Box office: Happy Death Day takes down Blade Runner 2049
Call it deja vu: Another horror movie is slaying at the box office.
Universal and Blumhouse’s microbudget slasher Happy Death Day is on track to gross an estimated $26.5 million in the U.S. and Canada during its first weekend in theaters, exceeding industry projections and easily knocking off last week’s No. 1 film, Blade Runner 2049.
Starring Jessica Rothe as a college student who relives the day of her murder again and again until she discovers her killer’s identity, Happy Death Day received mixed to positive reviews and garnered a B CinemaScore — solid for a horror movie. The film, which cost about $4.5 million to make and was directed by Christopher Landon, continues a strong year for Blumhouse and Universal, who previously released M. Night Shyamalan’s Split and Jordan Peele’s Get Out.
Happy Death Day also marks the latest horror movie to top the box office, joining those aforementioned films as well as Warner Bros. and New Line’s Annabelle: Creation and It.
In second place, Warner Bros. and Alcon’s sci-fi sequel Blade Runner 2049 is set to take in about $15.1 million in its second weekend, falling off 54% from a disappointing $31.5 million debut and bringing its domestic total to $60.6 million after 10 days in theaters.
Those are lackluster figures for an ambitious, highly anticipated, and critically acclaimed film that boasts major talent — director Denis Villeneuve, stars Ryan Gosling and Harrison Ford — and cost upward of $150 million to make. Based on Ridley Scott’s groundbreaking 1982 film Blade Runner, 2049 continues its story of cops hunting down rogue androids in dystopian Los Angeles.
2049 could still get a bump from potential awards season success, and from foreign markets, where it has so far grossed about $98 million.
Debuting in third place is STX’s R-rated action flick The Foreigner, with an estimated $12.8 million. Pitting martial arts legend Jackie Chan against erstwhile James Bond actor Pierce Brosnan, the tale of international intrigue has received mixed reviews and an A-minus CinemaScore.
The Chinese co-production, directed by Bond veteran Martin Campbell, has grossed an additional $88.4 million overseas.
Rounding out the top five this weekend are It, with an estimated $6.1 million, and Fox’s survival romance The Mountain Between Us, with an estimated $5.7 million.
Also arriving this weekend, in fewer theaters than Happy Death Day (3,149) and The Foreigner (2,515), were Open Road’s Thurgood Marshall biopic Marshall and Annapurna’s Professor Marston and the Wonder Women, about the unconventional life of the creator of Wonder Woman.
Marshall is poised to collect an estimated $3 million from 821 locations, good for 11th place, while Professor Marston is looking at $737,000 from 1,229 locations, putting it in the No. 15 spot.
According to ComScore, overall box office is down 4.7 percent year-to-date. Check out the Oct. 13-15 figures below.
1. Happy Death Day — $26.5 million
2. Blade Runner 2049 — $15.1 million
3. The Foreigner — $12.8 million
4. It — $6.1 million
5. The Mountain Between Us — $5.7 million
6. American Made — $5.4 million
7. Kingsman: The Golden Circle — $5.3 million
8. The Lego Ninjago Movie — $4.3 million
9. My Little Pony: The Movie — $4 million
10. Victoria and Abdul— $3.1 million