‘The House with a Clock in Its Walls’ wins a quiet weekend box office

“The House with a Clock in
Its Walls.”
Universal

• “The House with a Clock in Its Walls” won the weekend box
  office with an estimated $26.8 million.
• The ambitious films “Fahrenheit 11/9,” and “Assassination
  Nation” fell short.
• Amazon’s “Life Itself” had the year’s worst opening weekend
  for a film that opened in more than 2,500 screens, as it only
  took in $2.1 million.

As September wraps up, we are currently at a dry spot in the box
office calendar with no major anticipated titles opening (the
next big weekend will be the first in October when “Venom” and “A
Star Is Born” start their runs).

That has led to a time of year where indie titles try to
capitalize with more ambitious releases, and studios open titles
it knows wouldn’t have a chance in a more competitive time on the
calendar.

A perfect example is this weekend with the releases of Michael
Moore’s latest movie, “Fahrenheit 11/9,” through Briarcliff
Entertainment, and Neon’s latest genre title “Assassination
Nation.”

“Fahrenheit 11/9.”
Dog Eat
Dog

Both titles opened on over 1,000 screens instead of the usual
strategy of playing the films in a handful of theaters in New
York and Los Angeles and then widening the release in the
following weeks. It’s debatable if the strategy paid off for
either.

“Fahrenheit 11/9,” Moore’s documentary on the current political
landscape, opened this weekend with an estimated $3.1 million. “Assassination
Nation,” a explosive drama that is basically “The Crucible” for
the social media age, took in $1 million.

Conventional wisdom would suggest that both of these titles
should have started out smaller and built momentum into a wider
release, but this sleepy time of year at the box office tempts
distributors to make bold moves.

“Life Itself.”
Amazon
Studios

Like Amazon Studios releasing the polarizing “Life Itself” on
2,600 screens despite a 13% score on Rotten Tomatoes.
The drama directed by the creator of “This Is Us” ended up
earning only $2.1 million (an incredibly
low $807 pre screen average). That’s the worst debut for a movie
this year that opened in over 2,500 theaters.

On the studio side, there was no stopping Universal’s “The House
with a Clock in Its Walls.” The family friendly thriller based on
the book of the same name and starring Jack Black and Cate
Blanchett had no trouble winning the weekend box office with an
estimated $26.8 million.

Holdovers “A Simple Favor” and “The Nun” came in second ($10.4
million) and third place ($10.2 million), respectively.

With one weekend left before the heavy hitters come back, look
for all these titles to shift their releases accordingly for next
weekend so they can collect every penny they can.