Box Office

From ew, Hotel Transylvania 2 drew blood at the box office this weekend, earning an estimated $47.5 million and setting the new record for the biggest September opening of all time.

The sequel to Genndy Tartakovsky’s animated Dracula adventure shattered the $42.5 million record set by the first one in 2012, and Hotel Transylvania 2(starring Adam Sandler, Andy Samberg, and Selena Gomez) earned an A- CinemaScore. Not only didHotel Transylvania 2 earn the biggest ever September opening, but it’s also Sony Animation’s biggest opening of all time and the biggest opening Sony has had all year. When final numbers come in on Monday, Hotel Transylvania 2 could also end up as the biggest Sandler opening of all time, as it’s only about $100,000 away from his current record-holder, The Longest Yard, which opened to $47.6 million in 2005.

The Intern, starring Robert De Niro and Anne Hathaway, also made a solid debut, earning an estimated $18.2 million. Director Nancy Meyers’ first film since 2009 also snagged an A- CinemaScore, coming in second place, and The Intern drew a primarily female, older audience.

Everest, on the other hand, fell a little short of expectations. Last weekend, Baltasar Kormákur’s climbing adventure opened on IMAX and premium large-format screens, earning $7.2 million, and whileEverest was expected to earn between $15 and $17 million when it went wide this weekend, it only made an estimated $13.1 million. Everest’s 10-day domestic total is now at an estimated $23.1 million.

Holdovers Black Mass and Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials rounded out the top five. Scorch Trials saw a steeper second-weekend drop than the first Maze Runner, falling 54 percent, but it still earned $14 million, bringing its domestic total to $51.7 million. The White Bulger biopic Black Mass earned $11.5 million in its second weekend, and its domestic total is now at $42.6 million.

Outside of the top five, this weekend’s other wide release marked the return of another big director: Eli Roth. The Green Inferno, Roth’s first directorial feature in eight years, made $3.5 million.


Here are this weekend’s top five at the box office:

1. Hotel Transylvania 2 — $47.5 million
2. The Intern — $18.2 million
3. Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials — $14 million
4. Everest — $13.1 million
5. Black Mass — $11.5 million