With a cast that includes Washington, Pratt, Ethan Hawke, Peter Sarsgaard and Vincent D’Onofrio, The Magnificent Seven boasts a serious draw of heavy-hitting talent, which definitely explains why the flick did better than a bird movie.
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Honestly: There are worst things than being the first runner-up in a race with a movie that has both “Cowboys” and “Aliens” in the damn title, so kudos to the Magnificent Seven all around. It’s Denzel’s 13th opening in a row over $20 million.
Sony Pictures’ estimate Sunday for “The Magnificent Seven” had the film far ahead of the week’s other new release, Warner Bros.’ “Storks”. They also played up the diversity of their cast, rounding out the cast of mercenaries with South Korean actor Byung-hun Lee, Mexican actor Manuel Garcia-Rulfo, and Native American actor Martin Sensmeier.
Storks, produced for roughly $70 million by Warner Animation Group, was directed by Nicholas Stoller and Doug Sweetland.
Andy Samberg, Kelsey Grammer, Jennifer Aniston, Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele lare among those lending their voices to characters.
In recent decades, Warners hasn’t been a big player in the animation space, although 2014’s The Lego Movie was a box-office sensation.
Lone ranger: The star-studded Western knocked Tom Hanks’s Sully off No. 1 where it has been parked for two weeks. The drama slid to third place with US$13.8 million, bringing its stateside total to a healthy US$92.4 million. Village Roadshow is a partner on the film.
Bridget Jones’s Baby took fourth place with US$4.5 million, pushing the romantic comedy’s domestic total to a lacklustre US$16.5 million after two weeks of release.
Snowden rounded out the top five, earning slightly more than $4 million and bringing its domestic total to just over $15 million, still well short of its $40 million budget.
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New offerings at the specialty box office included Disney’s Queen of Katwe, directed by Mira Nair and starring Madina Nalwanga as real-life Ugandan chess player Phiona Mutesi. Katwe earned $82,000 Friday for a projected weekend gross of $297,000 and location average of roughly $5,700.
