The first weekend of the fall movie season showed some strong signs of life following very sleepy Labour Day weekend box office returns. Two news films fought for the top spot, and it was such a tight race that, after final numbers come in, their positions may very well have reversed.
But for now, The Perfect Guy is the #1 film of the week. The studio smartly tapped into the same audience that made No Good Deed a hit at the same time last year, and The Perfect Guy even grossed slightly more than that one did. It also made back more than double its $12 million production budget, so the film is without question a huge financial success. Depending on word-of-mouth, it may not last too long — and reviews have certainly not been kind — but for now you better believe that the studio is celebrating.
Coming in at #2 for the weekend (though, as said above, it could very well be in first place once the finals are available) is M. Night Shyamalan’s The Visit. Reviews have been mixed but promising, and every indication points to this being a step in the right direction for the filmmaker. The Visit actually had one of the lowest opening weekends of Shyamalan’s career, but with a production budget of only $5 million, the film has already made an impressive profit, and this should be seen a strong opening.
Last week’s #1, the Christian drama War Room, slipped down to the third place but continued its strong run as the sleeper hit of late summer. A Walk in the Woods dropped one spot this weekend, coming in at #4. The film’s total gross to date may not look that impressive, but for an indie that was acquired at Sundance and features a cast and subject matter that are of absolutely no interest to young ticket buyers, it’s a perfectly respectable success. Mission: Impossible — Rogue Nation held steady at #5 this weekend. There’s nothing else to be said at this point; the film’s a monster hit, and currently in the Top Ten films of the year.
This weekend marked a huge slip for Straight Outta Compton, which fell from #2 to #6, but it remains August’s biggest hit. No Escape fell just one spot, coming in at #7. The military-coup thriller surely had a sizable budget, so its box office returns remain disappointing. As expected, The Transporter Refueled plummeted in its second weekend, falling four spots to #8. That’s a very steep drop of over 63% from last week. We likely won’t be talking about this one again.
This week’s final new wide release, 90 Minutes in Heaven seemingly just couldn’t compete with the other Christian drama that sits high on this chart. The atrocious reviews can’t have helped, though that’s nothing unusual for this genre. Coming in at #9, 90 Minutes had a very unimpressive opening weekend and will surely drop off quickly from here. Finally, Un Gallo Con Muchos Huevos continued to impress in its second weekend. Expanding into wide release this weekend, the Mexican 3D animated film is already closing in on $7 million. This can’t be seen as anything other than a huge achievement. It likely won’t be back on the chart next week, but I’m so curious to find out how much further it can go.
| TW | LW | Title | Gross (est.) | Cumulative (est.) | Weeks in Release |
| 1 | N | The Perfect Guy | $26,700,000 | $26,700,000 | 1 |
| 2 | N | The Visit | $25,690,000 | $25,690,000 | 1 |
| 3 | 1 | War Room | $7,400,000 | $39,188,327 | 3 |
| 4 | 3 | A Walk in the Woods | $4,620,099 | $19,877,024 | 2 |
| 5 | 5 | Mission: Impossible — Rogue Nation | $4,150,000 | $188,172,518 | 7 |
| 6 | 2 | Straight Outta Compton | $4,090,000 | $155,712,600 | 5 |
| 7 | 6 | No Escape | $2,879,000 | $24,155,935 | 3 |
| 8 | 4 | The Transporter Refueled | $2,700,000 | $13,343,496 | 2 |
| 9 | N | 90 Minutes in Heaven | $2,160,911 | $2,160,911 | 1 |
| 10 | 9 | Un Gallo Con Muchos Huevos | $1,900,000 | $6,667,352 | 2 |
Source: Box Office Mojo
What did you see this weekend?
