March 28, 2024

‘It’ Stays No. 1, as ‘Mother!’ Curdles

Ms. Colligan noted, however, that “Mother!” also had ardent support from many cinephiles. “The hatred is real, but the passion is really real too,” she said. “People can’t stop talking about it one way or another, which is powerful.”

If nothing else, Paramount will get credit in Hollywood for backing an auteur director at a time when most studios are keeping filmmakers on extra-short leashes.

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Dylan O’Brien in “American Assassin,” which arrived to solid ticket sales. Credit Christian Black/Lionsgate

“Mother!” may also have suffered from competition from “It,” No. 1 again over the weekend. Paramount moved up the release of Mr. Aronofsky’s film by a month to capitalize on buzz generated by film festival premieres. But then “It” became a smash hit. To a degree, Paramount had no good option; “Mother!” would have faced competition in October from “Happy Death Day,” the next horror film from Blumhouse and Universal, the forces behind “Split” and “Get Out.”

Between September and December, studios are scheduled to release at least seven films with horror elements, up from four in the same period last year. Sony on Sept. 29 will roll out a remake of “Flatliners,” which mixes science fiction and horror. Lionsgate will use “Jigsaw” on Oct. 27 to try to resuscitate its torture-themed “Saw” franchise. Other entries include “Friend Request,” about a demon who kills college students, and “Polaroid,” a high school horror mystery.

Also arriving in theaters over the weekend was “American Assassin,” an action-thriller produced by CBS Films and released by Lionsgate. It took in a sturdy $14.8 million, according to comScore — on par with initial results for the assassin movie “John Wick,” which became a certified hit in 2014 and spawned a sequel. Directed by Michael Cuesta, “American Assassin” stars Dylan O’Brien and Michael Keaton and was adapted from Vince Flynn’s novel of the same name. It cost about $33 million to make.

“American Assassin” received a B-plus grade in CinemaScore exit polls, boding well for word of mouth and continued ticket sales in the weeks ahead.

Also of note: The romantic comedy “Home Again” (Open Road) held well in its second weekend, taking in $5.3 million, for a two-week total of $17.1 million.

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Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/17/movies/it-stays-no-1-as-mother-curdles.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

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