Box office report: Denzel Washington has Magnificent $debut at No. 1

However The Magnificent Seven’s success can probably be attributed to the fact that it’s less of a traditional western, than it is an action-thriller set in the west. In the new The Magnificent Seven, looking to mine for gold, greedy industrialist Bartholomew Bogue seizes control of the Old West town of Rose Creek.

Denzel Washington and Antoine Fuqua are enjoying one of the biggest opening weekends of their respective careers as The Magnificent Seven, based on Akira Kurosawa’s 1954 classic Seven Samurai, opens to a solid estimated $35 million in North America. Also receiving an A- score was the animated family-friendly comedy Storks which opened in second place. Storks //em cost $70 million for the studio. The voice cast includes Andy Samberg, Katie Crown, Kelsey Grammer, Keegan-Michael Key, Jordan Peele, Jennifer Aniston, Ty Burrell and Danny Trejo.

The Magnificent Seven //em and //span Storks //em are both now playing in theaters.

Meanwhile, Warner Bros.’ true-life tale “Sully” continued to fly high as the Tom Hanks disaster film cleared an estimated $13.8 million in its third weekend, brining its domestic total to $92.4 million. Sony Pictures distributed “The Magnificent Seven’ and teamed with MGM, LStar Capital, and Village Roadshow to finance the $90 million production”. They also played up the diversity of their cast, rounding out the cast of mercenaries with South Korean actor Byung-hun Lee, Mexican actor Manuel Garcia-Rulfo, and Native American actor Martin Sensmeier. Disney partnered with ESPN on the film, which hopes to be an awards contender. Blair Witch rounded out the top five, earning just under US$4 million and bringing its total to roughly US$16 million.

New offerings at the specialty box office included Disney’s Queen of Katwe, directed by Mira Nair and starring Madina Nalwanga as real-life Ugandan chess player Phiona Mutesi.

Queen of Katwe premiered at TIFF is only opening in 52 theaters this weekend before expanding nationwide September 30.