Box office: 'It' massacres Jennifer Lawrence's 'Mother!'
It continues to post terrifyingly huge numbers.
The Warner Bros. and New Line production expects to finish its second weekend with $60 million from 4,103 locations. That would make its domestic gross so far $218.7 million — a record for the highest earning September release ever. The old record-holder was 1984’s Crocodile Dundee with $174.8 million. Broken down by day this weekend, It earned $19.4 million on Friday and $26.2 million on Saturday. Sunday’s take is estimated to be about $14.5 million. 389 Imax screens are expected to account for just over $3 million of the film’s take in North America this weekend.
Overseas, It is pulling in an additional $60.3 million in 56 markets. That raises its international total to $152.6 million and the worldwide tally to $371.3 million.
Based on Stephen King’s novel, It opened last weekend with an enormous domestic pull of $123.4 million. The R-rated title was reportedly made for about $35 million, stars Bill Skarsgard as the evil clown Pennywise who terrorizes children in Derry, Maine. The rest of the cast includes Jeremy Ray Taylor, Sophia Lillis, Finn Wolfhard, Wyatt Oleff, Chosen Jacobs, Jack Dylan Grazer, Nicholas Hamilton, Jaeden Lieberher, and Jackson Robert Scott.
Meanwhile Mother! continues to struggle. The Paramount release directed by Darren Aronofsky is expected to earn $7.5 million from 2,368 locations after earning a rare F audience rating, the lowest grade possible, from the tracking firm CinemaScore.
Another fresh launch, American Assassin, a joint production between CBS Films and Lionsgate, is expecting an opening of $14.8 million from 3,154 locations. The audience breakdown was 55% Male and 29% under the age of 35. The film is an adaptation of Vince Flynn’s 2010 novel, and stars Dylan O’Brien as a CIA black ops recruit who is trained by a Cold War veteran (Michael Keaton). The film’s opening is comparable to 2014’s John Wick, which opened to $14.4 million on its way to launch a franchise with $43 million in domestic earnings.
In limited release, Annapurna’s Brad’s Status is on tracking to earn $100,179 this weekend from four locations. Mike White wrote and directed the movie starring Ben Stiller as a man who is constantly comparing his life to those of his college friends. Austin Abrams, Jenna Fischer, Luke Wilson, and Michael Sheen also star in the flick, which has been generally well reviewed (83 percent on Rotten Tomatoes).
Watch: It filmmakers reveal secrets of the sequel:
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