Friday the 13th was a great opening day for “Insidious Chapter 2” in more ways than one. The horror sequel scared up $41 million this weekend, topping the box office. Meanwhile, Luc Besson’s “The Family” had a decent debut too.
The Top 12 earned an estimated $90.3 million this weekend, which is up a whopping 31 percent from the same period last year.
“Insidious 2’s” $41 million debut is more than three times as high as its predecessor’s $13.3 million opening. It’s also comparable to director James Wan’s “The Conjuring,” which opened to $41.9 million in July.
Notably, this is only the second time a director has had two movies open at more than $40 million in the same year. The Wachowski brothers achieved that in 2003 with “The Matrix Reloaded” and “The Matrix Revolutions.”
Interestingly, Friday the 13th is considered to be haunted (!), so studios have had good success releasing horror movies on this date. The producers also stuck with what works. “Insidious Chapter 2” had the same cast, director, and visual aesthetic as the first movie.
“The Family” came in at second place with $14.5 million from 3,091 theaters. Not a bad start for a mob movie. Its audience was 54 percent female and 83 percent over the age of 25, no doubt because of the cast they’ve grown up with, including Robert DeNiro and Michelle Pfeiffer.
In its second weekend, “Riddick” fell 63 percent to an estimated $7.01 million. In ten days at the theater, the sci-fi sequel has earned $31.3 million.
“Lee Daniels’ The Butler” dropped 34 percent to an estimated $5.6 million.
“We’re the Millers” rounded out the top five spots with $5.4 million, which is off just 30 percent from last weekend. The road trip comedy has earned an excellent $131.6 million so far.
Here’s the Top Ten based on weekend estimates:
1. Insidious: Chapter 2 (Blumhouse/FilmDistrict) NEW (Runs 3,049] PG13
Friday $20.1M, Saturday $13.4M, Weekend $41.0M
2. The Family (Europecorp/Relativity) NEW [Runs 3,091] R
Friday $5.3M, Saturday $5.3M, Weekend $13.9M
3. Riddick (Universal) Week 2 [Runs 3,117] R
Friday $2.1M, Saturday $2.7M, Weekend $6.5M (-66%), Cume $30.8M
4. Lee Daniels’ The Butler (Weinstein) Week 5 [Runs 3,239] PG13
Friday $1.6M, Saturday $2.4M, Weekend $5.5M, Cume $99.9M
5. We’re The Millers (New Line/Warner Bros) Week 6 [Runs 3,238] R
Friday $1.7M, Saturday $2.3M, Weekend $5.4M, Cume $131.6M
6. Instructions Not Included (Lionsgate) Week 3 [Runs 932] PG13
Friday $1.3M, Saturday $1.3M, Weekend $4.1M, Cume $26.5M
7. Planes 3D (Disney) Week 6 [Runs 2,739] PG
Friday $705K, Saturday $1.4M, Weekend $2.9M, Cume $82.9M
8. One Direction: This Is Us 3D (Sony) Week 3 [Runs 2,300] PG
Friday $825K, Saturday $1.0M, Weekend $2.4M, Cume $26.9M
9. Elysium (Sony) Week 6 [Runs 1,720] R
Friday $628K, Saturday $975K, Weekend $2.2M, Cume $88.5M
10. Percy Jackson 2 3D (Fox) Week 6 [Runs 1,638] PG
Friday $467K, Saturday $885K, Weekend $1.8M, Cume $62.0M
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