackluster weekend in the domestic market took place overseas where Marvel Studio’s Doctor Strange opened in approximately 45% of the international markets, earning $86 million. Though it is always difficult to extrapolate from performances in overseas markets, the signs look good for Doctor Strange, which debuted 49% better in these territories than Ant-Man, 37% ahead of Guardians of the Galaxy, but only 3% ahead of Thor: The Dark World, so go figure. Next weekend Doctor Strange debuts in over 3,800 theaters here in North America as well as in China, Russia, Brazil, and Colombia, and we will be able to assess its performance much more accurately.
Perry’s latest Medea film, which was suggested by fake title created by comedian Chris Rock, slipped just 41.5 % as it posted the highest per-theater average in the top ten ($7,253) as it drove its domestic total to $52 million. With a cost of $20 million, Boo! A Medea Halloween is already in the black, though it has few prospects overseas, and will likely suffer a major post-holiday drop next weekend.
Inferno is the third film directed by Ron Howard that stars Tom Hanks as “symbologist” Robert Langdon in a dark fantasy created by Dan Brown (The DaVinci Code), but its $15 million debut was less than a third of its predecessor Angels & Demons ($46 million) seven years ago, and far less than the Da Vinci Code’s $77 million in 2006.
Though it appears that the Da Vinci Code franchise has lost its appeal here in North America, Inferno has earned $132 million overseas, and Universal kept the film’s cost down to $75 million (half of what the previous two films in the franchise cost), so Inferno could end up breaking even, in spite of bombing in North America. Though the studio did not release demographic data (you can bet there were plenty of gray hairs left behind in theaters screening Inferno), opening weekend audiences did give the film an OK “B+” CInemaScore.
Third place went to the Tom Cruise-starring Jack Reacher: Never Go Back, which posted the biggest decline in the top 10 (58.2%) as it earned an estimated $9.5 million, bringing its domestic total to $39.7 million. Although Never Go Back’s budget was modest ($60 million), and it should continue to do well overseas, so far Paramount is still a long way from breaking even on this one, and the future of the franchise appears to be mixed at best.
The rest of the top ten all suffered small declines (under 50%) from already modest totals. It is notable that the Hasbro-based horror movie Ouija: Origin of Evil fared the worst, dropping almost 50% in its second weekend of release with little help from the horror movie-friendly Halloween weekend. It now appears doubtful that Tim Burton’s Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, which ended up at #7 as it earned $4 million to bring its domestic haul to $79.9 million, will make it to $100 million in the domestic market, but good business overseas has brought the film’s worldwide total to $243 million.
The other newcomer in the top ten is the Bollywood production Ae Dil Hai Mushkil, a romance directed by Karan Johar, which debuted in 302 theaters and earned $2.1 million, thanks to a stellar $7,070 per-theater average. The success of this other Bollywood films testifies to the growing importance of the vibrant Indian-American community.
Be sure to check back here next week when three films open wide include the aforementioned Doctor Strange (3800 theaters) plus the animated comedy Trolls, which is debuting in over 4,000 theaters, and Mel Gibson’s heavily-advertised military drama Hacksaw Ridge, which debuts in more than 2,700.