In a packed weekend with four brand new wide releases, including yet another Tom Cruise actioner and the first horror movie of October, it was Tyler Perry's long-awaited return to his character of Madea that easily took #1 at the box office. Boo!: A Madea Halloween became the highest opening Madea movie since 2009, pulling in $28M in its 3-day debut. Of course, it's been three years since we've seen Perry go full fat suit, so maybe there was a pent-up demand? Either way, the movie that Chris Rock dreamed up as a joke and Lionsgate then convinced Perry to make it real is the #1 movie in the country, so get ready for Madea In The Army in 2018. Tom Cruise's sequel, Jack Reacher: Never Go Back, turned out to be true as audiences didn't care to go back for another Reacher adventure; it opened to $21M, which is actually higher than the first back in 2012. However, Jack Reacher's incredible 5+ multiplier was the reason a sequel got made, and it's doubtful history repeats itself here. The other sequel of the weekend, Ouija: Origin of Evil, lost a bit of its audience and had to settle for 3rd place with only $14M. The other wide release was the repeatedly delayed Relativity title - Keeping Up With The Joneses - and it mirrored the dirt poor numbers of other Relativity titles that finally see the light of day years after being stuck in their legal limbo; a $5M opening isn't even as good as last month's Masterminds.
However, the real news came from a limited release this weekend as A24's critically acclaimed Moonlight put up an astounding $100k PTA in 4 theaters - good enough for 26th best opening average all time! It'll be unstoppable over the next few weeks and will certainly make a splash in January when Oscar nominations roll around. 2nd place went to Chan Wook-Park's The Handmaiden, which should also hold well before the big hitters of November come a-knockin'. American Pastoral, Ewan Mcgregor's directorial debut, missed completely, thanks to 50 theaters.
This week's wide release...
Inferno (Sony) - Well, continuing the trend from last weekend of sequels literally no human being asked for, Sony has decided that despite the Oscar nominations and box office hits Tom Hanks has enjoyed since 2009, what he really needs is a return to the blandest character he's ever played. Twice. Now, three times. Tom Hanks, visibly against his will, is back as Robert Langdon, the wannabe Indiana Jones that fights evil with books and nerd shit instead of whips, guns, and cool shit. After defeating albinos in The DaVinci Code (presumably) and uncovering the Catholic Church's OTHER big secret (the Illuminati) in Angels & Demons, Langdon has awoken in Italy, nursing a head injury and unable to remember who he is or how he got there. Soon, he begins to have visions of hell on Earth, and he's off to the races across Italy to stop a doomsday plot to murder 1/3 of the Earth's population via virus (the same plot of the 2014 Turtles movie and the first Spider-Man reboot). It's all somehow connected to Dante's Inferno (nerd shit), hence the title: Inferno. Hanks won't just be embarrassing himself, as Oscar nominee Felicity Jones, Ben Foster, The Intouchables' Omar Sy, and a slew of Italian actors also show up to stand around while Langdon figures everything out by himself.
Somehow, Sony has decided to completely ignore the huge drop in box office from The DaVinci Code ($77M/$217M) to Angels & Demons ($46M/$133M) and commission yet another Robert Langdon adaptation. While Hanks has never been more popular (well...since the early 90s), he's carved out a niche of playing real-life heroes in mostly critically acclaimed dramas. From Sully to Captain Phillips to Bridge of Spies to Saving Mr. Banks to even A Hologram For The King, Hanks knows his way around a true story. Which honestly makes his decision to turn back to this tired franchise all the more puzzling. His star power won't be enough to persuade casual viewers to check out the worn out premise of globe-trotting thriller, even if it is the only wide release opening this weekend. Director Ron Howard has had the exact opposite trajectory since Angels & Demons in 2009; he's had 3 wide releases in theaters since, none of which bested $50M at the box office.
The Robert Langdon stories are stale as ever, and Inferno will join the slew of 2016 sequels that were unneeded, unwanted, and ended up unloved. Inferno will open to $26M (mostly due to zero competition), grabbing 7 Top 5 points, amassing 3 PTA points, while only totaling around $55M when all is said and done. Inferno will cost you $18 in Oct-Dec BO Leagues, which is a huge waste of your resources. YUGE WASTE.
The Very Lonely Weekend of October 28th-30th:
1. Inferno - $26M
2. Boo! A Madea Halloween - $12M
3. Jack Reacher: Never Go Back - $10M
4. Ouija: Origin of Evil - $8M
5. The Accountant - $7M
PTA: Moonlight, The Handmaiden, Inferno, Boo! A Madea Halloween, Jack Reacher: Never Go Back
Next week, we'll see a return to a normal release schedule as well as the beginning of the Holiday movie season, complete with blockbusters and small Oscar films galore. Wide releases Doctor Strange, the animated Trolls, and Mel Gibson's comeback war film, Hacksaw Ridge, will duke it out, and the lone limited release - Focus' interracial historical romance Loving - will try to overcome Moonlight.
