After a brief break from the box office, we’re back. And apparently Hollywood decided to make the return interesting. Verity opened in first place with $32.6 million, while Resident Evil continued its run with $12.5 million. Heart of the Beast opened with $11 million, followed by Primetime with $8 million and Digger also with $8 million.
It’s a pretty different top five from the last time we checked in, with Verity immediately making its presence known. Meanwhile, Resident Evil continues to hang around near the top after its impressive $60 million opening a few weeks ago. Apparently this movie has decided it lives here now.
Verity Opens on Top
Verity easily took the number one spot with $32.6 million, giving the Anne Hathaway, Dakota Johnson and Josh Hartnett thriller a strong start. After all the attention surrounding the film leading into release, there was clearly an audience ready to see what all the fuss was about.
A $32.6 million opening isn’t quite the kind of blockbuster number that dominates the entire marketplace, but it is more than enough to give Verity a comfortable first-place finish. Now the question is whether it can hold onto that audience in the weeks ahead.
Resident Evil Holds Strong
Resident Evil dropped to second place but still managed a healthy $12.5 million in its third weekend. That’s a pretty solid result for a horror movie that opened with $60 million, especially considering how quickly genre films can disappear once the opening weekend excitement wears off.
My previous prediction had Resident Evil making $72 million in its opening weekend, which was obviously higher than the eventual $60 million. I missed the final number, but the prediction still called for a major overperformance compared with the tracking range, and that’s exactly what happened. The $60 million opening landed at the very top of the $45 million to $60 million tracking range, so I’ll take the partial win here. I may have swung a little too hard for the fences, but the ball definitely left the yard.
Heart of the Beast Opens in Third
Heart of the Beast opened with $11 million, landing just behind Resident Evil. That’s enough for a third-place finish, although the real test will be whether it can build some momentum over the next few weekends.
With the marketplace starting to get more crowded heading into the fall movie season, films opening in this range don’t have much room for error. A strong second weekend could make the difference between a modest theatrical run and a movie that gets swallowed up by the next wave of releases.
Primetime and Digger Tie for Fourth
Primetime took fourth place with $8 million, while Digger matched it with another $8 million. The two films were essentially dead even for the weekend, giving us one of those fun little box office ties where everyone gets to pretend the exact order matters enormously.
Primetime had been one of my predictions for the previous weekend, where I expected it to make between $10 million and $15 million, with my estimate sitting at $13 million. The actual result of $8 million came in below both my range and my specific prediction. So, unlike my Resident Evil prediction, this one is firmly in the “well, that didn’t work” column.
Next Weekend’s Predictions
Looking ahead, we’re getting Other Mommy and The Social Reckoning entering the box office conversation.
Other Mommy is tracking between $15 million and $35 million, and I’m expecting it to land closer to the lower end of that range. My prediction is $17 million. That’s a fairly wide tracking range, so there is plenty of room for the movie to surprise on either side, but $17 million feels like the safer bet.
Then there’s The Social Reckoning, which is tracking between $4 million and $10 million. I’m expecting this one to land toward the upper half of that range, with my prediction coming in at $8 million. It’s not exactly a number-one battle, but not every weekend needs to be a battle for the top spot.
As always, we’ll find out next week.
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