UPDATE 1-Box Office: 'Hotel Transylvania 2' Breaks September Record With $47.5 Million Debut

(Adds quotes, other movies)
By Brent Lang
LOS ANGELES, Sept. 27 (Variety.com) - "Hotel Transylvania 2"
easily topped the weekend box office, sinking its teeth into an
impressive $47.5 million, and providing a big win for star Adam
Sandler and Sony Pictures, the studio behind the animated
franchise.
Both had endured rough patches at ticket booths. Sandler,
once among the most consistently commercial leading men in
Hollywood, has suffered a series of flops like "Blended,"
"That's My Boy," and "Jack and Jill" that have inspired
questions about his bankability. And Sony, which had its inner
workings laid bare in last year's hack attack by North Korea,
was subjected to a summer that saw films like "Aloha" and
Sandler's video game "Pixels" rejected by audiences. It has been
on the upswing in recent weeks, fielding modest hits like "War
Room" and "The Perfect Guy," but this is the studio's biggest
opening since "22 Jump Street" debuted to $57 million in June of
2014.
It also sets a new September record, passing the previous
"Hotel Transylvania's" $42.5 million start in 2012. The $80
million production got off to a strong start overseas, outpacing
the first film's results in parts of Latin America.
"It's on it's way to being one of the most beloved
franchises of all time," said Rory Bruer, Sony Pictures
president of worldwide distribution.
"There are a lot of stories left to tell," he added, saying
that he hoped there would be a third installment.
Domestically, it was a competitive weekend at the
multiplexes. In addition to "Hotel Transylvania 2," Universal
expanded "Everest" from Imax and premium format screens to 3,006
locations, where the high altitude disaster film picked up $13.1
million. That figure is something of a disappointment given the
A CinemaScore the film earned in limited release and the solid
$7.2 million it generated in its inaugural weekend.
With "Everest" appealing to men and "Hotel Transylvania 2"
roping in families, Warner Bros. made a pitch to female ticket
buyers with "The Intern." The Nancy Meyers workplace comedy
brought in a solid $18.2 million for a second place finish.
Filmed for $40 million, it stars Robert De Niro and Anne
Hathaway. That opening puts it in line with previous Meyers'
releases such as "Something's Gotta Give" ($16.1 million debut)
and "The Holiday" ($12.8 million start). The director's latest
effort is just as likely to inspire real estate envy in the
heavily female audience that turned out to see the impossibly
chic world of "The Intern."
"Nancy Meyers really is a brand onto herself," said Jeff
Goldstein, Warner Bros. distribution executive vice
president."It's not just the stories that attracts people. It's
the lifestyle, it's the sets, it's the clothes."
That left Eli Roth's "Green Inferno" as the weekend's only
other wide release. The low budget horror film earned $3.5
million from 1,540 locations. The picture about a young woman
who has a nasty encounter with Peruvian cannibals is part of a
novel distribution experiment from Jason Blum.
The horror producer's company Blumhouse limited the number
of locations where the picture screened and leaned heavily on
digital marketing to keep costs low. The hope was to find a
middle ground between straight to on-demand releases and wide,
3,000 screen debuts, but the model may need more tweaking. The
company had hoped the film would debut to between $4 million and
$5 million. It will try a similar experiment with two more
upcoming releases, including "Delirium," a supernatural thriller
with Topher Grace and Patricia Clarkson. A third film has yet to
be determined.
Last weekend's champ, "Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials," slid
to third place in its sophomore weekend, notching $14 million,
and bringing the Fox's film's domestic total to $51.7 million.
Among holdovers, Johnny Depp's "Black Mass" fell less than 50%
in its second weekend, adding $11.5 million to push the Warner
Bros.' film's stateside haul to $42.6 million.
Lionsgate's "Sicario" continued to impress in its second
week in theaters. A week after scoring the biggest per-screen
average of the year, the drug war thriller moved from six to 59
theaters, cracking the box office top ten with $680,591. It goes
wide next weekend.
Bleecker Street's "Pawn Sacrifice," a look at troubled chess
great Bobby Fischer (Tobey Maguire), broadened its theatrical
footprint from 33 to 781 locations, earning $1.1 million. It has
earned $1.3 million after two weeks.
In the art house realm, Broad Green bowed housing crisis
drama "99 Homes" in two New York theirs, where it earned
$32,807, for a per-screen average of $16,403.
The onslaught of new and expanding releases bolstered
overall ticket sales. Receipts were up nearly 30% from the
year-ago period when "The Equalizer" and the first "Maze Runner"
topped box office charts.