Box Office

No Good Deed debuts at No. 1

Taraji P. Henson (left) and Idris Elba star in the new thriller No Good Deed. It came in first at last weekend's box office and made about $24 million.
Taraji P. Henson (left) and Idris Elba star in the new thriller No Good Deed. It came in first at last weekend's box office and made about $24 million.

LOS ANGELES -- No Good Deed swam past Dolphin Tale 2 last weekend, as both films gave the box office a much-needed boost after a summer slump.

Director Sam Miller's No Good Deed finished the weekend on top with an estimated $24 million in ticket sales in the United States and Canada, with the aquatic family favorite at No. 2 with about $16 million.

Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy added about $8 million to its gross in U.S. and Canadian theaters and became the first film of 2014 to reach the $300 million milestone. After its seventh weekend, the film has grossed about $306 million in North America, bringing its worldwide total to $612 million.

Columbia's Screen Gems had predicted No Good Deed, which cost a modest $13.2 million to make, would gross in the mid-to-high teens.

"We really believed the film would succeed ... and it did, in a big way," said Rory Bruer, distribution president for Columbia Pictures.

The film follows Colin (Idris Elba), an escaped convict who invades the home of wife and mother Terri (Taraji P. Henson).

Part of the film's success can be attributed to its social media buzz. Leading up to the release, Columbia and Screen Gems launched a social media campaign, inviting fans to play a Twitter game called #TweetToEscape.

"You're home alone. Watch the video and choose your path," reads the first tweet of the game.

Bruer said the marketing team just hit it out of the park.

"There's no doubt about it that the social media team kept the suspense going and got everyone to become active participants," he said.

Elba, known for his roles in Luther, Pacific Rim and Thor, was also a lure for moviegoers. The English actor co-starred in another Screen Gems thriller, Obsessed, which opened to about $28 million in 2009.

Leading up to the film's release, some noted the timing: TMZ released a video of Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice assaulting his then-fiancee in an elevator. The scandal resulted in Rice's suspension and began a national dialogue about violence against women.

"Despite the controversy," Bruer said, the studio was not worried about the timing of No Good Deed.

"From our point of view we just had a terrific thriller that we thought audiences would relate to and they did," he said.

About 41 percent of the film's audience was younger than 30 and 60 percent was female, according to Bruer. The film was especially successful in big cities such as New York, Los Angeles, Dallas, Chicago and Atlanta.

The film was not screened in advance for critics -- usually a sign that the studio is not confident in the product. The film received a B-plus grade from audience polling firm CinemaScore. As of Sunday, it had notched a 12 percent positive rating on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes.

Meanwhile, family audiences turned out for Alcon Entertainment and Warner Bros.' Dolphin Tale 2. The sequel, which stars Ashley Judd and Morgan Freeman, continues the story of Winter, the rehabilitated dolphin who was rescued by Clearwater Marine Aquarium in Florida.

The film didn't make as large of a box-office splash as its predecessor, which opened at $19.2 million. Dolphin Tale was a surprise hit when it dived into theaters in 2011, grossing $72.3 million in U.S. and Canadian theaters.

The sequel, which cost about $36 million to make, received an A grade from CinemaScore. As of Sunday, it boasted a 73 percent fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

Paramount's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles held steady at No. 4, grossing about $5 million last weekend. After its sixth weekend at the box office, the film has grossed about $181 million.

Let's Be Cops, the comedy from 20th Century Fox, took fifth, adding $4.4 million to its domestic gross. To date, the film, which was released Aug. 13, has grossed about $73 million.

In limited release, Fox Searchlight's The Drop exceeded the studio's $2 million forecast and grossed a solid $4.1 million.

The Chernin Entertainment-produced film, which stars Tom Hardy and the late James Gandolfini, follows organized crime's use of New York bars as money-laundering drops.

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

The top 20 movies at U.S. and Canadian theaters Friday through Sunday, followed by distribution studio, gross, number of theater locations, average receipts per location, total gross and number of weeks in release, as compiled Monday by Rentrak, are:

  1. No Good Deed, Columbia, $24,250,283, 2,175 locations, $11,150 average, $24,250,283, 1 week.
  2. Dolphin Tale 2, Warner Bros., $15,873,397, 3,656 locations, $4,342 average, $15,873,397, 1 week.
  3. Guardians of the Galaxy, Disney, $8,102,358, 3,104 locations, $2,610 average, $305,987,190, 7 weeks.
  4. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Paramount, $4,855,136, 2,957 locations, $1,642 average, $181,096,627, 6 weeks.
  5. Let's Be Cops, 20th Century Fox, $4,378,297, 2,755 locations, $1,589 average, $73,050,745, 5 weeks.
  6. The Drop, Fox Searchlight, $4,104,552, 809 locations, $5,074 average, $4,104,552, 1 week.
  7. If I Stay, Warner Bros., $3,937,176, 3,040 locations, $1,295 average, $44,824,466, 4 weeks.
  8. The November Man, Relativity Media, $2,800,262, 2,702 locations, $1,036 average, $22,545,639, 3 weeks.
  9. The Giver, The Weinstein Co., $2,572,763, 2,253 locations, $1,142 average, $41,276,163, 5 weeks.
  10. The Hundred-Foot Journey, Disney, $2,423,269, 1,943 locations, $1,247 average, $49,371,137, 6 weeks.
  11. When the Game Stands Tall, Columbia, $2,381,830, 2,435 locations, $978 average, $26,557,436, 4 weeks.
  12. As Above, So Below, Universal, $2,136,755, 2,283 locations, $936 average, $19,142,430, 3 weeks.
  13. Lucy, Universal, $1,542,820, 1,068 locations, $1,445 average, $123,493,195, 8 weeks.
  14. The Expendables 3, Lionsgate, $968,734, 1,302 locations, $744 average, $38,298,670, 5 weeks.
  15. Into the Storm, Warner Bros., $903,371, 1,040 locations, $869 average, $45,852,117, 6 weeks.
  16. Boyhood, IFC Films, $865,047, 659 locations, $1,313 average, $21,808,498, 10 weeks.
  17. Cantinflas, Lionsgate, $575,738, 424 locations, $1,358 average, $5,648,104, 3 weeks.
  18. Finding Fanny, Fox International Productions, $515,393, 121 locations, $4,259 average, $515,393, 1 week.
  19. Atlas Shrugged: Who Is John Galt?, Atlas Distribution Co., $461,179, 242 locations, $1,906 average, $461,179, 1 week.
  20. A Most Wanted Man, Roadside Attractions, $443,857, 397 locations, $1,118 average, $16,610,709, 8 weeks.

MovieStyle on 09/19/2014

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