Blood and guts earned dollars and cents this weekend as the gory reboot of the Evil Dead franchise powered its way to a $26 million win at the box office.
Director Fede Alvarez scrubbed away the tongue-in-cheek humor that was characteristic of Sam Raimi’s original Dead trilogy, creating a rougher, bloodier take on the evil-spirit-in-the-woods formula that shapes the remake.
But word-of-mouth must have been very good on the new Dead, because this is now the second-highest-grossing opening weekend for a horror movie this year (behind Mama, which opened to $28.4M in January).
Two top performers continued to move tickets, with G.I. Joe: Retaliation and The Croods each claiming $21M weekends, and a piece of second place. Actual numbers, which arrive Monday night, will separate the two titles eventually. In the meantime, Croods is claiming a slight victory over Joe in overall box office. The animated comedy has earned $125.8M to date, while the second G.I. Joe movie has a solid $86.6M in its bank.
Part of me believed Universal’s 3D re-release of Steven Spielberg’s Jurassic Park would perform better … and possibly even contend for the top slot at the box office. Instead, the upgraded Park earned $18.2M from curious audiences seeking a hit of dino nostalgia, good for a fourth place finish in the top 10.
Here’s the full Top 10 list for the weekend:
MOVIE / WEEKEND / TOTAL
1. Evil Dead, $26M
2. G.I. Joe: Retaliation, $21.1, $86.6M
3. The Croods, $21.1M, $125.8M
4. Jurassic Park 3D, $18.2M
5. Olympus Has Fallen, $10M, $71.1M
6. Tyler Perry’s Temptation, $10M, $38.3M
7. Oz the Great and Powerful, $8.1M, $212.7M
8. The Host, $5.2M, $19.6M
9. The Call, $3.5M, $45.4M
10. Admission, $2M, $15.3M
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