Arrivals from Toronto deliver mixed results

It was all but concluded that this weekend would see a repeat champion at the top, but an upstart release with some strong word-on-the-street was threatening things. It is a sign we may have crawled from the post-summer doldrums like emerging from a sewer.

So in the ramping up of the Halloween frame and moving towards the holiday season here are this weekend’s performance figures.

IT: CHAPTER TWO – $40.7 Million
No shock at all that a repeat was to be had with the monster hit from last week. The second balloon ride was actually slightly better than expected. Horror films are notorious for being first-weekend performers and having a quick drop off, even more so if it has a stronger opening. There was a sign of strength here as this weekend is around a -55% dip, much better than the predicted -60,65% drop. Saturday was a stronger than anticipated return, propping up an already powerful performance. This follows close to the original, that also had a stronger second week than predicted. To date this sequel has drawn $150 million already.

HUSTLERS – $32.1m
A highly raved-about film that debuted at the Toronto Film Festival has been getting all kinds of attention. Jennifer Lopez is getting rave reviews as she heads a cast of actresses who have impressed in this tale of strippers who conduct a heist on their rich clientele. The predictions on this title have been constantly scaled upwards and some speculated it had the chance to dethrone the money-making Pennywise. This opening is the best ever seen by Jennifer Lopez, and the best for the studio, STX Entertainment.

ANGEL HAS FALLEN – $4.2m
A slight recovery, after the monstrous opening of IT last weekend, sees Gerard Butler dipping only -29% this week. Soon this second sequel will have earned more than LONDON HAS FALLEN.

GOOD BOYS – $4.1m
Universal continues to see good returns, as this has now climbed over the $70 million mark.

THE LION KING – $3.6m
The clear king of the summer is still a fixture as we enter into Fall.

HOBBS & SHAW – $2.77m
Globally the boys who despise physics have taken in $760 million.

OVERCOMER – $2.7m
The little faith-based-movie-that-could has been chugging along, now earning $30 million in its run.

THE GOLDFINCH – $2.6m
Here is proof that not every awards-hopeful movie to come out of the Toronto Film Festival is gold. This one got beat up a little bit at TIFF and it flamed out. A $50 million co-production between Warner Brothers and Amazon Studios it has Nicole Kidman heading an all-star cast in an adaptation of a Pulitzer Prize-winning novel. Not only is this a dismal debut on that budget but it was a wide-release disaster. This stands as a top-10 worst opening for a film that debuted in at least 2,500 screens.

THE PEANUT BUTTER FALCON – $1.9m
On the other side of the arthouse spectrum is this film with Shia Labeouf. Given a low and gradual rollout and adding screens with each successful week it has tacked on just under another 200 screens this weekend to take its run now to almost 1,500. Along the way it has gently built up a respectable $15 million haul for this small picture.

DORA AND THE LOST CITY OF GOLD – $1.85m
Lost might be the key word in that title. It will be interesting to see how much gold Paramount may end up losing on this venture.