Chronicle, The Woman in Black, Big Miracle battle at Super Bowl box office
All three openers try pocket what they can from Friday to Saturday runs before Big Game madness kicks in on Super Bowl Sunday, where little coin comes in.
20th Century Fox's Chronicle helmed by Josh Trank from the script by Max Landis, and story by Landis and Trank, finds 2,907 theaters, looking to snag sci-fi fans, mostly younger males. Michael B. Jordan, Michael Kelly and Alex Russell star in the story which follows three high school pals who, after they may an incredible discover, end up with super powers. Their lives soon spiral out of control, testing their bonds of friendship as they embrace their darker sides.
Pic is doing well with critics and users alike, holding an 84% positive score on Rottentomatoes.com at this point.
CBS Films' The Woman in Black starts its box office run im 2,855 theaters, powered by Harry Potter's Daniel Radcliffe, as well as Ciarán Hinds, Shaun Dooley and Janet McTeer.
Radcliffe stars Arthur Kipps, a widowed lawyer whose grief has put his career in jeopardy, is sent to a remote village to sort out the affairs of a recently deceased eccentric. But upon his arrival, it soon becomes clear that everyone in the town is keeping a deadly secret.
Pic should finish at the bottom end of the top three openers this weekend.
Universal's Big Miracle has the family genre bonus in its favor, debuting in 2,188 venues with a well-known cast including Drew Barrymore, John Krasinski, Kristen Bell, Dermot Mulroney, Ted Danson, Tim Blake Nelson, Stephen Root, Rob Riggle, Vinessa Shaw, Michael Gaston, James LeGros, Andrew Daly and Bruce Altman.
Based on the Thomas Rose book "Freeing the Whales," Big Miracle tells the amazing tale of a small town news reporter (John Krasinski) and an animal-loving volunteer (Drew Barrymore) who are joined by rival world superpowers to save a family of majestic gray whales trapped by rapidly forming ice in the Arctic Circle.
Although opening in less venues than both Chronicle and The Woman in Black, cast and family genre may be of big benefit over the 2 day Friday-Saturday "pocket-what-you-can" frame.
In more limited venues, Magnet Releasing sends out The Inkeepers horror into 17 theaters, with Sara Paxton, Pat Healy and Kelly McGillis starring in the Ti West-directed and scripted film.
Madonna's W.E. from Weinstein Co opens in 4 theaters, holding a staggeingly bad 18% positive score from Rottentomatoes. Abbie Cornish, Andrea Riseborough, James D’Arcy, Oscar Isaac, Natalie Dormer, Richard Coyle, James Fox and Laurence Fox star in the two-tiered story focusing on the affair between American divorcee Wallis Simpson and King Edward VIII, and the contemporary romance between a married woman and a Russian security guard.
IFC debuts two films. First up, Ben Wheatley's Kill List horror thriller, which Wheatley scripted alongside Amy Jump, opens in 2 New York-based theaters. Story tells of a hitman who takes a job involving three killings, hoping for a big payoff. It all seems easy until everything unravels, and the killer descends into darkness.
In a single theater, IFC sends out David Mackenzie's Perfect Sense romantic drama which tells of a chef and a scientist who fall in love as an epidemic begins to rob people of their sensory perceptions. Ewan McGregor, Eva Green, Connie Nielsen, Stephen Dillane and Ewen Bremner star.
Finally, First Run Features' Windfall documentary helmed by Laura Israel. Pic debuts in a single New York theater, and tries to expose the dark side of wind energy development when the residents of a rural upstate New York town think about going green.