'Sully' wins the weekend box office for a second-straight week
Taking in an estimated $22 million this weekend (according to The Hollywood Reporter), the movie is the latest directorial hit for Eastwood, following the success of his 2014 release "American Sniper," and likely will garner Hanks another best actor nomination for his powerful performance.
Newcomers "Snowden," Bridget Jones's Baby" and "Blair Witch" all had the potential of having big openings with their established names and most general audiences knowing what they were about, however all three underperformed despite being widely released across the country.
"Blair Witch," the first true sequel to 1999's found-footage monumental hit "The Blair Witch Project," took in an estimated $9.7 million to come in second. A disappointment for Lionsgate as it released the film on over 3,000 screens, but with a budget of $5 million, it still made its money back (for the production of the movie at least).
In third, "Bridget Jones's Baby" returns Renée Zellweger to her famous character. But audiences weren't into the third film in the franchise as it only took in $8.2 million.Then Oliver Stone's "Snowden," which looked at NSA whistle blower Edward Snowden (played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt), came in fourth with $8 million. Split by critics with a 58% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, the movie's attempt to bring a thriller feel to Snowden's acts didn't grab audiences.
The box office should get a nice surge next week with anticipated titles like "The Magnificent Seven" and animated movie "Storks" hitting theaters.