LOS ANGELES -- Tyler Perry's drag persona Madea and her posse of goofy grannies unexpectedly mopped the floor with Tom Cruise at last weekend's box office.
Tyler Perry's Boo! A Madea Halloween, the seventh installment in a series that Hollywood had essentially left for dead three years ago, following the weak debut of Madea's sixth adventure, took in an estimated $28.5 million -- or about 60 percent more than most analysts had predicted before its release. The film, from Lionsgate, cost $20 million to make; the studio spent a modest $26 million on marketing.
Perry, who directed, wrote and stars in A Madea Halloween, was expected to battle Cruise for the weekend's No. 1 spot, but it ended up being no contest at all. Jack Reacher: Never Go Back, with Cruise in the title role, sold about $23 million in tickets, according to comScore, which compiles ticketing data. Paramount and its financing partners spent roughly $60 million to make Never Go Back (not including tens of millions in marketing costs). The film was primarily designed with the overseas box office in mind.
The domestic results for the two films -- combined with a lackluster debut for the horror sequel Ouija: Origin of Evil -- underscore what executives across the movie business have been saying all year: Americans will only turn out in big numbers for sequels that seem to have compelling creative reasons for existing. Sequels to movies that were not must-see attractions (among target audiences) the first time around? Not so much.
Ouija: Origin of Evil, a Universal release of a Blumhouse production, received strong reviews and cost only $9 million to make. But it collected only $14 million, about 30 percent less than its series predecessor managed over its first three days in 2014. The takeaway: Not enough people were crying out for more Ouija.
More than ever, ticket buyers can size up a movie as not worth their time and money from a mile away. That is what happened to Keeping Up With the Joneses, a poorly reviewed comedy starring Zach Galifianakis and Isla Fisher that cost 20th Century Fox about $40 million to make and collected a disastrous $5.5 million. (It was a hard weekend for Fox in other ways. Tim Miller, who was expected to direct Deadpool 2, left the project following disagreements with its star, Ryan Reynolds.)
Paramount said in a statement that it was very happy with the results for Jack Reacher: Never Go Back, in part because the sequel collected 51 percent more ticket revenue over its opening weekend than the first Jack Reacher did in 2012.
But the weekend belonged to Perry and Lionsgate, which backed A Madea Halloween with a clever marketing campaign -- poster tagline: Witch, please! -- that benefited from viral video. An appearance by Perry as the politically incorrect Madea on The Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon was viewed more than 73 million times on Facebook alone. A Madea Halloween also featured several YouTube stars, who appeared to turn out an audience of younger women, Tim Palen, Lionsgate's chief brand officer, said.
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:
Tyler Perry's Boo! A Madea Halloween, Lionsgate, $28,501,448, 2,260 locations, $12,611 average, $28,501,448, one week.
Jack Reacher: Never Go Back, Paramount, $22,872,490, 3,780 locations, $6,051 average, $22,872,490, one week.
Ouija: Origin of Evil, Universal, $14,065,500, 3,167 locations, $4,441 average, $14,065,500, one week.
The Accountant, Warner Bros., $13,643,132, 3,332 locations, $4,095 average, $47,538,513, two weeks.
The Girl on the Train, Universal, $7,166,015, 3,091 locations, $2,318 average, $58,798,345, three weeks.
Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, 20th Century Fox, $5,894,943, 3,133 locations, $1,882 average, $74,326,778, four weeks.
Keeping Up With the Joneses, 20th Century Fox, $5,461,475, 3,022 locations, $1,807 average, $5,461,475, one week.
Kevin Hart: What Now?, Universal, $4,118,255, 2,567 locations, $1,604 average, $18,949,900, two weeks.
Storks, Warner Bros., $4,003,270, 2,145 locations, $1,866 average, $64,632,798, five weeks.
Deepwater Horizon, Lionsgate, $3,399,466, 2,828 locations, $1,202 average, $55,045,137, four weeks.
The Magnificent Seven, MGM/Columbia, $2,285,095, 1,979 locations, $1,155 average, $89,028,462, five weeks.
Middle School: The Worst Years of My Life, Lionsgate, $2,178,487, 1,772 locations, $1,229 average, $16,888,414, three weeks.
Sully, Warner Bros., $1,490,479, 1,172 locations, $1,272 average, $120,854,369, seven weeks.
Denial, Bleecker Street, $954,159, 648 locations, $1,472 average, $1,971,470, four weeks.
I'm Not Ashamed, Pure Flix, $927,161, 505 locations, $1,836 average, $927,161, one week.
The Birth of a Nation, Fox Searchlight, $907,974, 633 locations, $1,434 average, $14,173,155, three weeks.
Max Steel, Open Road, $680,104, 2,034 locations, $334 average, $3,431,161, two weeks.
Desierto, STX Entertainment, $499,743, 168 locations, $2,975 average, $1,145,083, two weeks.
Moonlight, A24, $402,075, 4 locations, $100,519 average, $402,075, one week.
Suicide Squad, Warner Bros., $385,211, 383 locations, $1,006 average, $324,271,174, 12 weeks.
MovieStyle on 10/28/2016