Movies

Box Office Recap: ‘Girl On The Train’ Is No. 1 With $24.7M

October 9, 2016

Universal/DreamWorks Pictures’ The Girl on the Train won the box office this weekend, earning $24.7 million from 3,144 theaters.

Starring Emily Blunt, Rebecca Ferguson, Haley Bennett, Justin Theroux, Luke Evans, Allison Janney, Edgar Ramirez and Lisa Kudrow – the film is based on Paula Hawkin’s bestselling novel. It follows the story about a recently divorced woman (played by Blunt) who believes she witnesses a murder while riding on the train.

“This is a big moment for Emily Blunt, who absolutely carries this movie,” said Universal domestic distribution chief Nick Carpou. The psychological thriller, directed by Tate Taylor, earned a 44 percent “fresh” score on Rotten Tomatoes from critics and a B-minus CinemaScore from moviegoers.

Holdovers made up the rest of the top five at the box office starting with Tim Burton’s Miss Peregrine’s Home For Peculiar Children in second place with $15 million. The film has accumulated $51.1 million domestically since debuting last weekend.

Deepwater Horizon came in third place with $11.8 million ($38.5 million domestically), while The Magnificent Seven and Storks followed in fourth and fifth place with $9.2 million ($75.9 million) and $8.5 million ($50.1 million), respectively.

The weekend’s final newcomers, Nate Parker’s The Birth of a Nation and Middle School: The Worst Years of My Life, debuted outside of the top five.

Birth of a Nation opened in sixth place with $7.1 million from 2,105 theaters. The R-rated biopic, which follows Nat Turner’s 1831 slave rebellion, earned a 79 percent “fresh” score on Rotten Tomatoes and an A CinemaScore from moviegoers.

“This is a satisfactory, not disappointing result,” said Fox Searchlight distribution chief Frank Rodriquez. “And thanks to an A CinemaScore, we’re expecting a decent hold.”

The final newcomer, Middle School: The Worst Years of My Life, debuted in seventh place with $6.9 million from 2,822 theaters. The film, based on the 2011 novel of the same name by James Patterson and Chris Tebbetts, earned a 59 percent “fresh” score on Rotten Tomatoes and an A-minus CinemaScore.