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Box Office Report: No Good Deed Goes Unpunished At #1

Producer Will Packer is having a great year. Four of his low-budget releases in 2014, all of which have a predominantly African-American featured cast, have opened to more than $20 million. His latest triumph is the home invasion thriller No Good Deed, which debuted to $24.5 million - almost twice its production cost of $13 million. (The other three titles are Ride Along, About Last Night... and Think Like a Man Too.) That opening was beyond industry expectations; however, with 60% of the crowd being females and few estrogen-leaning titles out in late summer, the big opening should not be much of a surprise.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

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Much of the rest of the top 10 were summer leftovers. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles was not affected by more family competition, easing only 26% to gross $4.8 million in its sixth round. The total stands at $181 million and a final with just over $190 million seems likely. Sleeper comedy hit Let’s Be Cops continued its leggy run, taking in $4.3 million for a $73 million fume. The low-budget comedy should end its run with between $80 and $85 million.

Opening to good results in sixth place was The Drop, a new thriller with Tom Hardy and featuring the last performance from James Gandolfini. It opened with $4.2 million in just 809 theaters – lending it the second-highest per theater average in the top 10 (after No Good Deed). Good reviews, a TIFF berth last week and few options for adults helped the Dennis Lehane-penned film get a moderate take. Regardless, The Drop will need good staying power to outgross Gandolfini’s previous September hit, Enough Said, which ended its run with $17.6 million.

As fall approaches, the indie film schedule becomes more exciting. Moviegoers in big cities chose many critics’ darlings this weekend. The Skeleton Twins, starring Kristen Wiig and Bill Hader, had a strong start with $411,000 from only 15 theaters (the film will expand throughout the month). My Old Lady and The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby had solid debuts, too, with theatre averages of $12,182 and $19,300, respectively, in limited release. On the flip side, many shrugged for the third Atlas Shrugged film, subtitled Who is John Gait? That title averaged less than $1,500 a theater, taking in $355,000 from 242 locations.

Here are the box office estimates for the Top 10 films at the North American box office, the weekend of September 12 through 14, 2014:

1. No Good Deed – $24.5 million (NEW)
2. Dolphin Tale 2 – $16.6 million (NEW)
3. Guardians of the Galaxy – $8 million ($305.9 million total)
4. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles – $4.8 million ($181 million total)
5. Let’s Be Cops – $4.3 million ($73 million total)
6. The Drop – $4.2 million (NEW)
7. If I Stay – $4.1 million ($44.9 million total)
8. The November Man – $2.8 million ($22.5 million total)
9. The Giver – $2.6 million ($41.3 million total)
10. The Hundred-Foot Journey – $2.5 million ($49.4 million total)

NOTE: These numbers are weekend estimates based on Friday and Saturday’s estimated takes. Actual numbers for the three-day weekend are reported on Monday afternoon.

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