\n\tBlumhouse is back in action.<\/p>\n
\n\tScott Derrickson\u2019s <\/a>Black Phone 2<\/a>\u00a0delivered horror maestro Jason Blum<\/a> a major win in opening to a better-than-expected $26.5 million domestically from 3,411 theaters and $15.5 million from 72 markets overseas for a global start of $42 million globally against a relatively modest $30 million production budget. The pic\u2019s debut follows a string of misses for the Universal-based banner, culminating with the pricey flop of\u00a0M3GAN 2.0\u00a0earlier this year.<\/p>\n \n\tThe sequel easily came in No. 1 in North America ahead of Disney\u2019s tentpole Tron-Ares<\/a> after being credited by critics for expanding the Black Phone universe and scoring strong audience exits, including a B CinemaScore (that\u2019s a great grade for the horror genre). Also notable: Latinos, the most frequent moviegoers in the U.S., made up the largest segment of the audience at roughly 39 percent. Internationally, Mexico led all markets with $4.3 million, a huge number for a horror title.<\/p>\n \n\tThe sequel returns Ethan Hawke<\/a>\u00a0as the serial killer known as Grabber, and Mason Thames<\/a> as Finn. In the follow-up, the sinister killer seeks vengeance on Finn from beyond the grave by menacing his younger sister, Gwen, who is played by Madeleine McGraw.\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tHeading into the weekend, Universal had the movie\u2019s debut at $18 million, but prerelease tracking turned out to be right in predicting that the R-rated sequel would come in ahead of the first film.<\/p>\n \n\tBlack Phone, opening in 2021 when cinemas were first recovering from COVID, started off with $23.6 million in North America on its way to turning into a sleeper hit, amassing more than $161 million in worldwide ticket sales (that was before horror fatigue struck at the box office<\/a>).<\/p>\n \n\tTron: Ares came in second in North America after tumbling more than 65 percent in its sophomore outing to an estimated $11.1 million from 4,000 cinemas for a 10-day domestic tally of $54.6 million. Overseas, the threequel earned another $14.1 million, including a dismal $2.8 million from its debut in China, for a foreign cume of $49.4 million and $103 million globally (the problem? Ares cost a net $180 million to produce).<\/p>\n \n\tLionsgate\u2019s\u00a0Aziz Ansari<\/a>-directed comedy\u00a0Good Fortune<\/a> launched nationwide this weekend, but didn\u2019t find much gold despite good reviews<\/a> and a star-packed cast that includes Seth Rogen<\/a>, Ansari, Keke Palmer, Sandra Oh and\u00a0Keanu Reeves<\/a>. The $30 million, about a scruffy guardian angel assigned to save someone\u2019s soul, took in an estimated $6.2 million from 2,990 locations domestically for a third-place finish. <\/p>\n \n\tWarner Bros.\u2019\u00a0One Battle After Another<\/a>\u00a0cleared the $100 million mark internationally in its fourth weekend for a global total of $162.5 million. In North America, it grossed an estimated $4 million from 2,532 theaters for a fourth-place finish and domestic tally of $61.9 million. Overseas, the Paul Thomas Anderson-directed awards contender another earned $11.8 million from 71 markets for a foreign tally of $100.6 million. <\/p>\n \n\tMiramax\u2019s crime comedy Roofman<\/a>, starring Channing Tatum and Kirstin Dunst, rounded out the top five in its second weekend with $3.7 million from 3,379 theaters for a domestic total of $15.5 million and $16.4 million globally against a $19 million budget. Paramount has distribution duties in the U.S., the U.K. and Canada. <\/p>\n \n\tAngel Studios\u2019 Nazi holocaust drama Truth & Treason, based on a true story, opened in sixth place with $2.7 million from 2,106 locations. It was the only new nationwide release to earn an A CinemaScore.<\/p>\n \n\tAt the awards box office, Luca Guadagnino<\/a>\u2018s psychological thriller\u00a0After the Hunt<\/a> expanded from six to 1,238 theaters in its second weekend, grossing $1.6 million for a ninth-place finish and location average of $1,257\u00a0(that compares to a location average of $1,292 for Truth & Treason, for example). The awards contender, however, did get slapped with a C- CinemaScore. Julia Roberts<\/a> leads the ensemble cast, which also includes Ayo Edebiri, Andrew Garfield, Michael Stuhlbarg and Chlo\u00eb Sevigny.<\/p>\n \n\tMore to come.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Blumhouse is back in action. Scott Derrickson\u2019s Black Phone 2\u00a0delivered horror maestro Jason Blum a major win in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":225063,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[56355,6471,49,48,75,15893,15894,4426],"class_list":{"0":"post-225062","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-black-phone-2","9":"tag-box-office","10":"tag-ca","11":"tag-canada","12":"tag-entertainment","13":"tag-good-fortune","14":"tag-keanu-reeves","15":"tag-seth-rogen"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/225062","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=225062"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/225062\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/225063"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=225062"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=225062"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=225062"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}