Tyler Perry’s Madea Beats Tom Cruise at the Box Office

Tyler Perry’s Madea beats Tom Cruise’s Jack Reacher at the box office.

As we edge closer to the end of October and the start of the holiday movie season, it looked like there might be a tight battle at the box office between Tyler Perry and Tom Cruise, who presented two very different movies.

Tom Cruise’s return to Lee Child’s military hero with Jack Reacher: Never Go Back (Paramount Pictures) did almost twice as much in Thursday previews as Tyler Perry’s Boo! A Madea Halloween (Lionsgate) did, but the latter, co-starring Bella Thorne, Cassie Davis, Andre Hall, Yousef Erakat and more, picked up steam on Friday where it amassed $9.4 million to Jack Reacher‘s $8.9 million.

The sequel to the 2012 hit, Jack Reacher: Never Go Back, co-starring Cobie Smulders and Danika Yarosh, opened in 3,780 theaters, over 1,500 more theaters than the Tyler Perry movie, but it dropped on Saturday, while Perry’s movie had a bump, so when estimates came in Sunday, Boo! was well ahead with an estimated $27.6 million compared to Jack Reacher‘s $23 million. Tyler Perry’s latest movie also received an impressive A CinemaScore, compared to Jack Reacher‘s B+.

Universal Pictures, Blumhouse and Platinum Dunes’ horror prequel Ouija: Origin of Evil, directed by Mike Flanagan (Occulus), opened in third place with $14.1 million in 3,167 theaters, averaging $4,440 per theater. Its C CinemaScore was similar to that of the original movie back in 2014. It also grossed another $7.9 million overseas, where it opened in 22 territories.

20th Century Fox also opened the DreamWorks Animation musical comedy Trolls internationally in 14 markets, two weeks before its North American release, and it grossed $18 million on 4,144 screens. It did the best in the UK, where it grossed $6.9 million (more than The Croods) to take the top spot in that market. It was also #1 in Denmark and Norway, while grossing $4.2 million in France and $2.2 million in Germany.

It came out just ahead of Warner Bros. Pictures‘ action-thriller The Accountant, starring Ben Affleck, Anna Kendrick and J.K. Simmons, which dropped to fourth place with $14 million, down 44% from its opening weekend. It has grossed just under $48 million in its first ten days. It added another $5.6 million overseas to bring its international gross to $10.2 million.

The Emily Blunt dramatic-thriller The Girl on the Train (Universal, DreamWorks) took in another $7.3 million (down 40%) its third weekend, dropping to fifth place with $59 million grossed so far.

Tim Burton’s adaptation of Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children (20th Century Fox) dropped to sixth place with $6 million, down 33% from last weekend and bringing its domestic total to $74.4 million.

The last new ultra-wide release was the 20th Century Fox comedy, Keeping Up with the Joneses, starring Zach Galifianakis, Isla Fisher, Jon Hamm and Gal Gadot, which opened in 3,022 theaters on Friday, but only took in $5.6 million, or $1,853 per theater, to take seventh place.

The comedy concert movie Kevin Hart: What Now? (Universal) took the biggest plunge in the Top 10 with competition from Tyler Perry, dropping 65% to eighth place with $4.1 million and $18.9 million grossed so far.

Warner Bros.’ animated adventure Storks dropped to ninth place, also with $4.1 million, having earned $64.7 million since opening in September.

Peter Berg’s Deepwater Horizon (Lionsgate), starring Mark Wahlberg, added another $3.6 million this weekend to close off the Top 10 with $55.2 million in its first four weeks.

Opening in 504 theaters Friday, Pure Flix Entertainment’s faith-based Columbine drama I’m Not Ashamed earned $900,000, averaging about the same per-theatre as the Joneses comedy with $1,800 per theatre.

Barry Jenkins’ acclaimed drama Moonlight (A24), starring Mahershala Ali and Naomie Harris, opened in four theaters in New York and L.A. where it earned an estimated $413,000, an impressive $103,000 per theater average.  A24 plans on expanding it next weekend and then opening it nationwide on November 4.

Ewan McGregor’s directorial debut, American Pastoral (Lionsgate), co-starring Jennifer Connelly, Dakota Fanning and David Strathairn, opened in 50 locations with $151,000 grossed in its first weekend, or $3,000 per theater.

Michael Moore in Trumpland, the filmmaker’s doc which received a last minute release on a single screen in  New York and L.A. Wednesday, grossed $50,000 over the weekend.