The House With a Clock in Its Walls tops North American box office on opening weekend; earns $35.6 mn globally

The gothic family fantasy The House With a Clock in Its Walls exceeded expectations to debut with an estimated $26.9 million in ticket sales at the weekend box office in North America, while audiences showed considerably less interest in Michael Moore’s Donald Trump-themed documentary, Fahrenheit 11/9, than his George W. Bush-era one. The House With a Clock in Its Walls was easily the biggest draw on a quiet weekend at North American movie theaters, where the other three new wide releases all disappointed or downright flopped. Universal’s family film clocked up $8.7 million over its debut three-day weekend overseas taking its global total to $35.6 million, reports Variety. [caption id=“attachment_5249161” align=“alignnone” width=“825”] (From L-r) Jack Black, Owen Vaccaro and Cate Blanchett in a scene from The House With A Clock in Its Walls. Universal Pictures via AP[/caption] Fahrenheit 11/9 opened with $3.1 million in 1,719 cinemas — a huge debut for most documentaries but a fraction of the $23.9 million opening generated in 2004 by Moore’s record-breaking Fahrenheit 9/11. That film went on to make $222.4 million worldwide, a record for documentaries. Dan Fogelman’s Life Itself and the home invasion thriller Assassination Nation both barely made a blip in nationwide release. Though Fogelman’s This Is Us is one of TV’s top-rated series, his Life Itself bombed with $2.1 million despite a starry cast including Olivia Wilde, Oscar Isaac and Antonio Banderas. Sam Levinson’s Assassination Nation grossed just $1 million in 1,403 theaters. But Universal Pictures’ The House With a Clock in Its Walls, based on the classic book written by John Bellairs and illustrated by Edward Gorey, capitalised on a recent dearth of child-friendly options. The film, directed by the horror veteran Eli Roth with a budget of $40 million, stars Jack Black and Cate Blanchett. Bleecker Street’s Colette, starring Keira Knightley as the iconic French author, debuted with $156,000 in four theaters, good for a per-screen average of $39,000. Jacques Audiard’s dark Western The Sisters Brothers, starring Joaquin Phoenix and John C. Reilly, opened with $122,000 in four theaters for a $30,500 per-screen average. Last week’s top film, The Predator , slid fast with a 65 percent drop, earning $8.7 million in its second week. Holding stronger was Lionsgate’s A Simple Favor. Paul Feig’s suburban noir, starring Blake Lively and Anna Kendrick, dropped only 35 percent for a $10.4 million second weekend. (With inputs from The Associated Press)