Saturday Update: Warner Bros. reports that The Accountant grabbed an estimated $9.075 million opening day on Friday, including Thursday’s $1.35 million early gross. That beats our expectations heading into the weekend as tracking across various platforms had been somewhat mixed, as were critical reviews. However, initial audience word of mouth is very encouraging based on a respectable 85 percent Flixster score (compared to just 52 percent from critics). If the film holds at its current pace, opening weekend should tally around a solid $24 million in first place.
Kevin Hart: What Now? bowed to $4.76 million on Friday as it claimed second place. The comedian’s latest comedy concert film marks another hit on his impressive resume in recent years. We’re giving it the edge for a $12.4 million debut in second place, although it will be in a tight race with The Girl on the Train for that position. The latter title posted $3.9 million to kick off its sophomore frame as it appears headed toward $12.3 million this weekend.
Miss Peregrine took fourth place on Friday with another $2.32 million, boosting its 15-day total to $65.6 million. Look for $8.7 million over the three-day frame.
Meanwhile, Max Steel unfortunately didn’t catch the attention of many families to start the weekend. It bowed with just $637,795 yesterday in 2,034 theaters. Opening weekend is likely to score a total around $2.1 million.
Complete weekend estimates from the studio will be published on Sunday. Our initial projections for key releases are found below.
| # | TITLE | WEEKEND | LOCATIONS | AVG. | TOTAL | WKS. | DIST. | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Accountant | $24,000,000 | — | 3,332 | — | $7,203 | $24,000,000 | 1 | Warner Bros. |
| 2 | Kevin Hart: What Now? | $12,400,000 | — | 2,567 | — | $4,831 | $12,400,000 | 1 | Universal |
| 3 | The Girl on the Train (2016) | $12,300,000 | -50% | 3,241 | 97 | $3,795 | $46,883,595 | 2 | Universal |
| 4 | Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children | $8,700,000 | -43% | 3,835 | 130 | $2,269 | $65,632,789 | 3 | Fox |
| 5 | Storks | $6,200,000 | -25% | 3,066 | -542 | $2,022 | $59,744,046 | 4 | Warner Bros. |
| 6 | Deepwater Horizon | $6,100,000 | -47% | 3,403 | 144 | $1,793 | $49,085,332 | 3 | Lionsgate / Summit |
| 7 | The Magnificent Seven (2016) | $5,200,000 | -42% | 3,210 | -486 | $1,620 | $84,827,562 | 4 | Sony / Columbia |
| 8 | Middle School: The Worst Years of My Life | $4,250,000 | -38% | 2,822 | 0 | $1,506 | $13,760,795 | 2 | CBS Films / Lionsgate |
| 9 | Sully | $2,900,000 | -42% | 2,211 | -847 | $1,312 | $118,311,637 | 6 | Warner Bros. |
| 10 | The Birth of a Nation (2016) | $2,600,000 | -63% | 2,105 | 0 | $1,235 | $12,128,134 | 2 | Fox Searchlight |
| 11 | Max Steel | $2,100,000 | — | 2,034 | — | $1,032 | $2,100,000 | 1 | Open Road |
| 12 | Masterminds (2016) | $1,600,000 | -61% | 2,027 | -1015 | $789 | $16,111,406 | 3 | Relativity Studios |
| 13 | Queen of Katwe | $830,000 | -49% | 1,062 | -197 | $782 | $6,984,424 | 4 | Disney |
| # | TITLE | WEEKEND | LOCATIONS | AVG. | TOTAL | WKS. | DIST. | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Priceless (2016) | $840,000 | — | 303 | — | $2,772 | $840,000 | 1 | Roadside Attractions |
| 2 | Suicide Squad | $720,000 | -36% | 630 | -342 | $1,143 | $323,680,679 | 11 | Warner Bros. |
| 3 | Don’t Breathe | $600,000 | -57% | 612 | -454 | $980 | $88,100,186 | 8 | Sony / TriStar |
| 4 | Bridget Jones’s Baby | $339,000 | -60% | 390 | -525 | $869 | $23,589,585 | 5 | Universal |
| 5 | Snowden | $290,000 | -61% | 343 | -444 | $845 | $20,882,967 | 5 | Open Road |
| 6 | Blair Witch | $185,000 | -64% | 243 | -425 | $761 | $20,587,516 | 5 | Lionsgate |
| 7 | Hell or High Water | $165,000 | -32% | 188 | -87 | $878 | $26,489,685 | 10 | CBS Films / Lionsgate |
| # | TITLE | WEEKEND | LOCATIONS | AVG. | TOTAL | WKS. | DIST. | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | M.S. Dhoni: The Untold Story | $80,000 | -72% | 70 | -163 | $1,143 | $1,782,611 | 3 | FIP |
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Friday Report: The Accountant debuted last night with an estimated $1.35 million, per Warner Bros. That comes in far ahead of the $200,000 earned by Runner Runner three years ago, although Thursday night launches have become far more prolific since then. In fact, Accountant seems to have over-performed (for now) as it edged out Gone Girl ($1.3 million), John Wick ($870,000) and The Girl on the Train ($1.23 million). With the film’s lackluster reviews, we expect its trajectory over the weekend to be more comparable to the latter.
Meanwhile, Kevin Hart: What Now? opened to $739,000 last night. That’s down from the comedian’s previous stand-up film which earned $1.1 million on a Tuesday evening (albeit, in the middle of summer) in 2013.
No early show grosses were reported for Max Steel as of this update’s posting. We’ll have official Friday estimates for new and key releases, as well as our initial weekend projections, on Saturday morning.
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