Adam Sandler will be smiling a little more broadly this weekend. Bruised after a couple of big box-office disappointments, he’s scored a new winner with the animated antics of Hotel Transylvania. Thanks in no small part to director Genndy Tartakovsky, the misadventures of Dracula and co. scored a decent $43 million according to studio estimates, which puts it firmly at the top of the US box office.
It’s a good week all round for Sony, which was also distributing Rian Johnson’s brain-twitching sci-fi thriller Looper. The Joseph Gordon-Levitt / Bruce Willis pic launched in second with $21.2 million, pushing End Of Watch down to third with $8 million. Clint Eastwood-starring baseball drama Trouble With The Curve was down to fourth and $7.5 million, while horror pic House At The End Of The Street was at the bottom of the top five, earning $7.1 million.
Arriving in sixth place might seem like a disappointment for a capella-com Pitch Perfect, but given that it launched on just 335 screens compared to, say 3,349 for Hotel Transylvania, it’s not a bad start by any means. The singing pic took in $5.2 million.
F****inding Nemo’s 3D re-release sank slightly to seventh with $4 million, while Resident Evil: Retribution was down to eighth and $3 million. The Master was ninth with $2.74 million and, squatting in tenth seemingly unable to drum up much interest, was crusading teacher drama Won’t Back Down, which made $2.7 million despite starting on 2,515 screens.
To go back in time and fight younger chart vampires, head to Box Office Mojo.