Box Office

They might be enemies in No Good Deed, but the combined star power of Idris Elba and Taraji P. Henson helped the thriller take control of the box office this weekend. No Good Deed opened in first place with an impressive $24.5 million from 2,175 locations.

Even though mid-week tracking predicted a mid-teens opening for the $13 million pic, this debut wasn’t exactly a surprise for Screen Gems. “We really felt we were going to win. We felt we were in the zone and had a film that people were really going to like,” Rory Bruer, Sony’s president of worldwide distribution, tells EW. “We were always very high on the film and felt that it would really work. When you put all the elements together—great casting with Idris and Taraji, and this very, very suspenseful, taut thriller that Sam Miller delivered—it worked really well.”

Both stars were extremely active in promoting the film via their social media accounts. Sony suggests this helped the film play so well opening weekend. Audiences, who were about 60 percent female and 41 percent under the age of 30, gave the PG-13 rated pic a B+ Cinema Score This indicates that the film was not exactly what they’d expected, which could affect word-of-mouth buzz and future earnings. Still, No Good Deed doesn’t have much more to prove after such a strong debut. “It’s going to be hugely profitable for our company. It was made on a very reasonable budget and we almost doubled that in our first weekend,” says Bruer. “It’s going to be a very successful movie for us.”

Dolphin Tale 2, meanwhile, failed to match the $19.2 million debut of the first film, earning an estimated $16.5 million from 3,656 theaters to take second place. The Warner Bros./Alcon Entertainment family pic cost a reported $36 million to produce and was expected to open in the $20 million range, but all hope is not lost: Audiences, who were 63 percent female and 44 percent under age 25, gave the film an A Cinema Score. It has the potential to hold pretty well in weeks to come. It’s also worth noting that the first film was released in 3-D, while the sequel was not shown in that format.

Holdovers took the remaining spots on the top five, including Disney and Marvel’sGuardians of the Galaxy, which took in $8.04 million domestically and $9.3 million internationally (42 territories), pushing both its domestic and international totals over $300 million for a $612 million global total. It’s the sixth Marvel release to cross the $600 million landmark and the film has yet to open in China.

Here’s the top five:

1. No Good Deed — $24.5 million
2. Dolphin Tale 2 — $16.5 million
3. Guardians of the Galaxy — $8.04 million ($305.9 million domestic total)
4. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles — $4.8 million ($181.04 domestic total)
5. Let’s Be Cops — $4.3 million ($72.9 million domestic total)

The Drop, starring Tom Hardy and the late James Gandolfini opened in 809 theaters this weekend and took in an estimated $4.2 million, just missing a spot on the top five. The Dennis Lehane crime thriller will expand to around 1,000 theaters next weekend, though.

In limited release, The Skeleton Twins, starring Bill Hader and Kristen Wiig, took in an estimated $411K from 15 locations and The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: Them, starring James McAvoy and Jessica Chastain earned an estimated $77.2K from four locations.