Despite the arrival of a couple new releases, September's undisputed box office champion continued to reign supreme as the calendar flips to October.
Coming in first is IT with $17.3 million. After slipping to second last weekend, the Stephen King adaptation regained the top spot thanks to its positive buzz. It's easily been the highest-profile film playing over the past month, transforming into a pop culture phenomenon that people don't want to miss out on. To date, the movie has brought in $291.1 million domestically and will top the all-time horror mark set by The Sixth Sense in 1999.
Opening in second, exceeding expectations, is American Made (read our review). The crime drama from director Doug Liman earned $17.01 million in its first three days, which is better than what some estimates had projected heading into Friday. Though that figure is a little lower than some of star Tom Cruise's most recent endeavors (including Jack Reacher: Never Go Back), it's still encouraging for Universal that the project was able to parlay its critical reception into a decent commercial showing. American Made also didn't face much in the way of direct competition for its target demographic, so those looking for a fun, entertaining crime story checked it out.
It'll be interesting to see how well the film holds on as its run progresses. Winning second place is nothing to sneeze at, but with $17 million, it's hard to say the project is in much demand. With Blade Runner 2049 (one of the most anticipated films of the fall) coming out next week, many casual viewers will be interested in seeing the sci-fi sequel over just about anything else. Also, American Made lacks the awards buzz that certain movies need this time of year to get a major boost at the box office. Odds are, it'll stick around for a little longer and turn a small profit for Universal. Worldwide, American Made is faring better, with a global total of $81.7 million against a $50 million production budget.
Falling to third in its second weekend is last week's champ, Kingsman: The Golden Circle. The spy sequel grossed $17 million, which is a 56.4 percent drop from its debut. In addition to American Made opening (and drawing in those looking for R-rated fun), Kingsman 2 was most likely hampered by the word-of-mouth. Though some believe it's a worthy followup to The Secret Service, others felt it failed to capture that magic and was simply more of the same. That kind of reception was a bit of a blow to its commercial prospects, and it'll likely slide down even further once Blade Runner premieres. To date, Golden Circle has made $66.7 million domestically, which is pretty much in line with how the original performed at the same time in its run.
Coming in fourth is The LEGO Ninjago Movie with $12 million. The spinoff is now up to $35.5 million in the States, well below either of its predecessors.
Rounding out the top five is Flatliners (read our review), which opened with $6.7 million in its first three days. A sequel to the 1990 cult hit of the same name, the film was killed by a one-two combination of poor reception and lack of awareness. It was hardly on anyone's radar as it opened, appealing to only a very niche corner of the market. With interest this low at the outset, it'll fade away to a distant memory in the very near future.
Expanding nationwide, Oscar hopeful Battle of the Sexes earned $3.4 million from 1,213 locations. Debuting on the festival circuit and opening in limited release last weekend, the sports film was able to steadily build some buzz over time and found a small audience as it added more theaters. Cinephiles in particular were intrigued to check this one out, as it's seen as one of the film in contention for a Best Picture nomination at this early stage of awards season. Emma Stone, coming off a win last year for La La Land, has also received much praise for her performance as Billie Jean King, adding to the film's appeal. Obviously, Battle of the Sexes wasn't able to contend with the more high-profile offerings, but this was never a commercial play for Fox Searchlight. It's now earned $4 million domestically.
The #7 movie this weekend is American Assassin with $3.3 million, raising the thriller's Stateside total to $31.8 million.
Coming in eighth is Home Again, which grossed $1.7 million in its fourth weekend. It's now made $25.1 million in the U.S.
Till Death Do Us Part managed to breakthrough into the top 10, finishing in ninth with $1.5 million from 562 locations.
Capping off the top 10 is mother! with $1.4 million. Darren Aronofsky's controversial film is now up to $16.3 million domestically. It hasn't received much help from the foreign markets, as its worldwide total of $34.8 million barely eclipses the $30 million budget.
[NOTE: These are only weekend box office estimates -- based on Friday and Saturday ticket sales coupled with adjusted expectations for Sunday. Official weekend box office results will be released on Monday, October 2 -- at which time we'll update this post with any changes.]
Source: Box Office Mojo