Hollywood’s forgettable summer is over, and the first big fall release opened with a “massive and record breaking” box office total for “It.”
The Stephen King novelization was on track to open with $117.2 million in weekend sales, “by far the biggest September debut ever,” said movie industry analyst Paul Dergarabedian at comScore.
“A terrific marketing campaign and a movie that delivered on the promise of a scary good time in the theater,” assessed Degarabedian.
“It” had the third-highest opening weekend of the year, and shattered the previous record — $48.5 million — set by “Hotel Transylvania 2” in 2015.
“Home Again” debuted in the number two spot this weekend, with $9 million in receipts projected to roll in by the close of business Sunday evening.
In its fourth week of exhibition, “The Hitman’s Bodyguard” was in third place, with a $4.9 million weekend and $64.9 million taken in over four weeks.
Rounding out the 10 most-popular movies in the United States and Canada, as estimated by ticket sales from the studios as gathered by comScore, were “Annabelle: Creation” ($4 million), “Wind River” ($3.2 million), “Leap!” ($2.5 million), “Spider-Man: Homecoming” ($2 million), “Dunkirk” ($2 million), “Logan Lucky” ($1.8 million) “and The Emoji Movie” ($1 million).
–City News Service