Dark Tower rises above Dunkirk

Idris Elba (left) and Tom Taylor star as Roland and Jake in Columbia Pictures’ The Dark Tower. It came in first at last weekend’s box office and made about $19.1 million.
Idris Elba (left) and Tom Taylor star as Roland and Jake in Columbia Pictures’ The Dark Tower. It came in first at last weekend’s box office and made about $19.1 million.

LOS ANGELES -- The long-awaited sci-fi-Western The Dark Tower, from Columbia Pictures, shot straight to No. 1 at the box office, unseating Christopher Nolan's Dunkirk.

However, The Dark Tower, based on a Stephen King fantasy series, opened to a middling $19.1 million in U.S. and Canadian theaters.

Starring Idris Elba as nomadic gunslinger Roland Deschain and Matthew McConaughey as his nemesis, the Man in Black, the movie opened to generally poor reviews. Filmgoers (58 percent male, 42 percent female, and 58 percent over age 25) gave it a B grade from CinemaScore, compared to the 18 percent positive rating from critics on Rotten Tomatoes.

Dunkirk, Warner Bros.' World War II drama, dropped to second place with $17.1 million. Its 34 percent drop from last weekend was among the smallest in the top 10. The film's grosses have been bolstered by powerful reviews and widespread interest in Nolan's rendering of the mission to rescue British soldiers as German forces closed in.

Coming in third was Columbia's computer-generated comedy The Emoji Movie, with $12 million.

Universal's R-rated ensemble comedy Girls Trip was fourth, with $11.4 million.

Rounding out the top five was Aviron's Halle Berry-led thriller Kidnap, which debuted to $10 million. The poorly reviewed film was finally released after sitting on the shelf for a couple of years.

Kathryn Bigelow's well-reviewed Detroit arrived to $7.1 million in North American ticket sales over the weekend in eighth place, a limp result for a wide-release movie that cost at least $55 million to make and market.

Detroit, a harrowing account of the riots that engulfed that city in 1967, with a focus on the killings of black teenagers by police, was not Hollywood's most expensive new offering. But it was the release that Hollywood was watching most keenly, partly because it represented an effort by Annapurna Pictures to join the movie-business big leagues.

The film increased to 3,000 screens over the weekend after a limited release on 20 the week prior. Reviews have been positive, with a 95 percent fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes for the film starring John Boyega, Will Poulter, Algee Smith and Anthony Mackie.

"We wish more people would have shown," said Erik Lomis, Annapura's president of distribution.

In limited release, Fox Searchlight's Step took in $145,000 across 29 locations in its first weekend. The documentary chronicles a high school step dance team in Baltimore. Step received a 94 percent approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes and will add 24 cities this week.

Weinstein Co.'s Wind River opened in four locations, taking in $164,167. The murder mystery, directed by Taylor Sheridan, is set on an American Indian reservation in Wyoming and stars Jeremy Renner and Elizabeth Olsen.

Coming today are Warner Bros.' horror prequel Annabelle: Creation, Open Road Films' indie animated sequel The Nut Job 2: Nutty by Nature, and Lionsgate's drama The Glass Castle, an adaptation of the memoir by Jeannette Walls.

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 Dark Tower, Columbia, $19,153,698, 3,451 locations, $5,550 average, $19,153,698, one week.

  2. Dunkirk, Warner Bros., $17,135,246, 4,014 locations, $4,269 average, $133,090,984, three weeks.

  3. The Emoji Movie, Columbia, $12,005,409, 4,075 locations, $2,946 average, $49,107,113, two weeks.

  4. Girls Trip, Universal, $11,401,495, 2,582 locations, $4,416 average, $85,426,515, three weeks.

  5. Kidnap, Aviron Pictures, $10,016,323, 2,378 locations, $4,212 average, $10,016,323, one week.

  6. Spider-Man: Homecoming, Columbia, $8,845,978, 3,116 locations, $2,839 average, $294,953,754, five weeks.

  7. Atomic Blonde, Focus Features, $8,157,555, 3,326 locations, $2,453 average, $34,037,930, two weeks.

  8. Detroit, Annapurna Pictures , $7,125,601, 3,007 locations, $2,370 average, $7,641,083, two weeks.

  9. War for the Planet of the Apes, 20th Century Fox, $6,169,134, 2,704 locations, $2,281 average, $130,449,389, four weeks.

  10. Despicable Me 3, Universal, $5,429,735, 2,445 locations, $2,221 average, $240,920,645, six weeks.

  11. Baby Driver, Columbia, $2,573,956, 1,424 locations, $1,808 average, $97,074,886, six weeks.

  12. Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets, STX Entertainment, $2,395,377, 1,795 locations, $1,334 average, $36,137,260, three weeks.

  13. Wonder Woman, Warner Bros., $2,286,334, 1,307 locations, $1,749 average, $399,432,413, 10 weeks.

  14. The Big Sick, Lionsgate, $2,163,021, 1,005 locations, $2,152 average, $33,927,449, seven weeks.

  15. Jab Harry Met Sejal, Yash Raj Films, $1,284,740, 280 locations, $4,588 average, $1,284,740, one week.

  16. An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power, Paramount, $961,193, 180 locations, $5,340 average, $1,113,564, two weeks.

  17. Cars 3, Disney, $539,750, 477 locations, $1,132 average, $147,620,695, eight weeks.

  18. Wolf Warrior 2, Well Go USA, Inc., $506,961, 32 locations, $15,843 average, $1,110,380, two weeks.

  19. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, Disney, $453,768, 252 locations, $1,801 average, $388,399,203, 14 weeks.

  20. Wish Upon, Broad Green Pictures, $314,485, 345 locations, $912 average, $13,774,273, four weeks.

MovieStyle on 08/11/2017

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