Five Nights at Freddy’s sequel slashes to top of box office

[LOS ANGELES] Horror video-game movie Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 proved jump scares can still rake in the cash with a debut that ruled North American theatres, industry estimates showed on Sunday (Dec 7).

The second film in Universal’s Freddy’s franchise – about animatronic characters at a pizza shop, the tween girl (Piper Rubio) who befriends them and the murderous, if cheesy, events that follow – brought in US$63 million in the Friday-to-Sunday period, Exhibitor Relations reported.

It earned another US$46 million internationally.

“Critics’ reviews are poor, but the genre is immune to reviews,” said David Gross of Franchise Entertainment Research.

“The audience score is more important, and it’s very good for a horror picture, although not as good as the first pic.”

Sliding to the second spot was another sequel, Disney’s feel-good animated film Zootopia 2.

The buddy cop comedy featuring a menagerie of talking animals battling stereotypes earned US$43 million, for a two-week total of US$220 million and a worldwide haul nearing the US$1 billion mark.

Dropping one spot to third place, with US$16.8 million in its third weekend, was Wicked: For Good, Universal’s second chapter in the musical saga of Oz’s most notable witches – the green-skinned, outcast Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo) and popular pink-wearing Glinda (Ariana Grande).

The Wizard of Oz retelling is based on the long-running Broadway musical, itself adapted from Gregory Maguire’s 1995 novel.

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Jujutsu Kaisen: Execution landed in fourth spot in its debut. The anime-based tale of violent sorcery released by GKIDS earned US$10.2 million.

In fifth with US$3.5 million was Lionsgate’s Now You See Me: Now You Don’t, the third instalment in the crime heist franchise.

Rounding out the top 10 were:

• Kill Bill: The Whole Bloody Affair (US$3.3 million);
• Eternity (US$2.7 million);
• Hamnet (US$2.3 million);
• Predator: Badlands (US$1.9 million); and
• Merrily We Roll Along (US$1.2 million). AFP