'Happy Death Day' Gets Off to a Solid Start
by EG
Happy Death Day, a new horror movie that borrows its premise from Groundhog Day, took in $1 million during Thursday-night previews. That's a decent, if not ourstanding, start, and it shows that the film is likely to take the number-one spot for the weekend. It's not going to be a hit on anything like the scale of Stephen King's It, however, and it won't even match the disappointing opening of last week's Blade Runner 2049.
Happy Death Day took in $1 million in Thursday-night previews at 2,450 theaters at the North American box office.
The Universal horror pic, produced by Jason Blum's Blumhouse, stars Jessica Rothe as a college student who relives the day of her murder over and over until she discovers her killer's identity. Directed by Christopher Landon and rated PG-13, the pre-Halloween movie rolls out in 3,149 theaters this weekend and is predicted to open in the $15 million to $20 million range.
Happy Death Day's showing beat the initial debut of the most recent horror movie that opened before Halloween and wasn't part of an existing franchise: Ouija, which earned $911,000 in Thursday-night screenings on a pre-Halloween weekend in 2014.
STXfilms’ action-thriller The Foreigner opens in 2,525 theaters this weekend, the Martin Campbell-directed movie stars Jackie Chan as a former military operative who comes out of retirement when his teenage daughter is killed in a politically-motivated terrorist attack. He’s forced into a cat-and-mouse conflict with a British government official (Pierce Brosnan), whose own past may hold clues to the identities of the elusive killers. It’s expected to open in the low- to mid-teen millions.
Marshall and Professor Marston & the Wonder Woman, targeting older adults, also launch nationwide this weekend, but are opting for a far smaller rollout. Both films are expected to gross $3 million-$5 million.
Read the rest of this story at The Hollywood Reporter.
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