Friday Estimates: Madea Scares the Competition with $9.4 million

October 22, 2016

Tyler Perry’s Boo! A Madea Halloween

Tyler Perry’s Boo! A Madea Halloween beat expectations on Friday to earn first place at the box office with with $9.4 million. I was a little more bullish than most, but even I didn’t think it would finish in first place on Friday. This is not quite as much as Madea’s Big Happy Family made on its opening day in 2011, but it is enough to put the film on pace for $25 million. Its reviews have risen to 33% positive, which isn’t bad for a Madea movie, while it earned an A from CinemaScore, so the fans are clearly happy with the film.

Jack Reacher: Never Go Back landed in second place with $8.9 million. This is just behind what The Accountant earned last weekend. The Accountant also earned better reviews, while it earned an A from CinemaScore compared to a B+ for Never Go Back. This suggests a smaller internal multiplier and an opening weekend of $23 million. This is better than most predicted, but not enough for a film that cost $96 million to make, unless it does much better overseas.

The next best new release was Ouija: Origin of Evil, which earned third place with $5.46 million. This is almost a third less than the original Ouija movie earned. Given the sequel’s reviews, one would think it would have better internal multiplier, as the first film only managed 7% positive reviews. However, both films only earned a C from CinemaScore. Wow. Horror fans are tough to please. While it earned third place on Friday, it will slip to fourth place over the weekend with $13 million. Still, this isn’t a bad start for a film that cost $9 million to make.

Keeping Up with the Joneses bombed with just $2.0 million on Friday. Given its reviews and its B- CinemaScore, it is unlikely to have much legs, meaning it will earn under $6 million over the weekend. This will put it below the $2,000 “Mendoza Line.”

I’m Not Ashamed will likely suffer the same fate after opening with $330,000 on Friday, which puts it on pace for less than $1 million over the weekend. Some reviews have started to trickle in and they are not good. Then again, they are not bad compared to most faith-based films. It was also too small to be tracked by CinemaScore.

We have some numbers for limited releases, including Moonlight, which earned $131,000 in just 4 theaters on Friday. It has a good shot at having the best theater average of the year so far. Spices of Liberty was way back with $5,545 in one theater, but that’s still a great opening day.

- Friday Box Office Chart

- Jack Reacher: Never Go Back Comparisons
- Tyler Perry’s Boo! A Madea Halloween Comparisons
- Ouija: Origin of Evil Comparisons
- Keeping Up with the Joneses Comparisons
- I’m Not Ashamed Comparisons

Filed under: Friday Estimates, Ouija: Origin of Evil, The Accountant, Keeping Up with the Joneses, Jack Reacher: Never Go Back, Tyler Perry’s Boo! A Madea Halloween, Spices of Liberty, I’m Not Ashamed, Madea