Tyler Perry’s latest Madea film topped the US box office over the weekend, knocking Tom Cruise’s Jack Reacher sequel into second place.
Boo! A Madea Halloween opened in the top spot with $27.6m (£22.5m), according to studio estimates. It’s the third best opening for a Madea movie, behind Madea Goes to Jail and Madea’s Family Reunion.
Reuters attributed the success to the film’s wide appeal, saying that only 60% of its audience were African American. That demographic normally makes up 80-90% of Perry’s audience.
Perry’s film proved to be the strongest of the weekend’s slew of sequels, topping the star power of Tom Cruise, whose Jack Reacher: Never Go Back took in an estimated $23m.
Less successful was comedy Keeping Up With the Joneses, which launched with a tepid $5.6m. The film, starring Isla Fisher and Zach Galifianakis as a pair of boring suburbanites intrigued by the arrival of a glamorous new couple played by Jon Hamm and Gal Gadot, was savaged by critics.
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In limited release, the critically acclaimed coming-of-age drama Moonlight got off to a strong start in four theatres with $414,740 and many sell-out showings, a good result for a film with no big stars and a little-known director in Barry Jenkins. It will expand in coming weeks, and is among the early favourites for Oscar recognition.
1. Tyler Perry’s Boo! A Madea Halloween $27.6m
2. Jack Reacher: Never Go Back $23m
3. Ouija: Origin of Evil $14.1m
4. The Accountant $14m
5. The Girl on the Train $7.3m
6. Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children $6m
7. Keeping Up with the Joneses $5.6m
8. Kevin Hart: What Now? $4.1m
9. Storks $4.1m
10. Deepwater Horizon $3.6m
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