More from TheWrap: How ‘The Conjuring’ Propelled Director James Wan From Torture Porn to Vin Diesel
It is also a victory for Blumhouse and producer Jason Blum who helped pioneer the low-cost, high-fright value formula so deftly employed by “Insidious: Chapter 2” with films like “The Purge” and “Paranormal Activity.” The current entry in the “Insidious” canon cost a mere $5 million to produce.
“The Conjuring” was helped by strong reviews, but not so Wan’s latest effort. “Insidious: Chapter 2” earned a drab 36 percent “rotten” rating on the critics aggregation site Rotten Tomatoes, but audiences gave it a solid B+ rating, according to Cinemascore. “Insidious: Chapter 2” now has the biggest opening for a horror film in September, besting the $30 million debut of “The Exorcism of Emily Rose.”
Orr said that opening the film on Friday the 13th helped get horror fans in the right spirit. He speculated that horror has been such a consistent genre of late, because something about the shared experience of being scared is leading moviegoers to see these movies in theaters.
“These titles are hitting notes that capture the imagination of the audience,” Orr said. “The concepts are gripping and they’re extraordinarily well-executed.”
Also opening this weekend, Relativity’s mob comedy “The Family” earned $14.5 million. It’s a decent debut for the film and one of the better openings of star Robert De Niro’s non-“Meet the Parents” movies.
Budgeted at $30 million, the film opened in 3,091 theaters. Reviewers were uncharitable handing the film a 33 percent “rotten” rating on Rotten Tomatoes and audiences didn’t like the movie much better either, giving it a C Cinemascore rating.
Kyle Davies, Relativity’s president of worldwide distribution, said the studio was pleased with the results and had expected the film to open to between $11 million to $13 million. He noted that the movie skewed older, with more than 80 percent of the audience clocking in at over 25 years of age. He predicted the demographic appeal and the film’s distinctiveness would help it play well going forward.
“There are some real comedic elements and there are not a lot of comedies in the fall, so we think that bodes well for how the movie is going to play in the next few weeks,” Davies said. “Older moviegoers historically are not storming the theater on day one. Because this plays to older audiences, we think it’s not going to be as front-loaded.”
In its second week of release, Vin Diesel’s action sequel “Riddick” fell a steep 63 percent to earn a little over $7 million. Its domestic total now stands at just over $31 million.
Latino comedy “Instructions Not Included” continued to draw crowds, grossing $4.2 million in 932 locations, which brought its domestic total to $26.6 million in its third week of release.
Also of note, “Lee Daniels’ The Butler” added $5.6 million to its box office take, which pushed the sprawling civil rights drama past the $100 million mark domestically. It wasn’t the only film to hit that particular milestone. Sony Picture’s apocalypse comedy “This Is the End,” passed the $100 million mark domestically in its fourteenth week of release.
Sony also decided to try to lure tweens back to see “One Direction: This is Us” by adding four songs and 20 minutes of additional footage to the concert film. Even with the extra chances to ogle the fabulous five-some, the film still sank more than 40 percent from the previous week, adding $2.4 million to its gross.
The top 10:
“Insidious: Chapter 2” $41 million
“The Family” $14.5 million
“Riddick” $7 million
“Lee Daniels’ The Butler” $5.6 million
“We’re The Millers” $5.4 million
“Instructions Not Included” $4.2 million
“Planes” $3 million
“One Direction: This is Us” $2.4 million
“Elysium” $2 million
“Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters” $1.8 million