Madea Snuffs Out Inferno in Theaters
With $17.22 million and a reasonable 39.6 percent second-weekend drop, Lionsgate’s horror comedy Tyler Perry’s Boo! A Madea Halloween beat out the expected leader, Sony Pictures/Columbia Pictures’ Tom Hanks-led thriller Inferno, which didn’t heat up at the box office with $14.86 million.
The World Series and early Halloween festivities might have scared away business last weekend, giving Boo! A Madea Halloween the chance to repeat as the top film in North America. A slight bump in locations lifted the comedy to an early $52.56 million domestic total. All seven films in Tyler Perry’s Madea franchise have grossed more than $50 million in North America, led by 2009’s Madea Goes to Jail with $90.5 million.
Inferno’s second place debut was substantially behind the opening weekends of predecessors in the series adapted from Dan Brown’s best-selling novels: The Da Vinci Code started with $77.0 million 2006 – about $101.3 million adjusted for ticket price inflation — and Angels & Demons opened with $46.2 million in 2009 — about $53.3 million adjusted for inflation.
Paramount Pictures’ Jack Reacher: Never Go Back sputtered in its second weekend, falling 57.8 percent from its previous week’s debut to a $9.64 million take. While its opening weekend was actually higher than the 2012’s original $15 million take, the sequel’s second weekend is sharply behind the original’s $13.6 million second weekend. Jack Reacher grossed a total of $80 million domestically following its December 2012 release; Jack Reacher: Never Go Back will have a challenge on its hands to try to meet that number with several high-profile films coming up. The film has grossed a total of $39.77 million domestically so far.
Warner Bros. Pictures and Universal Pictures titles closed out the weekend’s top five. The Accountant fell 37.8 percent in its third weekend, earning $8.48 million from 3,780 locations and crossing the $60 million mark domestically. It opened in three major overseas markets last weekend: Russia, United Arab Emirates and Italy. It expands to France, Australia, the UK, and Mexico this coming weekend. The Ben Affleck movie has grossed over $80 million worldwide.
Ouija: Origin of Evil grossed $7.11 million from 3,168 locations in its second weekend. The horror flick is trailing its previous entry, 2014’s Ouija, by $10 million over the same period. It expanded to 20 territories last weekend, adding $8.3 million to its overseas bounty. Spain was the weekend’s top new territory with a $982,000 fourth place finish. The Ouija sequel has now grossed a total of $24.68 million domestically and $43.7 million worldwide.
This Week | Last Week | Movie | Weekend Gross | Cumulative Gross | Weeks |
1 | 1 | Tyler Perry’s Boo! A Medea Halloween | $17.22M | $52.56M | 2 |
2 | — | Inferno | $14.86M | $14.86M | 1 |
3 | 2 | Jack Reacher: Never Go Back | $9.64M | $39.77M | 2 |
4 | 4 | The Accountant | $8.48M | $61.26M | 3 |
5 | 3 | Ouija: Origin of Evil | $7.11M | $24.69M | 2 |
6 | 5 | The Girl on the Train | $4.39M | $66.04M | 4 |
7 | 6 | Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children | $4.07M | $79.98M | 5 |
8 | 7 | Keeping Up with the Joneses | $3.39M | $10.79M | 2 |
9 | 9 | Storks | $2.85M | $68.31M | 6 |
10 | 10 | Deepwater Horizon | $2.09M | $58.35M | 5 |
Editor-in-Chief Mark Heckathorn is a journalist, movie buff and foodie. He oversees DC on Heels editorial operations as well as strategic planning and staff development. Reach him with story ideas or suggestions at dcoheditor (at) gmail (dot) com.