LOS ANGELES -- Cheap scares and violent crime seemed to resonate with audiences last weekend, with action and horror films coming out on top at the box office. Meanwhile, Logan Lucky, the return of vaunted film director Steven Soderbergh, had a relatively modest arrival.
Lionsgate's The Hitman's Bodyguard debuted at No. 1 last week, bringing in about $21.4 million. The action comedy, starring Samuel L. Jackson as an imprisoned assassin who needs the help of bodyguard Ryan Reynolds when he agrees to testify against a genocidal Belarusian dictator (Gary Oldman), was a dud with critics. The Los Angeles Times' Justin Chang labeled it an insanely violent live-action cartoon.
Yet the film bested expectations. "We're very pleased," said David Spitz, president of theatrical distribution for Lionsgate. "The audience reaction to the film has been fantastic. And we have a clear runway through the rest of August into September."
Soderbergh, who in 2013 hinted at retirement, returned with the $29 million action-comedy Logan Lucky, distributed by Fingerprint Releasing and Bleecker Street. It brought in $7.6 million to debut at No. 3.
To release Logan Lucky, Soderbergh launched distribution company Fingerprint Releasing with the help of Dan Fellman, the former president of domestic distribution for Warner Bros. who now runs a consulting operation. Fingerprint teamed with small New York distributor Bleecker Street to help with marketing and distribution, and funded the marketing budget by selling post-theatrical rights to other companies, including streaming giant Amazon.
Lucky received a B rating on CinemaScore and an impressive 93 percent fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Daniel Craig, Katie Holmes and Hilary Swank also appear in the film. Reviewing for the Times, Kenneth Turan called it a slick, smart, impeccably executed film that could be summed up as a highbrow heist movie involving some lowbrow folks.
Despite a 56 percent drop since its debut, Warner Bros.' horror flick Annabelle: Creation wavered only slightly to the No. 2 spot after debuting at the top of the box office Aug. 11. The film earned $15.6 million for a cumulative total of about $64 million.
Warner Bros.' World War II picture Dunkirk, in its fifth weekend, added $6.6 million to its earnings for a to-date total of about $165 million in U.S. and Canadian theaters. Despite losing 491 locations, the film's 38 percent decline was among the smallest of the top five.
Open Road's PG-rated animation Nut Job 2: Nutty by Nature rounded out the top five, bringing in $5 million in its second weekend for a cumulative total of $17.7 million. The sequel, whose first installment opened in 2014 and went on to earn $64.2 million, features the voices of Katherine Heigl, Will Arnett and Maya Rudolph as talking squirrels.
On the limited release front, the Weinstein Co.'s Wind River in its third week landed at No. 10 on the box-office chart, bringing in about $3 million to bump its total earnings to about $4.1 million.
The crime thriller set on an American Indian reservation in Wyoming added 649 theaters, for a total of 694. Written and directed by Taylor Sheridan (screenwriter of Sicario and Hell or High Water), the film stars Jeremy Renner and Elizabeth Olsen.
Fox Searchlight's drama Patti Cakes opened in 14 locations over the weekend, earning $66,000 for a per-screen average of $4,714. Starring newcomer Danielle Macdonald as an aspiring New Jersey rapper, the film earned a 74 percent fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
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:
The Hitman's Bodyguard, Lionsgate, $21,384,504, 3,377 locations, $6,332 average, $21,384,504, one week.
Annabelle: Creation, Warner Bros., $15,612,680, 3,542 locations, $4,408 average, $64,156,901, two weeks.
Logan Lucky, Bleecker Street, $7,600,036, 3,031 locations, $2,507 average, $7,600,036, one week.
Dunkirk, Warner Bros., $6,614,385, 3,271 locations, $2,022 average, $165,422,464, five weeks.
The Nut Job 2: Nutty by Nature, Open Road, $5,092,344, 4,003 locations, $1,272 average, $17,675,989, two weeks.
Emoji Movie, The, Columbia, $4,441,028, 2,791 locations, $1,591 average, $71,858,380, four weeks.
Spider-Man: Homecoming, Columbia, $4,256,367, 2,341 locations, $1,818 average, $314,057,748, seven weeks.
Girls Trip, Universal, $3,911,300, 2,010 locations, $1,946 average, $104,053,445, five weeks.
The Dark Tower, Columbia, $3,788,669, 3,143 locations, $1,205 average, $41,673,047, three weeks.
Wind River, The Weinstein Co., $2,975,732, 694 locations, $4,288 average, $4,089,001, three weeks.
Kidnap, Aviron Pictures, $2,961,475, 2,345 locations, $1,263 average, $24,527,158, three weeks.
The Glass Castle, Lionsgate, $2,549,459, 1,461 locations, $1,745 average, $9,705,840, two weeks.
Atomic Blonde, Focus Features, $2,179,190, 1,628 locations, $1,339 average, $47,158,045, four weeks.
Despicable Me 3, Universal, $2,073,810, 1,551 locations, $1,337 average, $251,774,330, eight weeks.
War for the Planet of the Apes, 20th Century Fox, $2,010,898, 1,608 locations, $1,251 average, $140,958,101, six weeks.
Wonder Woman, Warner Bros., $1,092,338, 803 locations, $1,360 average, $404,000,714, 12 weeks.
The Big Sick, Lionsgate, $1,001,010, 618 locations, $1,620 average, $38,066,440, nine weeks.
Detroit, Annapurna Pictures, $856,766, 1,428 locations, $600 average, $15,525,229, four weeks.
Baby Driver, Columbia, $856,054, 683 locations, $1,253 average, $101,689,495, eight weeks.
Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets, STX Entertainment, $397,019, 465 locations, $854 average, $39,227,747, five weeks.
MovieStyle on 08/25/2017