WINNER OF THE WEEK: James Wan. Do we have to start calling him an auteur now? The horror director behind theSawfranchise and this summers sleeperThe Conjuringscared up a tremendous $41.1 million in estimated ticket sales forInsidious Chapter 2, about $10 million more than expected, and a September record for a horror debut or a live-action debut. (In fact, its the second biggest September opening ever, behind only the $42.5 million take of last years cartoon Hotel Transylvania.) Its also three times what the firstInsidiousearned when it premiered in April 2011 ($13.3 million, on the way to a $54 million total). Give credit toConjurings coattails, to clever marketing that showed preview audiences screaming, to the teen-friendly PG-13 rating, and to the continuity from the first movie (all the lead players are back), but mostly give credit to Wan for becoming a horror household name, and for delivering the chills audiences expect.
Also performing above expectations wasThe Family, opening in second place with an estimated $14.5 million, about $2 to $5 million above most predictions. After all, Robert De Niros movies have been opening in the single digits lately. But this mob-themed action comedy played well to older audiences, making it smart counterprogramming againstInsidious.
Fall Movie Preview 2013
LOSER OF THE WEEK: Nobody, really. Box office as a whole was up 19 percent over last week. Sure,Riddicklost 63 percent of last weekends debut business, coming in third with an estimated $7.0 million. Still, that dropoff is typical for a sci-fi film, and this one can boast a respectable two-weekend total of $31.3 million.
Holding up better wasLee Daniels The Butler, which just barely crossed the $100 million mark after five weeks. The historical epic came in fourth this weekend with an estimated $5.6 million, down just 34 percent from last weekend. AndWere the Millersheld up even better still, off just 29 percent from last weekend. In fifth place, the comedy earned an estimated $5.4 million, for a six-week total of $131.6 million.
BUY GEORGE: As sleepy as the action was at the multiplex, with only two new movies, the art-house saw nine new pictures open and nine more expand into wider release. Five of the new movies did even better per-screen thanInsidious(which averaged $13,463 per venue). Best of all wasMother of George, a drama about a Nigerian couple in Brooklyn, which averaged$22,500 per screen. Also excelling were apocalyptic dramaFinal: The Rapture($15,950 per screen), D.C. sniper docudramaBlue Caprice($15,200 per screen), genetically modified food documentaryGMO OMG($15,100 per screen), and Saudi Arabian Oscar submissionWadjda($13,500 per screen). Then again, none of these movies opened on more than three screens.
If theres a loser among the new art-house films, its the Billy Bob Thornton period dramaJayne Mansfields Car. Despite that intriguing title and a cast that includes Robert Duvall, Kevin Bacon, John Hurt and Thornton, the long-shelved movie mustered up just $673 per screen on 11 screens, for a total of $7,400. Still, its also playing now on video-on-demand on cable, so there could be life in the old jalopy yet.