‘Prisoners’ tops box office with $21.4m

The more adult-oriented fall moviegoing season got off to a strong start over the weekend, as the Hugh Jackman kidnapping drama Prisoners opened with a box office-leading $21.4 million (Dh78.5 million), according to studio estimates on Sunday.

The Warner Bros thriller, which also stars Jake Gyllenhaal, is among the first autumn films with Oscar aspirations to open in theatres. It was a strong debut for a serious, R-rated drama that cost about $46 million to make.

Following the robust business for Lee Daniels’ The Butler (now up to $106.5 million in six weeks for the Weinstein Co.), the large audiences turning out for adult fare bodes well for Hollywood’s coming awards season.

Directed by Denis Villeneuve, the nearly two-hour-long Prisoners is about the working-class families of two young girls who are abducted. In a story heavy with allegory, Jackman plays a father willing to cross moral lines for justice. Gyllenhaal stars as the small-town police detective trying to navigate the case.

Dan Fellman, head of distribution for Warner Bros., said the audience was 74 per cent under the age of 50, with only eight per cent under 18. The film, he noted, was launched “very similarly” to Warner Bros’s October-released Argo, which, like Prisoners, premiered at the Telluride Film Festival and then the Toronto International Film Festival.

In limited release, two other adult-oriented films opened well. Ron Howard’s Formula One tale Rush opened in five theatres with a $40,000 per-screen average. And the romantic comedy Enough Said, which co-stars James Gandolfini in one of his final performances, opened in four theatres with a per-screen average of $60,000. Both films expand next week.

Prisoners, Rush and Enough Said have all received good reviews.

“A few years ago, people were saying that the adult drama is dead,” said Paul Dergarabedian, box-office analyst for Hollywood.com. “We’re just seeing a change. Now we’re finding that intersection between good movies that are also generating big box office.”

Last week’s top film, Insidious: Chapter 2, slid to second place for FilmDistrict. The horror film made $14.5 million in its second weekend, according to studio estimates on Sunday. It has made $60.9 million in two weeks domestically.

The Chris Brown dance film Battle of the Year opened poorly for Sony Pictures’ Screen Gems, taking in only $5 million.

Warner Bros.’s 3-D conversion of The Wizard of Oz made $3 million, opening on 318 IMAX screens.

Estimated ticket sales for Friday through to Sunday at US and Canadian theatres, according to Hollywood.com. Where available, latest international numbers for Friday through to Sunday are also included. Final domestic figures will be released on Monday.

1. Prisoners $21.4 million ($500,000 international).

2. Insidious: Chapter 2, $14.5 million ($3.5 million international).

3. The Family, $7 million ($1.5 million international).

4. Instructions Not Included, $5.7 million ($9.6 million international).

5. Battle of the Year, $5 million.

6. We’re the Millers, $4.7 million ($9.6 million international).

7. Lee Daniels’ the Butler, $4.3 million ($2.2 million international).

8. Riddick, $3.7 million ($9.4 million).

9. Wizard of Oz, $3 million.

10. Planes, $2.9 million ($7 million international).

Estimated weekend ticket sales Friday through to Sunday at international theatres (excluding the US and Canada) for films distributed overseas by Hollywood studios, according to Rentrak:

1. The Face Reader, $22.3 million.

2. Smurfs 2, $14.1 million.

3. Turbo, $12.3 million.

4. Elysium, $10.3 million.

(tie) Despicable Me, $10.3 million.

6. The Conjuring, $10.1 million.

7. We’re the Millers, $9.6 million.

(tie) Instructions Not Included, $9.6 million.

9. Riddick, $9.4 million.

10. White House Down, $9 million.