'Madea Halloween' Scares Away 'The Snowman' & 'Geostorm' [Box Office]

‘Tis the season of Halloween which means a lot of shabby horror and spooky movies tend to scare up money at the box office. It also means it’s time for Tyler Perry to do his critic-proof thing with “Tyler Perry’s Boo 2! A Madea Halloween.” Perry’s audience is a perennial staple and they turn up to any of his movies, Halloween related or not. In just over ten years, the Perry phenomenon, seventeen writer/director projects, have grossed $838 million domestically. Laugh at him all you want, he’s a very, very rich man.

Newcomers at the box office were no contest. Directed by Dean Devlin, the producer behind the “Independence Day” movies, the similar, disaster-themed “Geostorm” from Warner Bros., which wasn’t screened for critics, flopped with audiences ($13 million from a $120 million budget). This was Devlin’s feature-length directorial debut (though he’s helmed TV and TV movies), therefore maybe he’ll have to slink back behind the camera and keep propping up Roland Emmerich.

Sony‘s muscular, masculine, serviceman-celebrating “Only The Brave,” which somehow wasn’t directed by Peter Berg, served up a small $6 million opening, but for a film that only cost $38 million, perhaps it’ll have the legs to cut into that budget. Then there was the much-ridiculed “The Snowman” from Universal. How did a film directed by Tomas Alfredson (“Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy”) and starring Michael Fassbender—one of the most anticipated collaborations of the year—become so botched? The post-mortems will go on forever, but all signs point to a film that was rushed into production. Critics laughed at the film and its marketing and didn’t seem to care either.

There were dozens of films in release this weekend. Box Office Mojo listed 18, Rotten Tomatoes tallied something over 30, and so most films were cannibalized. Performing well at the arthouse box office was A24’s “The Killing Of A Sacred Deer,” which grossed $114,585 from four screens for a very good $28,646 per screen average, but perhaps not as spectacular as a much-anticipated indie starring Nicole Kidman and Colin Farrell could be. Yorgos Lanthimos’ last picture with Colin Farrell, “The Lobster,” sparked a $47,563 PSA on four screens. Even A24’s “The Florida Project,” with far fewer stars (only Willem Dafoe), scored a $39,388 PSA 2 weeks ago.

Todd Haynes‘ “Wonderstruck,” seemingly mildly and politely received by critics, could only boast a $17,191 per screen average. Compare that with his last film, “Carol,” which delivered a stellar $63,378 PSA from the same number of screens in 2015 and it’s a sizable step backwards. Perhaps the darker material scared audiences away and or it’s emblematic of this saturated market. Brett Morgan‘s well-received doc “Jane” grossed $55,712 from three screens for a $18,571 PSA and the critically acclaimed “BPM (Beats Per Minute)” served a soft $8,721 from two screens for a low $4,361 PSA.

The box office story was holdovers. Even after dropping a major 64%, “Happy Death Day” grossed $40.6 million after two weeks (good for a cheapo horror). In its third week of release, “Blade Runner 2049” is still in the top five and has hit $74 million domestically, nearly $200 million worldwide. That figure would likely need to double for the expensive movie to be considered even remotely successful.

STX Entertainment‘s modestly-budgeted “The Foreigner” with Jackie Chan is doing respectably moderate business at home, but has already cracked $110 million worldwide thanks to international audiences. Still in the top 10, “Kingsman: The Golden Circle,” which has almost hit $100 million at home, has hit $344M after five weekends, so you should definitely expect a third movie by the time this one cracks $400M. Tom Cruise movies always open soft, but they have sturdy legs at the box office. Made for only $50 million, “American Made” has totaled $121 million worldwide so far.

But nothing comes close to Warner Bros.’ “It” movie. Made for a paltry $35 million, “It” has been a smash hit for the studio, earning $320 million domestically and an astounding $651.6M worldwide. With those figures, the coming of age horror is certainly going to challenge “Get Out” as one of the most profitable movies of the year if it hasn’t bested it already. The Andres Muschietti-directed film has minted his career and given this movie the kind of franchise and spin-off potential that movie studios dream of. Sequels are expected, naturally, but presumably something more ambitious is in the works too, so WB can strike while the iron is hot.

1. Tyler Perry’s Boo 2! A Madea Halloween — $21,650,000
2. Geostorm — $13,300,000
3. Happy Death Day — $9,375,000 ($40,683,365)
4. Blade Runner 2049 — $7,155,000 ($74,005,203)
5. Only The Brave — $6,010,000
6. The Foreigner — $5,450,000 ($22,844,253)
7. It — $3,500,000 ($320,234,616)
8. The Snowman — $3,442,000
9. American Made — $3,162,000 ($45,503,735)
10. Kingsman: The Golden Circle — $3,000,000 ($94,568,932)