Box Office Weekend: Hotel Transylvania 2 Scares Up Record Box Office Rout

It may be getting marginally better reviews than the first film, but audiences were more than happy to see Hotel Transylvania 2. So much so, that its estimated $47.5 million opening is the best domestic September opening on record. While its unreleased budget makes it hard to tell whether it is on path to be a financial success in the long run remains to be seen (even Minions, with its relatively low budget, cost more than Hotel Transylvania 2 has earned worldwide), things may be even less certain for The Intern. The new comedy from director Nancy Meyers and starring Robert De Niro and Anne Hathaway received mixed reviews as well, but made no records with an estimated $18.2 million. Both handily beat the winner of last week, Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials, which brought in an estimated $14 million. The latest teen post-apocalyptic romp is not faring well against its $61 million costs domestically, but is doing quite well counting its worldwide totals.

Everest landed in fourth with an estimated $13.1 million, picking up some good steam as it enters wide release, but has a long road ahead to make up its $55 million costs, though Black Mass may have a longer road to climb. With less foreign dollars to pick up the slack, the well-regarded Johnny Depp vehicle is faltering despite a decent second week estimated of $11.5 million. In the meantime, critics can trash the latest M. Night Shymalan effort The Visit all they wish, as the $5 million budgeted horror earned an estimated $6.8 million on the weekend and $52.3 million in earnings so far, giving the long-struggling director a bona fide financial hit.

Speaking of hit thrillers, while critics also lambasted The Perfect Guy, it too is heading to the bank in good shape, an estimated $4.8 million adding up to well over four times as much in gross as the budget costs. But none of the list can boast the profit margins of War Room, the faith-based film raking an estimated $4.3 million on the weekend and $56 million in gross over a $3 million budget.

Finally, we have an interesting pairing at the bottom. Debuting in ninth, The Green Inferno, the latest splatter film from Eli Roth, is attracting negative reviews and low box office returns with an estimated $3.5 million. Directly below it is Sicario, which remains in limited release with an estimated $1.8 million and far from earning back its costs, but is being considered by critics one of the better films of the year, speaking well for its wide release next weekend.

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Seth Paul

When not failing to write novels and screenplays, box-office guru Seth writes humorous comedy tracks for films under the name "The One Man Band" that can be found at Rifftrax.com. Although, he has recently succeeded in writing the novella "Jack Alan and the Case of the Not-Exactly Rocket Scientists," available as an eBook on Amazon. He is also the English voice of Zak in "Zak McKracken: Between Time and Space."

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