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‘Prisoners’ Lock Down the Box Office

Posted byBy A Moore | Published on: CommentsComments (0)

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Denis Villeneuve’s dark crime thriller “Prisoners” — starring Hugh Jackman and Jake Gyllenhaal — topped the North American box office with a solid $21.4 million opening. The R-rated drama marks another win for Broderick Johnson and Andrew Kosove’s Alcon Entertainment, which fully financed and produced the $46 million film. The movie received an official B+ CinemaScore, although Warners said a Saturday survey showed the grade rising to an A-.

The film also stars Viola Davis, Maria Bello, Terrence Howard and Paul Dano, “Prisoners” tells the story of two families whose daughters are kidnapped. Jackman’s character, the father of one of the girls, begins to clash with the police detective in charge of the investigation (Gyllenhaal) and takes matters into his own hands.

Meanwhile, “Insidious Chapter 2” fell a hard 64 percent to $14.5 million in its second week, down from a fearsome $40.3 million debut last week. This kind of drop is normal for horror pics at the box office, but it could indicate a lack of the kind of strong word-of-mouth that turned the first “Insidious” into a sleeper hit phenomenon in 2011. However; Chapter 2‘s total haul is already $60.9 million — more than the original made in its entire run.

Robert De Niro’s dark mob comedy “The Family” slips one slot to No. 3 with $7 million, bringing its domestic cume to $25.6 million. Spanish-language custody-battle dramedy “Instructions Not Included” actually increased business in its fourth weekend, taking in an estimated $5.7 million, up 17 percent from a week ago. The fourth-place finisher has earned $34.7 million to date.

And finally, newcomer “Battle of the Year,” the latest in a subgenre of generic dance movies, opened with just an estimated $5.0 million, way down in fifth place. With the film’s weak word-of-mouth, not even the presence of R&B star—controversy magnet Chris Brown, could draw enough teens to the flick.

Here are the Top-10 movies from the weekend’s box office.

  1. “Prisoners” – $21.4 million
  2. “Insidious Chapter 2” – $14.5 million
  3. “The Family” – $7 million
  4. “Instructions Not Included” – $5.7 million
  5. “Battle of the Year” – $5 million
  6. “We’re the Millers” – $4.6 million
  7. “Lee Daniels’ The Butler” – $4.3 million
  8. “Riddick” – $3.6 million
  9. “The Wizard of Oz” (3D) – $3 million
  10. “Planes” – $2.8 million

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