‘Perfect Guy,’ ‘The Visit’ box office stronger than expected

The flawless Guy, a Fatal Attraction-style thriller starring Sanaa Lathan, took in an estimated US$26.7 million (S$37.6 million), or about 50 per cent more than analysts had predicted based on pre-release surveys that track audience interest.

The Visit arrives courtesy of Blumhouse, the micro-budget creator of Sinister and Paranormal Activity, and cost a slender $5 million to produce.

Close on its heels was Shyamalan’s film “The Visit“, which grossed more than $25 million at the domestic box office. In fact both The Visit and The flawless Guy rose from Friday to Saturday, which does not happen often during a movie’s opening weekend.

Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation moved past Straight Outta Compton to spend its seventh weekend in the top five, earning $4.2 million to Compton’s $4.1 million. Rather, 83, attended the premiere of the film, which is based on “60 Minutes” producer Mary Mapes’s 2005 memoir about the network’s report on President George W. Bush’s Air National Guard service during the Vietnam War. Appearing onstage after the film’s premiere, Rather received a standing ovation. 90 Minutes in Heaven grossed an estimated $2.2-M from 838 theaters to come in # 9. As it stands, “The Visit” is the director’s best reviewed film since “Signs” in 2002, and opening weekend ticket sales were more than five times the movie’s production budget. It’s a fine result for the film, but pales in comparison to “War Room” which now boasts a $39.2 million domestic total.

War Room’s word of mouth marketing won it two weekends, and despite falling to third this week it still did well with $7.4M.

Overall, the North American box office was up 17 percent from the comparable weekend past year .

Ranked fourth was A Walk in the Woods, with Robert Redford and Nick Nolte, at $4.6 million. Directed by Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala, the film is Austria’s official entry for this year’s Oscar race. The film stars Hayden Christensen and Kate Bosworth and is an adaptation of Don Piper’s book about his near-death experience. Black audiences are not offered a wide variety of movie options genre-wise outside of comedy or “urban films” but Hollywood will not ignore a profit, and success changes narrative.

New releases included IFC’s “Sleeping with Other People”, starring Jason Sudeikis and Alison Brie. The film now has $13.3 million domestically and $23.3 million worldwide from a $22 million budget.

The total box office take for the weekend was $98.7 million, up a decent 8% from last last year’s $91.4 million.