The numbers are in for Friday, and they are disappointing to say the least. Hansel & Gretel, Parker, and Movie 43 all underperformed with lackluster starts, spoiling the first football-free weekend for Hollywood since last September. While Jeremy Renner’s comic horror take on Hansel & Gretel did win the day with $6.0 million, the sour reviews behind it suggest that its top spot will fade away fairly shortly.
Parker, the best reviewed of the three new nationwide releases, only found $2.1 million which is down from the typical Jason Statham-starrer despite the injection of Jennifer Lopez. On the bright side, at least it did not lose out to Movie 43 which debuted horribly as audiences shunned the R-comedy which is more like a compilation of Funny or Die videos than anything else. That film only found $1.8 million in its first 24 hours.
In terms of winners, it would have to be the Jessica Chastain-led Mama which added another $3.8 million to come in at number two. This brings the Guillermo del Toro-produced horror movie to $39.6 million at the domestic box office and that means profitability. The reason this one takes the cake is because it only slid 62% week-to-week for the day, suggesting a weekend slide south of 60 which is far below the genre norm for a second weekend contraction.
Check back tomorrow for a top ten list.