NTSC USER

Adaptation takes top spot from Tim Burton’s Miss Peregrine


Propelled by the popularity of Paula Hawkins’ bestselling book, the film adaptation of The Girl on the Train led North American ticket sales over the weekend with $24.7m, according to studio estimates on Sunday.

Less successful was Nate Parker’s Nat Turner biopic The Birth of a Nation, which opened with a disappointing $7.1m.

Receipts were affected by weather conditions in the south-eastern US, where Hurricane Matthew caused damage and severe flooding throughout the weekend.

The weekend’s other wide release, Middle School: The Worst Years of My Life, attempted to court younger crowds, opening to $6.9m from 2,822 theaters. The film follows a teenager who cooks up a series of pranks to embarrass his autocratic principal. It is based on a popular series of books by James Patterson. CBS Films produced the movie for $11m, with Lionsgate distributing.

Last weekend’s champ, Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, fell roughly 50% to $15m for a second-place finish. That puts the Tim Burton fantasy’s total at $51.1m. Fox backed the film, which cost $110m.

Lionsgate’s Deepwater Horizon continued to struggle, taking in $11.7m, bringing its domestic total to $38.5m. The action-drama about the men and women caught up in one of the worst oil spills in history earned solid reviews, but cost a whopping $120m after tax credits were taken into account.

Sony’s The Magnificent Seven took fourth place with $9.1m, pushing the western remake’s haul to $75.9m. Storks, the Warner Bros animated comedy, rounded out the top five with $8.4m, bringing its US receipts to $50.1m.

Check out the Oct 7-9 weekend box office estimates below:

1. The Girl on Train - $24.7 million
2. Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children - $15 million
3. Deepwater Horizon - $11.8 million
4. The Magnificent Seven - $9.2
5. Storks - $8.5
6. The Birth of a Nation - $7.1 million
7. Middle School: The Worst Years of My Life - $6.9 million
8. Sully - $5.3 million
9. Masterminds - $4.1 million
10. Queen of Katwe - $1.6 million