Ben Affleck and Kevin Hart lead the R-rated weekend box office
It was a chill weekend for moviegoers, with an overall light turnout propelling The Accountant and Kevin Hart: What Now? to the top of the box office charts.
It's a rare one-two punch for R-rated movies leading the weekend. Domestic estimates for The Accountant currently stand at $24.7 million while Kevin Hart is at $12 million.
The latter's #2 position may change once the final tallies come in on Monday, as #3 placeholder The Girl on the Train is just $10,000 behind in current estimates. But that, too, is an R-rated feature. It's looking like a top-three lockdown for adults-only entertainment.
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Just don't make the mistake of thinking this was a strong weekend at the box office.
The Accountant's estimated total leaves it well outside the top 100 R-rated openings of all time. Earlier in 2016, Deadpool staked a dominant claim on that list's #1 spot, with a $132.4 million start soaring past the $91.8 million The Matrix Reloaded earned in 2003.
The rest of the top five is filled out by repeat business for Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children ($8.9 million estimated) and Deepwater Horizon ($6.4 million estimated).
The former is looking like a win for director Tim Burton, with north of $65 million in domestic ticket sales and close to double that in overseas sales, for a cumulative total of $165.2 million.
The latter's based-on-truth story is a more debatable success, with its estimated $77 million at the worldwide box office falling short of a reported $110 million budget.
Expect Hollywood's box office fortunes to improve soon. Tom Cruise returns next week for a sequel to Jack Reacher -- a movie that didn't explode immediately in 2012 but eventually amassed $212 million worldwide.
Tom Hanks leads Inferno the week after, continuing his successful run with the Robert Langdon/Da Vinci Code series. Angels & Demons, the 2009 predecessor to Inferno, grossed $486 million worldwide.
Topics Film
Adam Rosenberg is a Senior Games Reporter for Mashable, where he plays all the games. Every single one. From AAA blockbusters to indie darlings to mobile favorites and browser-based oddities, he consumes as much as he can, whenever he can.Adam brings more than a decade of experience working in the space to the Mashable Games team. He previously headed up all games coverage at Digital Trends, and prior to that was a long-time, full-time freelancer, writing for a diverse lineup of outlets that includes Rolling Stone, MTV, G4, Joystiq, IGN, Official Xbox Magazine, EGM, 1UP, UGO and others.Born and raised in the beautiful suburbs of New York, Adam has spent his life in and around the city. He's a New York University graduate with a double major in Journalism and Cinema Studios. He's also a certified audio engineer. Currently, Adam resides in Crown Heights with his dog and his partner's two cats. He's a lover of fine food, adorable animals, video games, all things geeky and shiny gadgets.
