*UPDATE – The race was indeed close and when actuals were finally released Kingsman: The Golden Circle actually took the top spot with a gross of $16.975 million. It landed in second with $16.93 million while American Made landed in third with $16.75 million. Still a very close race and a perfect way to end the surprisingly record breaking month of September.
The September box office continues to be very interesting as It makes a surprising return to the top of the box office as the top 3 films make it a very close race.
With just over $300k separating number one and number three on this weekend’s box office chart, first place currently belongs to WB and New Line’s It, which is back on top after last weekend saw the killer clown finish in the runner up position. With an estimated $17.3 million, the record-breaking horror film has now topped $291 million domestically and will currently enjoy its third weekend out of four atop the weekend box office as we wait for weekend actuals to arrive on this afternoon.
Currently in second place is Universal’s release of American Made starring Tom Cruise and directed by Doug Liman. The R-rated adult-targeted film brought in an estimated $17.01 million from 3,024 theaters and received a “B+” CinemaScore from opening day audiences . Overall, the film’s audience was 55% male vs. 45% female, of which 56% were over the age of 30. For Cruise, the debut is ~$2 million better than Jack Reacher’s opening in December 2012 before it went on to gross over $80 million. Whether the film has legs on the domestic front remains to be seen. The film has received solid reviews but Tom Cruise is still a wildcard at the North American box office. Internationally, American Made first started playing at the end of August and has since grossed $64.7 million, which includes an additional $3.8 million this weekend. The film has yet to debut in Russia and Ukraine where it will open on October 12 followed by an October 21 release in Japan and a November 2 opening in Argentina.
And in third by a hair is Fox’s Kingsman: The Golden Circle, which dropped 56.4% in its second weekend for a $17 million finish. The film’s domestic gross now stands at $66.7 million, which means it is now pacing behind the original film after ten days of release.
Golden Circle continues a strong performance overseas bringing in over $50 million this weekend from 77 markets pushing its international total to $126 million for a global tally reaching $192.9 million, outpacing the original film by 53% in the same markets at current exchange rates. Still to come, Golden Circle will open in France and Argentina in mid-October, in China on October 20 and not in Japan until January 5. The worldwide gross should ensure that the planned third film sees the light of day.
Skipping to fifth place we have Sony’s Flatliners, a $19 million remake of the 1990 film, and it struggled this weekend. Heading into release Sony anticipated a conservative, $7-8 million opening of which the film failed to meet, delivering an estimated $6.7 million three-day, more than $3 million shy of the now 27 year-old original. Audiences responded with a “B-” CinemaScore and of that audience, it was split 49% male vs. 51% female with 50% coming in under the age of 25. The film kicked off its overseas rollout in 21 markets, bringing in an estimated $3.1 million.
*Note: Since the box office is so close this week, the post will be updated accordingly if there are any changes after actuals are released.
Check out the full top ten results below:
- It – $17.3 million
- American Made – $17.016 million
- Kingsman: The Golden Circle – 17 million
- The LEGO Ninjago Movie – $12 million
- Flatliners – $6.7 million
- Battle of the Sexes – $3.4 million
- American Assassin – $3.3 million
- Home Again – $1.7 million
- Til Death Do Us Part – $1.5 million
- mother! – $1.4 million
