“Sully” made a much a bigger splash at the box office than was initially expected, touching down at an estimated $35.5 million for the No. 1 spot in its opening weekend.
Playing on 3,525 screens, the Warner Bros. and Village Roadshow drama made $12.2 million on Friday, boosting three-day estimates that were previously set at $24 million for the weekend. The Clint Eastwood-directed film stars Tom Hanks as hero pilot Chelsey “Sully” Sullenberger.
With an 84 percent Rotten Tomatoes score, reviews are solid for the movie about Sully’s crucial call to glide an imperiled US Airways jet for a water landing on the Hudson River just minutes after it took off from Laguardia Airport, a decision that saved 155 lives on board in 2009.
CinemaScore polling said opening night moviegoers gave it an A grade on average.
Screen Gems and Unique Features’ genre thriller “When the Bough Breaks” easily grabbed second place with $15 million, thought initial predictions had set the opening close to $20 million. (The film’s distributors at Sony were initially predicting roughly $11 million, so the final tally exceeds those estimates).
The opening is pretty good for the thriller Morris Chestnut and Regina Hall, since it was produced for $10 million. It is playing on 2,246 screens.
Reviews for “When the Bough Breaks,” about the danger posed to a growing family by their increasingly psychotic surrogate, are a crazy-low zero percent on Rotten Tomatoes, though it has earned a B CinemaScore.
Demonstrating a strong hold on audiences, Screen Gems and Stage 6 Films’ home invasion thriller “Don’t Breathe” came in at No. 3, beating Warner Bros. “Suicide Squad” again and bringing its domestic total to $66.8 million.
The comic book movie starring Margot Robbie and Will Smith will come in fourth place with an estimated $5.7 million in its sixth week, bringing its total to $307.4 million.
Lionsgate animated feature “The Wild Life” finished in fifth place with an estimated $3.4 million from 2,493 theaters, down from previous estimates of $7 million.
The movie depicts a tropical island-marooned Robinson Crusoe who mystifies local animals as they survive a massive storm and battle savage cats.
“The Wild Life” has a B- CinemaScore and a low 15 percent on Rotten Tomatoes.
Director D.J. Caruso’s “The Disappointments Room,” the first film released by the financially troubled Relativity in more than a year, lived up to its title with a dismal $2 million opening on 1,554 screens — one of the worst widely released openings of all time.
The horror film, starring Kate Beckinsale, Lucas Till and Michaela Conlin, has a zero percent Rotten Tomatoes score and received a D CinemaScore.
The Top Five:
1. “Sully” (Warner Bros.) — $35.5 million in Week 1 ($35.5 million total)
2. “When the Bough Breaks” — $15 million in Week 1 ($15 million total)
3. “Don’t Breathe” (Sony) — $8.2 million in Week 3 ($66.8 million total)
2. “Suicide Squad” (Warner Bros.) — $5.7 million in Week 6 ($307.4 million total)
5. “The Wild Life” (Lionsgate) — $3.4 million in Week 1 ($3.4 million total)