“Sully” Rescues Lackluster September Box Office

By Kip Mooney • On • In News, Weekend Box Office Report News, Weekend Box Office Report 0

BOX OFFICE REPORT

September 9-11, 2016

(estimates from BoxOfficeMojo.com)

TOP 5

Sully $35.5 million
When the Bough Breaks  $15.0 million
Don't Breathe $8.2 million
Suicide Squad $5.6 million
The Wild Life $3.4 million

 

Sully delivered a miraculous opening. Its estimated $35.5 million is one of the best September openings of all time. That's Tom Hanks' biggest live-action opening – and his first No. 1 – since 2009's Angels & Demons. It's also the first No. 1 movie aimed at adults since The Revenant over this year (though that might just be a matter of opinion). Because of that, it's also likely to have long legs through the fall, even though it's unlikely to retain its No. 1 status.

 

When the Bough Breaks defied all expectations to open in second place with $15 million, already earning back its budget. Screen Gems is deft at releasing low-budget thrillers starring mostly African-American casts and reaping huge rewards. They did this the last two years with The Perfect Guy (also starring Morris Chestnut) and No Good Deed, which both opened at No. 1.

 

Don't Breathe slipped to third place, but seems destined to finish with more than $80 million, another big success for Screen Gems. Suicide Squad fell to fourth, but has now topped $300 million. It's well above the ninth-place movie, Jason Bourne, which hasn't yet crossed $160 million. But that was still better than The Wild Life, a cheap European import that retells the story of Robinson Crusoe through the animals on the desert island. That's less than half of what the abysmal Norm of the North opened with back in January.

 

Outside the top 5:

  • This Weekend's Indie Champ: Cameraperson, a documentary about cinematographer Kirsten Johnson, who has shot such non-fiction films as The Invisible War and Citizenfour. It played on only one screen but earned $12,897.
  • The Disappointments Room lived up to its name. The horror flick starring Kate Beckinsale opened way down in 17th place.
  • That's just as bad as Morgan, which has fallen to 21st place and won't even make back its minuscule $8 million budget.

 

Next week: It's Blair Witch vs. Bridget Jones's Baby. The former will definitely be the No. 1 movie and I predict will make more its first weekend than Adam Wingard's previous features combined. I'll be conservative and guess $22 million. I don't think anyone will go see Snowden. It will be as big a flop as the Julian Assange biopic The Fifth Estate.

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About Kip Mooney

Kip Mooney
Like many film critics born during and after the 1980s, my hero is Roger Ebert. The man was already the best critic in the nation when he won the Pulitzer in 1975, but his indomitable spirit during and after his recent battle with cancer keeps me coming back to read not only his reviews but his insightful commentary on the everyday. But enough about a guy you know a lot about. I knew I was going to be a film critic—some would say a snob—in middle school, when I had to voraciously defend my position that The Royal Tenenbaums was only a million times better than Adam Sandler’s remake of Mr. Deeds. From then on, I would seek out Wes Anderson’s films and avoid Sandler’s like the plague. Still, I like to think of myself as a populist, and I’ll be just as likely to see the next superhero movie as the next Sundance sensation. The thing I most deplore in a movie is laziness. I’d much rather see movies with big ambitions try and fail than movies with no ambitions succeed at simply existing. I’m also a big advocate of fun-bad movies like The Room and most of Nicolas Cage’s work. In the past, I’ve written for The Dallas Morning News and the North Texas Daily, which I edited for a semester. I also contributed to Dallas-based Pegasus News, which in the circle of life, is now part of The Dallas Morning News, where I got my big break in 2007. Eventually, I’d love to write and talk about film full-time, but until that’s a viable career option, I work as an auditor for Wells Fargo. I hope to one day meet my hero, go to the Toronto International Film Festival, and compete on Jeopardy. Until then, I’m excited to share my love of film with you.

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