{"id":124025,"date":"2017-10-15T21:55:59","date_gmt":"2017-10-16T01:55:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=124025"},"modified":"2017-10-15T21:55:59","modified_gmt":"2017-10-16T01:55:59","slug":"happy-death-day-scares-off-blade-runner-at-box-office","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2017\/10\/15\/happy-death-day-scares-off-blade-runner-at-box-office\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Happy Death Day’ scares off ‘Blade Runner’ at box office"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Studio<\/a>
Studio estimates Sunday show \u201cHappy Death Day\u201d took in $26.5 million from 3,149 North American theatres. With a $5 million production price tag, \u201cHappy Death Day\u201d is already a hit. (Photo<\/a>: Happy Death Day\/Facebook<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

LOS ANGELES \u2014 The box office might be struggling this year, but the horror genre is alive and well.<\/p>\n

This weekend the \u201cGroundhog Day\u201d-like horror pic \u201cHappy Death Day\u201d scored a first-place finish, surpassing expectations and blowing the much costlier and star-driven \u201cBlade Runner 2049\u201d out of the water.<\/p>\n

Studio estimates Sunday show \u201cHappy Death Day\u201d took in $26.5 million from 3,149 North American theatres. With a $5 million production price tag, \u201cHappy Death Day\u201d is already a hit.<\/p>\n

With a PG-13 rating, the film scored big with younger audiences \u2014 63 per cent were under 25.<\/p>\n

It’s the latest success story from Blumhouse Productions, which earlier this year released \u201cSplit\u201d and \u201cGet Out,\u201d with the help of Universal Pictures, which distributed.<\/p>\n

Jim Orr, executive vice-president of domestic distribution for Universal, said \u201cHappy Death Day\u201d is an original film that’s reimaging the genre.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s as much thriller as it is horror film. It’s scary, it’s funny, and it has an extraordinarily clever script that is very well executed,\u201d Orr said. \u201cBlumhouse owns this space no doubt about it, and they do this better than anybody consistently.\u201d<\/p>\n

The film also had the benefit of coming on the heels of the massive success of \u201cIt,\u201d which has earned $314.9 million domestically to date. The \u201cHappy Death Day\u201d trailer played in front of \u201cIt\u201d at theatres, which \u201cexponentially increased\u201d audience awareness, said comScore senior media analyst Paul Dergarabedian.<\/p>\n

Horror continues to be one of the bright spots during a roller-coaster year at the box office.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a horror gold rush at the theatres,\u201d Dergarabedian said. \u201cIt’s been perhaps the most consistently positive story this year.\u201d<\/p>\n

One film that does not look destined for a happy ending is \u201cBlade Runner 2049,\u201d which fell 54 per cent in its second weekend in theatres, adding $15.1 million to bring its domestic total to $60.6 million.<\/p>\n

The film was a costly endeavour with a production price tag north of $150 million and was well-reviewed by critics. But it couldn’t manage to draw in significant audiences beyond the fans of the 1982 original, which was also a flop upon release.<\/p>\n

Jackie Chan’s \u201cThe Foreigner\u201d debuted in third place with $12.8 million from 2,515 screens, while \u201cIt\u201d landed in fourth place in its sixth weekend in theatres.<\/p>\n

The Kate Winslet and Idris Elba disaster pic \u201cThe Mountain Between Us\u201d rounded out the top five with $5.7 million.<\/p>\n

Other new releases landed outside the top 10. The Thurgood Marshall biopic \u201cMarshall\u201d took in a promising $3 million from 821 theatres.<\/p>\n

\u201cMarshall is off to a solid start,\u201d said Open Road Films CEO Tom Ortenberg in a statement. \u201cWe expect Marshall to hold very well and run well into the fall.\u201d<\/p>\n

But the Wonder Woman creator biopic \u201cProfessor Marston and the Wonder Woman\u201d failed to capitalize from the massive success of \u201cWonder Woman\u201d earlier this year. The film earned only $737,000 from over 1,200 locations.<\/p>\n

\u201cGoodbye Christopher Robin,\u201d about author A.A. Milne and the creation of the beloved children’s books and characters, also got off to a poor start with $56,000 from nine theatres.<\/p>\n

\u201cOctober is off to a slow start,\u201d Dergarabedian said.<\/p>\n

Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theatres, according to comScore. Where available, the latest international numbers for Friday through Sunday are also included. Final domestic figures will be released Monday.<\/p>\n

1.\u201dHappy Death Day,\u201d $26.5 million ($5 million international).<\/p>\n

2.\u201dBlade Runner 2049,\u201d $15.1 million ($29.3 million international).<\/p>\n

3.\u201dThe Foreigner,\u201d $12.8 million ($5.2 million international).<\/p>\n

4.\u201dIt,\u201d $6.1 million ($10.4 million international).<\/p>\n

5.\u201dThe Mountain Between Us,\u201d $5.7 million ($4.1 million international).<\/p>\n

6.\u201dAmerican Made,\u201d $5.4 million ($3.2 million international).<\/p>\n

7.\u201dKingsman: The Golden Circle,\u201d $5.3 million ($15.6 million international).<\/p>\n

8.\u201dThe Lego Ninjago Movie,\u201d $4.3 million ($9.5 million international).<\/p>\n

9.\u201dMy Little Pony: The Movie,\u201d $4 million ($4.9 million international).<\/p>\n

10.\u201dVictoria and Abdul,\u201d $3.1 million ($1.9 million international).<\/p>\n

Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at international theatres (excluding the U.S. and Canada), according to comScore:<\/p>\n

1. \u201cNever Say Die,\u201d $30 million.<\/p>\n

2.\u201cBlade Runner 2049,\u201d $29.3 million.<\/p>\n

3.\u201cBad Genius,\u201d $16.9 million.<\/p>\n

4.\u201cKingsman: The Golden Circle,\u201d $15.6 million.<\/p>\n

5.\u201cIt,\u201d $10.4 million.<\/p>\n

6.\u201cThe Lego Ninjago Movie,\u201d $9.5 million<\/p>\n

7.\u201cGeostorm,\u201d $9.1 million.<\/p>\n

8.\u201cThe Snowman,\u201d $9 million.<\/p>\n

9.\u201cThe Outlaws,\u201d $8.3 million.<\/p>\n

10.\u201cChasing the Dragon,\u201d $7.7 million.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

LOS ANGELES \u2014 The box office might be struggling this year, but the horror genre is alive and well. This …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":124029,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,106],"tags":[27898,4069,27897,798],"class_list":["post-124025","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","category-hollywood","tag-blade-runner","tag-box-office","tag-happy-death-day","tag-movies","mauthors-lindsey-bahr","mauthors-the-associated-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/124025","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=124025"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/124025\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/124029"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=124025"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=124025"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=124025"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}