The Neill Blomkamp sci-fi tale “Chappie” was leading what is shaping up as a bummer weekend at the box office, after debuting with $4.5 million on Friday.
The South Aftican writer-director’s R-rated “Chappie,” which stars Hugh Jackman and Dev Patel, is on course for a roughly $13 million weekend. That’s at the low end of Sony Pictures’ modest expectations but it will be good enough to bounce last week’s top film “Focus” from the top spot. The Warner Bros.’ caper comedy starring Will Smith is looking at a $9 million second weekend and second place after taking in $2.9 million Friday.
The box office was running more than 40 percent behind the comparable weekend last year as stormy weather continued in parts of the East, Midwest and South Friday.
“The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel” finished third Friday with $2.6 million despite being in just 1,563 theaters for Fox Searchlight. That projects to a three-day total in the $8 million range and means “The Second Best Exotic” will battle Twentieth Century Fox’s “Kingsman: The Secret Service,” the holdover spy spoof, for third. The comic book adaptation Colin Firth will be near $100 million domestically by the end of this weekend, it’s fourth in release.
But another Fox release, the R-rated comedy “Unfinished Business,” will be the fifth straight flop for star Vince Vaughn. It opened to $1.8 million on Friday and could wind up with less than $5 million for the three days. It averaged around $640 on 2,777 screens, compared to the $1,410 that “Chappie” averaged on 3,201 and the $1,705 that “Second Best Exotic” managed on 1,578 theaters.
The “Unfinished Business” debut was disappointing, but about what Fox had predicted coming into the weekend. On its’ current pace, the comedy co-starring Dave Franco and Tom Wilkinson and Sienna Miller will be the lowest opening of the four recent Vaughn flops, including “Delivery Man” ($7.9 million), “The Internship” ($17.3 million), “The Watch” ($12.7 million) and “The Dilemma” ($17.8 million).
New Regency is on the hook for the $35 million production budget of “Unfinished Business,” which was directed by Ken Scott and produced by Arnon Milchan, Todd Black, Jason Blumenthal, Steve Tisch and Anthony Katagas.