‘Happy Death Day’ crushes ‘Blade Runner 2049’ at box-office
LOS ANGELES: ‘Happy Death Day’ has cause for celebration.
The latest from Blumhouse and Universal is leading the box office this weekend with US$26.5 million from 3,149 locations. That puts it far ahead of ‘Blade Runner 2049’, which is skidding to US$15.1 million during its second weekend at 4,058 locations, down 54% from its disappointing opening weekend.
A horror spin on ‘Groundhog Day’, ‘Happy Death Day’ centres on Tree Gelbman (Jessica Rothe) as a woman who wakes up to the same day -- her birthday -- every day, and is murdered every time. Christopher B. Landon directed the film based on a script by Scott Lobdell.
Earlier this year in January, Blumhouse’s ‘Split’ opened to a monster US$40 million in January, and went on to earn US$278.3 million worldwide. Then, the next month, ‘Get Out’ was a smash hit as well with a US$33.4 million opening and US$253.1 million in global grosses by the end of its run. The production house is also responsible for the hugely profitable ‘Purge’ and ‘Paranormal Activity’ franchises.
Otherwise, ‘The Foreigner’ -- a US-China co-production between STXfilms, Sparkle Roll Media, and Wanda -- is opening to US$12.8 million from 2,515 locations. The Jackie Chanstarrer started its international rollout on Sept. 30, and has tallied US$88 million overseas so far. ‘Casino Royale’ director Martin Campbell made the US$35 million flick, which also stars Pierce Brosnan as a British government official.
And two biopics are struggling to draw significant grosses. Open Road’s ‘Marshall’ is opening to US$3 million from 821 locations, and Annapurna’s ‘Professor Marston & The Wonder Women’ is barely making a dent with US$737,000 from 1,229 locations.
‘It’ remains in the top five this weekend, as horror continues to dominate the box office. In its sixth weekend, the Warner Bros. and New Line release is grossing US$6 million from 3,176 spots. At fifth spot is Fox’s ‘The Mountain Between Us’, which is taking in US$5.7 million from 3,259 locations. Rounding out the top 10 were:
‘American Made’ (US$5.4 million)
‘Kingsman: The Golden Circle’ (US$5.3 million)
‘The Lego Ninjago Movie’ (U$4.3 million)
‘My Little Pony: The Movie’ ($4 million)
‘Victoria and Abdul’ ($3.1 million) — Reuters/AFP