We have another change at the top of the box office as Ben Affleck’s new thriller The Accountant did a better than expected this opening weekend and raked in $24.7 million for the top spot. I’m predicting that this film will finish around $90 to $95 million domestically.
Second place went to Kevin Hart: What Now? which brought in $11.9 million and is the largest opening weekend ever for a stand-up comedy film, reports Box Office Mojo. This comes as no surprise as the last films he has been involved in this year have grossed over $580 million domestically. The Girl on the Train fell to third place with a 51 percent drop and grossed $11.9 million raising its total domestic gross to just under $50 million.
Miss Peregrine came in fourth place with $8.9 million and Deepwater Horizon rounds out the top five with $6.4 million. Middle School: The Worst Years of My Life ($4.3 million) and The Birth of a Nation ($2.7 million) took steady second weekend drops and I expect this is the last week these films will be in the top 10.
The other new wide release Max Steel finished 11th this weekend with a very disappointing $2.2 million opening. I predict this film won’t even make $20 million domestically. The Accountant looks to repeat as box office champion but it will be tough with four new releases coming next weekend including Jack Reacher: Never Go Back, the sequel to the 2012 film Jack Reacher starring Tom Cruise.
Weekend Gross by Distributor:
Warner Bros.: $34 million (+19.2 percent)
Universal: $24.6 million (-1.3 percent)
Lionsgate: $11.1 million (-8.6 percent)
20th Century Fox: $8.9 million (-6.1 percent)
Sony Pictures: $5.9 million (-5.5 percent)
Fox Searchlight: $2.7 million (-4.4 percent)
Open Road: $2.5 million (n/a)
Relativity: $1.7 million (-2.4 percent)
Disney: $1.3 million (-0.9 percent)
In addition to Jack Reacher: Never Go Back, next week's openings also include Keeping Up with the Joneses, Ouija: Origin of Evil and Tyler Perry’s Boo! A Madea Halloween.