LOS ANGELES / NEW YORK: Low-budget horror sequel Insidious: Chapter 2 grabbed moviegoers searching for a Friday the 13th scare, winning the US and Canadian box office race over Robert De Niro crime comedy The Family. While the movie only cost a mere $5 million to make, it pulled in more than $41 million in ticket sales in its first three days, according to studio estimates on Sunday. The fright flick stars Patrick Wilson and Rose Byrne, reprising their roles as Josh and Renai Lambert, a husband and wife who seek to unearth the secret that has left them dangerously tied to the spirit world.
About $20 million came on its Friday the 13th release date. The film is the second-biggest September debut of all-time, preceded only by the $42.5 million debut of Sony’s Hotel Transylvania last year, according to Forbes. Insidious 2 also did more than three times the business of the first Insidious, which debuted at $13.3 million in April 2011.
The Family finished in second place with $14.5 million over the weekend. The crime comedy, starring Robert De Niro, Michelle Pfeiffer and Tommy Lee Jones, features De Niro as a mob boss, whose family relocates to France under the witness protection programmme, leaving chaos in their wake.
Last weekend’s box office champ, sci-fi sequel Riddick, fell to third place with $7 million in ticket sales, with a total earning of $31.3 million in 10 days. The movie stars Vin Diesel as an intergalactic traveler who can see in the dark. Riddick proved to be a hit merely for one weekend, with sales dropping by a staggering 63% in its second weekend.
Privately held FilmDistrict released Insidious: Chapter 2. The Family was distributed by privately held Relativity Media, and Riddick was released by Universal Pictures, a unit of Comcast Corp.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 17th, 2013.
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