Insidious 2 was the big winner over the weekend, “scaring up” (see what I did there?) an estimated $41 million over the Friday the 13th weekend, more than three times bigger than the original’s $13.3 million. That made it the second biggest September opening ever, behind the Adam Sandler-voiced Hotel Transylvania, which should tell you everything you need to know about how slow and boring box office news is in September.
Insidious 2 was the fifth horror movie to open number one this year, and the second directed by James Wan and starring Patrick Wilson (the first being The Conjuring). Horror fans love a formula.
Elsewhere, Robert Deniro’s latest paycheck, The Family, didn’t bomb quite as hard as it should have even though no one really liked it:
In a distant second place, The Family opened to an estimated $14.5 million from 3,091 theaters. That’s a solid start for the mob comedy—it ranks second all-time for director Luc Besson, and sixth all-time for distributor Relativity Media. Its audience was 54 percent female and 83 percent over the age of 25; unfortunately, it received a terrible “C” CinemaScore, which suggests it will fall pretty quickly. [BoxOfficeMojo]
Well, at least it probably won’t make its money back. That “83 percent over the age of 25” stat really says it all. For the over-25 crowd, Deniro is still the guy from Raging Bull and The Godfather. For the younger people, he’s the co-star of bad rom-coms who gets stabbed in the boner. RIP.
1. Insidious: Chapter 2 (FilmDistrict) – $41,050,000 – BUDGET: $5,000,000
2. The Family (Relativity Media) – $14,500,000 – BUDGET: $30,000,000
3. Riddick (Universal) – $7,013,000 ($31,280,000) – BUDGET: $38,000,000
4. Lee Daniels’ The Butler (The Weinstein Company) – $5,582,000 ($100,041,000) – BUDGET: $30m
5. We’re The Millers (Warner Bros.) – $5,415,000 ($131,602,000) – BUDGET: $37,000,000
6. Instructions Not Included (LionsGate) – $4,250,000 ($26,581,000) – BUDGET: Not reported
7. Planes (Buena Vista) – $3,066,000 ($82,984,000) – BUDGET: $50,000,000
8. One Direction: This Is Us (TriStar) – $2,400,000 ($26,887,000) – BUDGET: $10,000,000
9. Elysium (TriStar) – $2,050,000 ($88,388,000) – BUDGET: $115,000,000
10. Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters (Fox) – $1,825,000 ($62,035,000) – BUDGET: $90m
Source = Indiewire