Accountant tallies box office win

Ben Affleck (left) plays Christian Wolff and Jeffrey Tambor is Francis Silverberg in The Accountant. The film came in first at last weekend’s box office and made about $24.7 million.
Ben Affleck (left) plays Christian Wolff and Jeffrey Tambor is Francis Silverberg in The Accountant. The film came in first at last weekend’s box office and made about $24.7 million.

LOS ANGELES -- The Accountant outperformed two fellow new releases, Kevin Hart: What Now? and Max Steel, and holdovers to overtake the weekend box office.

The Accountant pulled in about $24.7 million in U.S. and Canadian theaters. With a total gross to date last weekend of more than $27 million worldwide, Warner Bros. is happy, especially considering the studio projected a more modest bow of $15 million to $20 million.

The film stars Ben Affleck as an autistic CPA with assassin-like abilities whose secret freelance work for criminal organizations draws the attention of someone in the U.S. Treasury Department, played by J.K. Simmons. The movie was directed by Gavin O'Connor, who is best known for the 2011 mixed martial arts drama Warrior.

Meanwhile, comedian Kevin Hart again proved his ability to generate profits with his latest stand-up concert movie, What Now? Garnering about $12 million, the picture still can be counted as a success for Hart as it performed better than his last stand-up flick.

Costing almost $14 million to produce, which Hart financed himself, the film was taped during his tour stop at Philadelphia's Lincoln Financial Field, filled with 53,000 people. In a 15-minute cinematic prelude to the stand-up act, Hart plays a James Bond-esque character who must fight off a villain to make it to his gig. That part of the movie stars Halle Berry, Don Cheadle and Ed Helms.

Coming in third place was last week's victor, The Girl on the Train, adding an additional $12.2 million to its gross. The dark Emily Blunt murder mystery has brought in about $47 million to date.

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children landed in fourth place in its third week with about $9 million. The Tim Burton-directed flick has grossed about $69 million.

Rounding out the top five is Deepwater Horizon with $6.4 million. It has grossed about $49.4 million domestically in three weeks.

Following what some have called a disappointing $7 million debut the previous week, The Birth of a Nation added an additional $2.7 million to its gross over the weekend. That's a 61 percent drop week to week, evidence that the studio's hope for strong word of mouth is faltering. Over the course of its first 10 days, the film has garnered about $12.3 million. The film has been hampered by controversy surrounding a 1999 rape charge for writer, director, producer and star Nate Parker, who was exonerated at trial.

New release Max Steel, a PG-13 science-fiction action movie based on the Mattel line of toy action figures, distributed by Open Road, bombed with $2.2 million. It failed to meet analyst expectations of $5 million to $7 million, becoming the second lowest opening for a wide release this year, behind Fox's Morgan.

On the limited-release front, Desierto finally opened after a seven-month delay. On 73 screens, the migration tale from Jonas and Alfonso Cuaron, the acclaimed filmmakers of Gravity, pulled in $984,562, for a per-screen average of $13,487.

The Spanish-language film (with English subtitles) was acquired out of 2015's Toronto film festival for about $1.5 million and is Mexico's entry for the foreign language Oscar at next year's Academy Awards.

This week, Halloween-theme pictures take over the box office with Boo! A Madea Halloween and Ouija: Origin of Evil.

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 comScore:

  1. "The Accountant," Warner Bros., $24,710,273, 3,332 locations, $7,416 average, $24,710,273, 1 week.

  2. "The Girl on the Train," Universal, $12,247,840, 3,241 locations, $3,779 average, $46,831,435, 2 weeks.

  3. "Kevin Hart: What Now?," Universal, $11,767,210, 2,567 locations, $4,584 average, $11,767,210, 1 week.

  4. "Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children," 20th Century Fox, $8,959,739, 3,835 locations, $2,336 average, $65,892,528, 3 weeks.

  5. "Deepwater Horizon," Lionsgate, $6,407,716, 3,403 locations, $1,883 average, $49,393,048, 3 weeks.

  6. "Storks," Warner Bros., $5,685,078, 3,066 locations, $1,854 average, $59,229,124, 4 weeks.

  7. "The Magnificent Seven," MGM/Columbia, $5,235,425, 3,210 locations, $1,631 average, $84,862,987, 4 weeks.

  8. "Middle School: The Worst Years of My Life," Lionsgate, $4,346,337, 2,822 locations, $1,540 average, $13,857,132, 2 weeks.

  9. "Sully," Warner Bros., $2,881,657, 2,211 locations, $1,303 average, $118,293,294, 6 weeks.

  10. "The Birth of a Nation," Fox Searchlight, $2,747,601, 2,105 locations, $1,305 average, $12,275,735, 2 weeks.

  11. "Max Steel," Open Road, $2,182,216, 2,034 locations, $1,073 average, $2,182,216, 1 week.

  12. "Masterminds," Relativity Media, $1,681,403, 2,027 locations, $830 average, $16,192,809, 3 weeks.

  13. "Desierto," STX Entertainment, $984,562, 73 locations, $13,487 average, $984,562, 1 week.

  14. "Queen of Katwe," Disney, $877,363, 1,062 locations, $826 average, $7,031,787, 4 weeks.

  15. "Suicide Squad," Warner Bros., $716,073, 630 locations, $1,137 average, $323,676,752, 11 week.

  16. "Priceless," Roadside Attractions, $706,985, 303 locations, $2,333 average, $706,985, 1 week.

  17. "Don't Breathe," Columbia/Screen Gems, $677,347, 612 locations, $1,107 average, $88,177,533, 8 weeks.

  18. "Denial," Bleecker Street, $420,553, 96 locations, $4,381 average, $862,061, 3 weeks.

  19. "Bridget Jones's Baby," Universal, $359,260, 390 locations, $921 average, $23,609,845, 5 weeks.

  20. "Snowden," Open Road, $307,742, 343 locations, $897 average, $20,900,709, 5 weeks.

MovieStyle on 10/21/2016

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