It was finally a somewhat more exciting weekend, as the Idris Elba/Taraji P. Henson thriller No Good Deed opened in first place with almost $25 million, slightly above expectations. The film cost just $13 million, so it's already a success, which is good because it received just a "B+" Cinemascore (although the studio should probably be happy about that, considering its Rotten Tomatoes score was in the single digits). It attracted a mostly female audience (over 60%), which has been underserved this summer, but we'll have to see if it has what it takes to hold on (especially with David Fincher's thriller Gone Girl coming up soon).
In second place was Dolphin Tale 2, which came in with $16 million, failing to match the opening weekend of the first movie, but this one did get an "A" from audiences, so it might hold on better than No Good Deed in the next several weeks. Holdovers made up the rest of the top five, with Guardians of the Galaxy, Ninja Turtles, and Let's Be Cops rounding out the pack. Let's Be Cops by the way, has proven to be something of a surprise success, grossing $72 million so far off a less than $20 million opening.
Top 5:
- No Good Deed- $24.5 million
- Dolphin Tale 2- $16.5 million
- Guardians of the Galaxy- $8 million
- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles- $4.8 million
- Let's Be Cops- $4.3 million
There were also a few new limited release openings this week, the most successful of which was The Drop, the Dennis Lehane crime thriller that happened to be the late James Gandolfini's last starring role. It just missed a slot in the top five, opening with over $4 million in about 800 theaters. The Skeleton Twins, with SNL alums Bill Hader and Kristen Wiig, also opened big, with nearly $500k from just 15 screens, while The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: Them, was a bit disappointing, coming in with mixed reviews and just $77k from 4 theaters. Next week its the YA adaptation The Maze Runner, the Jason Bateman family comedy This is Where I Leave You, and Liam Neeson's latest action thriller A Walk Among the Tombstones. See you then!
