Hotel Transylvania 2 sets record

Adam Sandler, Asher Blinkoff, Selena Gomez and Andy Samberg provide the voices for Dracula, Dennis, Mavis and Jonathan in Hotel Transylvania 2. It came in first at last weekend’s box office and made about $48.5 million.
Adam Sandler, Asher Blinkoff, Selena Gomez and Andy Samberg provide the voices for Dracula, Dennis, Mavis and Jonathan in Hotel Transylvania 2. It came in first at last weekend’s box office and made about $48.5 million.

LOS ANGELES -- The animated Hotel Transylvania 2 made about $48.5 million in U.S. and Canadian theaters over the weekend to become the biggest September movie opening of all time.

The sequel, released by Columbia Pictures, debuted with a robust haul that far exceeded the studio's expectations and beat industry projections, which had the film opening with $32 million to $37 million. The first Hotel Transylvania, which had held the September record, opened with $43 million during the same weekend in 2012.

Transylvania 2 marks the biggest debut for Sony Pictures Animation, which spent about $80 million to produce the film. It also marks the third time in the last four weeks that a Sony Pictures film has been No. 1 at the box office, following the success of the thriller The Perfect Guy and the faith-based film War Room.

"We're on a roll right now," said Rory Bruer, Sony's head of distribution. "This is a huge opening."

Transylvania 2 features the voices of such celebrities as Adam Sandler and Selena Gomez. Like its predecessor, the second film was largely knocked by critics but well-received by audiences, especially families. Those who saw the PG-rated movie gave it an average grade of A-minus, according to audience polling firm CinemaScore.

An estimated 60 percent of moviegoers were younger than 25, and 59 percent were female.

"I think there's something in it for everyone whether you're an adult or a kid," Bruer said.

Overseas, the franchise has also become a hit. It collected $29.2 million from more than 6,500 screens across 42 markets. Sony said that was up about 150 percent compared with the original. The sequel played especially well in Latin America, particularly in Mexico, where it debuted with $7.9 million.

Family films have been few since Minions opened in July. However, Hotel Transylvania 2 did face competition from the previous weekend's top film, Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials, which is geared toward a young-adult audience.

The Maze Runner sequel fell to the No. 3 spot, adding about $14.3 million to its total domestic gross of $52 million.

Coming in second for the weekend, the Warner Bros. comedy The Intern opened with about $18 million in the United States and Canada.

The film, which cost about $40 million to make, is the latest from director Nancy Meyers (It's Complicated). It follows Jules (Anne Hathaway), the young founder of an Internet startup, after she hires a 70-year-old intern (Robert De Niro).

"Nancy Meyers has an instant credibility," said Jeff Goldstein, Warner Bros. executive vice president and general sales manager. "People connect to her concept and the storylines. Beyond that, I think good movies always find a strong audience and this movie was smart and well done."

Moviegoers responded positively to Hathaway and De Niro, giving the film an A-minus average, according to CinemaScore. On Rotten Tomatoes, 56 percent of the reviews were positive, higher than other new movies this weekend. Audiences were mostly older (55 percent older than 50) and female (62 percent).

"The film absolutely delivered to its core audience," Goldstein said. "That demographic doesn't necessarily come out for opening day or opening weekend but they hear good things. ... Word of mouth has clearly started to spread. We expect this to have long play and a big multiple for weeks to come."

Meanwhile, Everest added about $13.2 million when expanding to 3,006 theaters in its second weekend. The film from Universal Pictures opened in a limited number of premium theaters first, in hopes that positive buzz would support the wider release this weekend. To date, the adventure film has made about $23.3 million in the United States and Canada and $96.8 million worldwide.

The film, about an infamous 1996 expedition on the world's highest mountain, has a star-filled ensemble cast that includes Jason Clarke, Josh Brolin, John Hawkes, Robin Wright, Keira Knightley, Emily Watson and Jake Gyllenhaal. Audiences for the film -- 51 percent were male, and 55 percent were 35 and older -- gave it an A, according to CinemaScore.

