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PEOPLE & ARTSMonday 14 September 2015

‘Perfect Guy,’ ‘The Visit’ box office stronger than expected

LINDSEY BAHR In this photo provided by Sony/Screen Gems, Holt McCallany, left, as Detective Hansen, intero- op his brand name. Peo-
AP Film Writer gates Michael Ealy as Carter in Screen Gems’ “The Perfect Guy.” ple look to those films as
LOS ANGELES (AP) — “The having something special
Perfect Guy” and “The Visit” Associated Press about them. It’s magical
sailed past modest open- when that combines with
ing weekend expectations the Senior Media Analyst for age of 25. (60 percent) on opening M. Night Shyamalan, who
— and budgets — locking Rentrak. “Studios are find- “It bodes well for the lon- weekend, although exist- has absolutely built his rep-
in debuts in the mid-$20 mil- ing a land of opportunity in gevity of the film. Not only ing crowds gave this one a utation on mining the unex-
lion range thanks in part to weekends that were here- is it a date movie, but it’s a B- CinemaScore. This is the pected. It’s a great combi-
good timing and robust fe- tofore ‘slow weekends’ at film that girlfriends are go- eighth successful $20-plus nation,” said Nick Carpou,
male turnout. the box office and proving ing to go to together as million opening for produc- Universal’s President of Do-
“The Perfect Guy,” a PG-13 that audiences are always well,” said Rory Bruer, So- er Jason Blum’s Blumhouse mestic Distribution.
rated thriller starring Sanaa looking for new content.” ny’s President of Worldwide Productions, which special- In third place, “War Room”
Lathan and Michael Ealy, Female audiences helped Distribution. Audiences also izes in micro-budget horror continues to prove mightily
secured the first place spot “The Perfect Guy” shoot to gave the film a promising films including the “Insidi- powerful with $7.4 million
with $26.7 million, accord- the No. 1 spot. An estimat- A- CinemaScore., ous” and “Paranormal Ac- in its third weekend in the-
ing to Rentrak estimates on ed 69 percent were wom- “The Visit” also saw a ma- tivity” series. “Jason Blum is aters, but the faith-based
Sunday. The Sony/Screen en and 58 percent over the jority female audience really continuing to devel- categorization isn’t always
Gems film cost only $12 mil- a sure revelation. “90 Min-
lion to produce. utes in Heaven,” a Christian
M. Night Shyamalan’s nail- film starring Kate Bosworth,
biter “The Visit,” a $5 mil- opened in ninth place to
lion production from mi- only $2.2 million from 878 lo-
cro-budget horror-makers cations. It’s a fine result for
Blumhouse, took a close the film, but pales in com-
second with an estimated parison to “War Room”
$25.7 million for distributor which now boasts a $39.2
Universal. With numbers million domestic total.
this close, the places might “A Walk in the Woods”
shift when Monday actu- and “Mission: Impossible
als roll in, but both films — Rogue Nation” rounded
are resounding successes out the top five with $4.7
on a weekend that often million and $4.2 million,
doesn’t go noticed on the respectively. “Mission: Im-
release calendar. possible” also earned a gi-
“We’re not breaking any re- gantic $91.3 million interna-
cords, but this is the perfect tionally this weekend, with
weekend for these films,” China accounting for $86
said Paul Dergarabedian, million of the total.q

Review: ‘Year of Fear’ is compelling tale about 1933

JEFF AYERS and needed a major case to Hoover and the FBI would be-
Associated Press restore his reputation. J. Edgar come household names, and
Joe Urschel has written a com- Hoover saw opportunity in the the criminals they would bring to
pelling tale that looks at the kidnapping of an oilman named justice would become infamous.
turbulent year of 1933, and the Charles Urschel. Still, the apprehension of the Kel-
narrative reads like the most nail- George “Machine Gun” Kel- lys on kidnapping charges is only
biting thriller imaginable — yet ly and his wife, Kathryn, were the beginning of the story.
it’s all true. known for robbing banks, but
The Dust Bowl was ravaging the the money started to be in short Urschel does an amazing job
Midwest and the Great Depres- supply. Prohibition was coming chronicling a time in history that
sion was hurting everyone across to an end, and the profits from was rough for those that lived
the country. Franklin Delano bootlegging were drying up. The it while making the events ex-
Roosevelt was getting ready to new method for obtaining lots of tremely readable. All history
take over the presidency — and money fast was kidnapping, and textbooks should be this fun and
hopefully heal and repair the the more famous and wealthy informative. Even experts of the
fragile nation. A man working person taken, the more the fami- period will find this book reward-
for the Justice Department was ly would be willing to pay for that ing and might learn something
on the verge of losing his job person’s safe return. new.q

This photo provided by Minotaur Books
shows the cover of the book, “The Year
of Fear: Machine Gun Kelly and the
Manhunt that Changed the Nation,” by
author Joe Urschel.
Associated Press