Another week, another horror flick preparing to light up the box office. This time its Ethan Hawke’s turn via Sinister from filmmaker Scott Derrickson who last worked on the Keanu Reeves-starrer The Day the Earth Stood Still. The film about a writer moving to a new home with a troubled past is unoriginal, but it is ‘wow’-ing some reviewers which is leading to a big payday starting with last night’s $1 million debut when including both 10 PM and midnight showings.
20-30% of all tickets at the moment from online brokers are going Sinister’s way, convincing some to believe that the movie will bank close to a typical genre performance in October of $20 million this weekend. Some predicted a number closer to $10 million, but that was obviously low-balling it to say the least even before looking at the big head start on the weekend.
It is expected that the movie might not be able to win the three-day thanks to tough competition from Argo, Taken 2, and Hotel Transylvania although a two spot is still considered within the realm of possibility. Other wildcard entrants are the Kevin James-led Here Comes the Boom and the Colin Farrell-led crime comedy Seven Psychopaths.