LOS ANGELES: Stephen King wrote It. Warner Bros. and New Line made It. And audiences seem to love It.
The new freaky-scary film by that title broke records over the weekend as the largest September opening and largest opening for an R-rated horror film in North American theatres, industry websites reported Sunday.
It, starring Bill Skarsgard as a creepy clown who terrorises children in a sleepy Maine town, pulled in an estimated US$117 million for the three-day weekend, website Exhibitor Relations reported. The movie, from Argentine director Andy Muschietti, comes amid one of the slowest cinematic summers in years – and likely would have done better but for the impact of Hurricane Irma on Florida moviegoers.
Coming in second – but left far back in the dust by It – was another new release, Home Again from Open Road Films, with a take of just US$9 million. The romantic comedy has Reese Witherspoon unexpectedly finding herself living with three young men after a separation from her husband.
In third was a movie that had clung to a box-office lead for three straight weeks, The Hitman's Bodyguard from Lionsgate, which netted US$4.9 million. The action comedy stars Ryan Reynolds as a bodyguard hired to protect a notorious hitman played by Samuel L. Jackson.
Next was another Warner Bros. horror film, Annabelle: Creation, which took in US$4 million. It is part of the popular Conjuring series of movies.
And in fifth was Wind River from the Weinstein Co., at US$3.2 million. It stars Jeremy Renner and Elizabeth Olsen as federal agents trying to solve a murder on an Indian reservation.
Rounding out the top 10 were:
Leap! (US$2.5 million)
Spider-Man: Homecoming (US$2 million)
Dunkirk (US$2 million)
Logan Lucky (US$1.8 million)
The Emoji Movie (US$1 million) -- AFP