1. Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials (review here)- $30.3M
Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials opened with a very impressive $30.3M, although that's still just short of The Maze Runner's $32.5M last year. So it's a little disappointing that it didn't cultivate a larger audience given how good the first film was and well it performed, earning $340M and besting Divergent in the YA battle. The reviews simply weren't as positive this time around, with the chief complaint (by me, too) that it resembles other films in the genre a little too much. On the plus side, 'Scorch Trials' is burning it up overseas with $73.6M as of today.
2. Black Mass (review here)- $23.3M
Don't call it a comeback! Well, it's not really one, but $23M for a mid-budgeted Johnny Depp film is pretty darn good nowadays. Black Mass features Depp, in ghoulish makeup, as mobster Whitey Bulger, and for certain that was the film's biggest draw to see him when he's not Jack Sparrow, the Lone Ranger, or some other clownish character. Basically this is a solid win for Depp, and hopefully he'll see it as a sign that people want more out of him than Pirates of the Caribbean and (good lord) Mortdecai.
3. The Visit- $11.3M/$42.3M
4. The Perfect Guy- $9.6M/$41.3M
5. Everest (review here)- $7.5M
In one of the most interesting releases of the week, the mountain-climbing disaster flick Everest opened huge with $7.5M in only 545 theaters, 368 of those in IMAX. The film will expand to regular formats later, but this is a strong indicator of future success. Surely the assemblage of A-list talent didn't hurt to go along with the widescreen spectacle as the film boasts Jason Clarke, Jake Gyllenhaal, Josh Brolin, Keira Knightley, Robin Wright, and Sam Worthington in major roles.
6. War Room- $6.3M/$49.1M
7. A Walk In the Woods- $2.7M/$24.8M
8. Mission: Impossible- Rogue Nation- $2.2M/$191.7M
9. Straight Outta Compton- $1.9M/$158.9M
10. Grandma (review here)- $1.5M/$3.7M
Expanding to over 1000 theaters and squeaking into the top 10 after a month of release is the well-reviewed Lily Tomlin comedy, Grandma. The film premiered at Sundance earlier this year and is doing well in a smaller platform run. It co-stars Marcia Gay Harden, Julia Garner, Sam Elliott, and Judy Greer, but it's Tomlin who has some eyeing her as a sleeper awards season factor.
