‘The House with a Clock in Its Walls’ Topples ‘The Predator’ at the Box Office
Families flocked to the theaters this weekend as The House with a Clock in Its Walls took the top spot. The Eli Roth-directed fantasy opened with an estimated $26.9 million.
The House with a Clock in Its Walls was the only new release to even enter the Top 5 charts. Newcomers Fahrenheit 11/9 ($3.1 million), Life Itself ($2.1 million) and Assassination Nation ($1 million) all failed to find traction over the weekend. With no major family-friendly releases since the beginning of August, The House with a Clock in Its Walls certainly claimed the demographic. Live-action family fare like Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, The Game Plan and Dolphin Tale all experienced leggy September runs. Expect The House with a Clock in Its Walls to follow suit. We’ll see next weekend how much Smallfoot will affect its legs. Otherwise it may hinge on Goosebumps 2 on October 12th. Granted, reception has been fairly decent. The House with a Clock in Its Walls scored a 68% on Rotten Tomatoes as well as a “B+” CinemaScore.
Positive word-of-mouth bumped A Simple Favor from a third place debut to second this weekend. The favored Lionsgate thriller only dipped 35%, bringing in another $10.4 million. So far, A Simple Favor has brought in $32.6 million after 10 days in theaters, just about doubling its opening weekend. Small drops in the coming weeks could send A Simple Favor north of the $60 million mark. Even a run above $50 million would send the thriller over a 3x multiplier. Sticking around like Gone Girl (4.47x multiplier) did in 2014 might be a bit difficult.
In its third frame, Warner Bros.’ The Nun continues to hang on. The fifth chapter of The Conjuring Universe only dropped 43.8% from last weekend, grossing another $10.2 million. That pushed The Nun to become the 20th $100 million hit of 2018. The Nun is also fourth film in The Conjuring Universe to pass the milestone. Annabelle was the one exception back in 2014 with $84.3 million. By next weekend, The Nun will surpass the overall totals of both The Conjuring 2 ($102.4 million) and Annabelle: Creation ($102.1 million) as the second highest-grossing film in the franchise. Chances of topping The Conjuring’s $137.4 million run are impossible at this juncture.
After a so-so debut, Fox’s The Predator fell three spots to fourth over the weekend. Down 64.7%, the Shane Black-directed sequel pulled in another $8.7 million. While that’s certainly a heavy sophomore drop, it’s not as awful as Predators’ 71.7% collapse in July 2010. Topping Predators’ $52 million haul is possible as it currently sits neck-and-neck with a $40.4 million 10-day total. Weak fall dailies will be more of the deciding factor here. Either way, The Predator will erode just as quickly as Alien vs. Predator and Predators.
With three new releases failing to crack the Top 5, Crazy Rich Asians retained its fifth place spot for a second weekend in a row. Warner Bros.’ breakout rom-com pulled the best holdover for $1 million-plus films, grossing $6.5 million. That’s down a solid 25% from last weekend, bringing its six-week total to $159.4 million. This will probably be the final week for Crazy Rich Asians in the Top 5, especially with four new releases on the horizon this Friday. Nevertheless, Crazy Rich Asians could still close around $180 million by the end of its run.
Note: These #’s are based on Sunday’s projections and can change with Monday’s actual #’s
#1 – The House with a Clock in Its Walls (NR)
$26.9 million / $26.9 million total
#2 – A Simple Favor (3)
$10.4 million / $32.6 million total
#3 – The Nun (2)
$10.3 million / $100.9 million total
#4 – The Predator (1)
$8.7 million / $40.4 million total
#5 – Crazy Rich Asians (5)
$6.5 million / $159.4 million total
Opening Next Week: Hell Fest, Little Women, Night School, Smallfoot
Source: Box Office Mojo
