LOS ANGELES: Happy Death Day has cause for celebration.
The latest from Blumhouse and Universal led the box office this weekend with US$26.5 million from 3,149 locations in the United States and Canada. That puts it far ahead of Blade Runner 2049, which skidded to US$15.1 million during its second weekend at 4,058 locations, down 54 per cent 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.
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.
The Foreigner – a US-China co-production between STXfilms, Sparkle Roll Media, and Wanda – opened to US$12.8 million from 2,515 locations. The Jackie Chan-starrer 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.
Two biopics struggled to draw significant grosses. Open Road's Marshall opened to US$3 million from 821 locations, and Annapurna's Professor Marston & The Wonder Women barely made a dent with US$737,000 from 1,229 locations.
‘It’ remained in the top five this weekend, as horror continued to dominate the box office. In its sixth weekend, the Warner Bros. and New Line release grossed US$6 million from 3,176 spots. Rounding out the top five are Fox's The Mountain Between Us, which took in US$5.7 million from 3,259 locations. -- REUTERS