LOS ANGELES: Paramount executives kept the “Smile” on their face yesterday, as the deceptively named horror film topped North America’s box office for a second weekend, scaring up an estimated US$17.6 million (RM81.8 million), industry watcher Exhibitor Relations said.
Sosie Bacon, daughter of actors Kevin Bacon and Kyra Sedgwick, stars as a therapist whose grasp on reality starts to slip after she witnesses a gruesome event involving a patient.
“Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile”, Sony’s new live-action/computer animated musical comedy, placed second at US$11.5 million on a slow weekend. Analyst David A Gross called that a “weak opening” despite good reviews.
With a budget of just US$50 million, he added that the film – starring Javier Bardem, Shawn Mendes, and Constance Wu – was “not designed to be in the league of the big Disney/Pixar/Illumination family juggernauts”.
Another new arrival, 20th Century’s comedy thriller “Amsterdam”, took in just US$6.5 million for third place, suffering from poor reviews despite what Gross called “an impressive collection of talent in front of and behind the camera”.
Directed by David O Russell (“Silver Linings Playbook”, “American Hustle”), its all-star cast includes Christian Bale, Margot Robbie, Chris Rock, Taylor Swift, Matthias Schoenaerts, Rami Malek and Robert De Niro, in a tale about the mysterious murder of a US senator.
In fourth, down one spot from last weekend, was Sony’s history-inspired “The Woman King”, at US$5.3 million. Viola Davis stars as the leader of an all-female army of African warriors.
And in fifth was “Don’t Worry Darling” from Warner Bros, at US$3.5 million. The psychological horror film slipped from second last weekend.
Rounding out the top 10 were:
“Avatar” (rerelease, US$2.6 million)
“Barbarian” (US$2.2 million)
“Bros” (US$2.2 million)
“Terrifier 2” (US$925,000)
“Ponniyin Selvan I” (US$920,000)
