Coming off strong reviews and buzz out of the Telluride and Toronto Film Festivals, “Prisoners” took the top spot at the box office Friday with $7 million. Directed by Denis Villeneuve, the dramatic thriller features an all-star prestige cast including Hugh Jackman, Jake Gyllenhaal, Viola Davis, Terrence Howard, Melissa Leo and Paul Dano. The Alcon Entertainment production is being distributed by Warner Bros. and it should end up with $20 million for the weekend.
Dropping to second place is “Insidious Chapter 2.” The James Wan horror hit grossed another $4.6 million on Friday for $51 million in just 8 days. While a massive financial winner for Film District, it looks unlikely that the picture will hit $100 million.
Relativity’s “The Family” came in third with another $2 million and $20.7 million so far. If it can eke its way to anything more than $30 million that will be pretty impressive considering how terrible the reviews were.
Speaking of bad reviews, Screen Gems’ “Battle of the Year” proved the dance competition genre may officially be on the downswing. “Battle” ended up in fourth place with just $1.5 million Friday. It should do around $4 million for the three-day. With a reported budget of $20 million, it’s a rare misstep for the Sony Pictures division.
Still hanging around the top five is “We’re the Millers.” The Warner Bros. comedy took in another $1.3 million Friday for $134.8 million to date. Sequel anyone?
In limited release, Universal Pictures “Rush” had a solid start in five theaters grossing $66,000 or $13,200 per screen. The Ron Howard picture opens nationwide next week.
Also doing well in just four theaters is Nicole Holofcener’s “Enough Said.” The Fox Searchlight dramedy features a rare big screen turn by Julia Louis-Dreyfus and one of the last performances by the late James Gandolfini. “Enough Said” took in another $62,800 on Friday or $15,700 per screen on Friday for a three-day total of $117,000.
Look for complete box office estimates for the weekend on Sunday.