Page 30 - ARUBA TODAY

A30 PEOPLE/ARTS
Monday 18 SepteMber 2017
‘It’ stomps ‘Mother’ with $60M in its second week

PEOPLE & ARTS

By JAKE COYLE theaters, according to stu-
AP Film Writer dio estimates Sunday. It slid
NEW YORK (AP) — The Ste- 51 percent from last week’s
phen King adaption “It” unexpectedly sensational
continues to scare up re- opening of $123 million, the
cord ticket sales, taking in first September release to
an estimated $60 million in debut north of $100 million.
its second week and leav- Most had expected “It” to
ing a paltry $7.5 million for open to about half that.
Darren Aronofsky’s auda- With $218.7 million to date,
cious genre-bending psy- “It” is now the highest gross-
chological thriller “mother!” ing September release
New Line and Warner Bros.’ ever, and a much-needed
“It” remained easily the top hit to follow a summer box
draw in North American office that slumped to a his-

This image released by Paramount Pictures shows Jennifer Lawrence in a scene from “mother!”
Associated Press
torically bad August. “It,” helmed the Paramount Lionsgate and CBS Films,
starring Bill Skarsgard as the 2014 release “Noah.” The edged out “mother!” for
evil clown Pennywise, also Bible epic sailed through second place with $14.8
added $60.3 million inter- controversy to make $362.6 million. That was a solid
nationally. million worldwide. result for the film starring
Paramount Pictures’ More than most of its rivals, Dylan O’Brien and Michael
“mother!” has horror ele- Paramount has backed Keaton.
ments, too, so it was risky a number of daring films In limited release, the Mike
to schedule it right behind from acclaimed filmmak- White-directed comedy
“It.” But Aronofsky’s film is ers, including Martin Scors- “Brad’s Status,” starring
a more art-house proposi- ese’s little-seen “Silence” Ben Stiller, opened in four
tion, made for about $30 and upcoming films from theaters with a good per-
million. For star Jennifer Alexander Payne (“Down- screen average of $25,045.
Lawrence, it’s the worst sizing”) and George Cloo- Annapurna will expand the
wide-release opening of ney (“Suburbicon”) — both film in coming weeks.
her career. of which also debuted in One of the summer’s box
Reviews were generally Venice. office weakly perform-
good (68 percent “fresh” Whether that will continue ing sequels also found a
on Rotten Tomatoes) for after disappointing box- modicum of redemption.
“mother!,” which pre- office results remains to Two months after its North
miered last week at the be seen. In April, former American release, Fox’s
Venice Film Festival. But Fox chief Jim Gianopulos “War for the Planet of the
the film — an intense, alle- took over as chairman and Apes” opened in China
gorical tale about a wom- chief executive at Para- with $62.3 million.
an (Lawrence) whose rural mount after the depar- That marks not only the
Victorian house is overrun ture of Brad Grey. Motion studio’s best debut in Chi-
by unwanted house guests Picture Group President na but also sends Matt
— is an undeniably atypi- Marc Evans is also stepping Reeves’ “Planet of the
cal, auteur-driven studio down. Apes” sequel toward a
release. Audiences didn’t The counterterrorism thriller more gorilla-sized global
care for it, giving it a sel- “American Assassin,” from haul of $432 million.q
dom-seen F CinemaScore.
“Admittedly, there are
audiences who aren’t re-
sponding as favorably,
but I think it’s one of those
movies that’s so different
and so audacious,” said
Kyle Davies, president of
domestic distribution for
Paramount. “Darren’s one
of the most dynamic film-
makers out there today. So
the movie is really getting a
strong reaction and I think
it takes people a while to
process the movie.”
Aronofsky, the filmmak-
er of “Black Swan” and
“The Wrestler,” previously