1. Sully- $22M/$70.5M
Staying in the air for a second week is Sully, Clint Eastwood's biopic on hero pilot Chesley Sullenberger. The Tom Hanks-led film, which has the actor back in the Best Actor discussion, slipped only 37% from last week.
2. Blair Witch (review here)- $9.6M
There are a lot of ironies when it comes to Blair Witch and its mediocre $9.6M debut. Let's just look at one: that the critically-panned Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2 opened with $13M and is considered to be an epic flop when compared to the massive success of The Blair Witch Project. All these years later and the surprise sequel has done even worse, this despite pulling off a similar "switcheroo" reveal as 10 Cloverfield Lane did earlier in the year. Perhaps the shock value in that marketing trick has already worn off, or there just wasn't any interest in a follow-up to a movie that began the found footage craze back in 1999. On the plus side it only cost $5M but when you tack on marketing costs it could be tough to break even. Remember, the original 'Blair Witch Project' made nearly $250M with a $60K price tag, launching the era of small-budget horrors cashing in for big bucks.
3. Bridget Jones's Baby (review here)- $8.2M
So nobody cares about Bridget Jones's baby daddy drama? The third film in the rom-com franchise arrives 12 years after Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason, which was a dud domestically with $40M but scored $260M overall. It's doubtful this one, which brings back Renee Zellwegger, Colin Firth, and adds Patrick Dempsey, will come close to those stateside numbers. And as much as Hugh Grant isn't a big deal here anymore, his absence could hurt the audience draw overseas. Whatever brings these movies to an end is okay with me, just sayin'.
4. Snowden (review here)- $8M
There's probably a few people in the government who are having a chuckle at the pitiful $8M opening for Snowden, Oliver Stone's film about the leaker of NSA documents that revealed the global surveillance program. This was always going to be a tough sell, even with Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Shailene Woodley headlining, because the reaction to Snowden is so divided. And there just doesn't seem to be any interest in movies on cyber-security or information espionage. Look back at the equally low grosses for Wikileaks drama The Fifth Estate or Michael Mann's Blackhat, and those movies had Marvel alums Benedict Cumberbatch and Chris Hemsworth.
5. Don't Breathe- $5.6M/$75.3M
6. When the Bough Breaks- $5.5M/$22.6M
7. Suicide Squad- $4.7M/$313.7M
8. The Wild Life- $2.6M/$6.6M
9. Kubo and the Two Strings- $2.5M/$44.2M
10. Pete's Dragon- $2M/$72.8M
