If it’s Friday the 13th, and you’re a studio (especially Blumhouse), you don’t miss the opportunity to program a genre film, and that’s Speak No Evil this weekend. Directed, written and produced by James Watkins the movie made $1.3M from Thursday previews that began at 2 p.m. The Universal-distributed R-rated title is expected to do around $10M off good reviews at 87% certified fresh on Rotten Tomatoes. Audience score stands at 86%.
The pic starring James McAvoy, Scoot McNairy and Mackenzie Davis follows a family who gets invited to spend a whole weekend in a lonely home in the countryside, but as the weekend progresses, they realize that the family who invited them has a dark side.
Meanwhile, Warner Bros. Beetlejuice Beetlejuice minted $4.5M at 4,575 theaters Thursday, ending its first week at $136.4M. The pic is pacing 14% behind the first week of 2017’s It, also a Warner Bros title under its New Line label, which did $158.7M, finaling at $327.4M. The Tim Burton-directed sequel is expected to do around $40M+ in Weekend 2, which will be the second-best weekend at the September domestic box office.
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Lionsgate has the R-rated Dave Bautista action comedy The Killer’s Game, which grossed $300k from Thursday night’s preview shows. The film opens Friday in 2,623 locations. Critics don’t have a sense of humor about the pic at 36% on Rotten Tomatoes. Directed by J.J. Perry off a screenplay by Rand Ravich and James Coyne, the pic is expected to file around $5M.
Also going wide this weekend in around 1,500 sites is the right-wing political commenter Matt Walsh documentary, Am I Racist?, which will debut in the single digits.
In other news on Thursday, Deadpool & Wolverine in 3,400 sites ends Week 7 with $9.4M after a $558K Thursday, -7% from Wednesday for a running total of $616.3M.
Showbiz Direct’s Reagan is doing fantastic ending its second week with a running total of $20.3M — that’s more than the domestic run of Lionsgate’s Borderlands ($15.4M), and it’s about to fly past Apple/Sony’s Fly Me to the Moon ($20.5M). Granted, you can’t compare the demographics on those movies, but it just gives you an idea of a little engine that could from a frosh distributor in the face of bigger studios with bigger fish. Thursday was $475K, -13%, with Week 2 finaling at $7M.
The Vance Null-directed drama God’s Not Dead: In God We Trust received a Fathom release Thursday night, making $365K at 1,392 theaters. Blurb: Amid political and spiritual turmoil, Reverend David Hill (David A.R. White) steps up to run for Congress. Opponent Peter Kane (Ray Wise) aims to erase religion from policy, and the fight becomes a beacon of hope for people seeking moral leadership in a divided world.
20th Century Studios’ Alien: Romulus at 2,560 did $5.6M in Week 4, a running $98.9M cume about to face-hug the century mark this weekend, after a $352K Thursday, -16%.