Warner Bros.' Black Mass, which follows the rise of South Boston gangster James "Whitey" Bulger as played by Johnny Depp, rounded out the top five in its second weekend. It added about $11 million, bringing its domestic total to $42.1 million.

The Green Inferno, released by Blumhouse's BH Tilt label in partnership with Focus Features' High Top, opened at No. 9 with $3.5 million. Blumhouse acquired the horror film from Eli Roth (Cabin Fever) for just under $1 million.

In limited release, Lionsgate's Sicario surged 341 percent after expanding to 59 locations in its second weekend. The film nabbed the No. 10 spot with $1.7 million, for an impressive per-screen average of about $29,000. It will enter wide release today. To date, it's made about $2.3 million.

Pawn Sacrifice, in its second weekend in limited release, earned just over $1 million after expanding to 781 theaters.

Lost in Hong Kong, the Mandarin-language follow-up to the 2013 Chinese hit Lost in Thailand, grossed about $538,000 on 27 screens, for a per-location average of $20,000 in U.S. and Canadian theaters.

But Stonewall, the Roland Emmerich-directed film that dramatizes the 1969 gay-rights riots at Stonewall Inn in New York, failed to draw art house audiences following poor reviews. The Roadside Attraction's film grossed $112,414 in 129 theaters -- a per-theater average of just $871 -- according to preliminary figures from research firm Rentrak. The Rotten Tomatoes score is just 9 percent positive, with many critics lambasting its depiction of a pivotal moment in American history.

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

The top 20 movies at U.S. and Canadian theaters Friday through Sunday, followed by distribution studio, gross, number of theater locations, average receipts per location, total gross and number of weeks in release, as compiled Monday by Rentrak:

  1. Hotel Transylvania 2, Columbia, $48,464,322, 3,754 locations, $12,910 average, $48,464,322, one week.

  2. The Intern, Warner Bros., $17,728,313, 3,305 locations, $5,364 average, $17,728,313, one week.

  3. Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials, 20th Century Fox, $14,271,777, 3,792 locations, $3,764 average, $51,957,349, two weeks.

  4. Everest, Universal, $13,242,895, 3,006 locations, $4,405 average, $23,282,700, two weeks.

  5. Black Mass, Warner Bros., $11,031,215, 3,188 locations, $3,460 average, $42,129,394, two weeks.

  6. The Visit, Universal, $6,674,280, 2,967 locations, $2,250 average, $52,184,860, three weeks.

  7. The Perfect Guy, Columbia, $4,774,505, 1,889 locations, $2,528 average, $48,895,640, three weeks.

  8. War Room, Columbia, $4,242,644, 1,920 locations, $2,210 average, $55,967,325, five weeks.

  9. The Green Inferno, High Top Releasing, $3,520,626, 1,540 locations, $2,286 average, $3,520,626, one week.

  10. Sicario, Lionsgate, $1,717,301, 59 locations, $29,107 average, $2,297,895, two weeks.

  11. A Walk in the Woods, Broad Green Pictures, $1,107,264, 1,385 locations, $799 average, $27,327,638, four weeks.

  12. Pawn Sacrifice, Bleecker Street, $1,005,071, 781 locations, $1,287 average, $1,300,189, two weeks.

  13. Mission: Impossible -- Rogue Nation, Paramount, $901,617, 840 locations, $1,073 average, $193,455,919, nine weeks.

  14. Pixels, Columbia, $783,712, 503 locations, $1,558 average, $77,240,517, 10 weeks.

  15. Grandma, Sony Pictures Classics, $773,130, 804 locations, $962 average, $5,134,711, six weeks.

  16. Straight Outta Compton, Universal, $657,910, 609 locations, $1,080 average, $160,206,040, seven weeks.

  17. Lost in Hong Kong, Well Go USA, Inc., $537,736, 27 locations, $19,916 average, $537,736, one week.

  18. Captive, Paramount, $507,370, 807 locations, $629 average, $2,288,046, two weeks.

  19. Minions, Universal, $436,020, 507 locations, $860 average, $333,519,225, 12 weeks.

  20. Jurassic World, Universal, $390,450, 347 locations, $1,125 average, $650,442,740, 16 weeks.

MovieStyle on 10/02/2015

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