Abracadabra! The Magicians double Running Man at the US box office

Elusive 3 pulls off a nice trick by taking the lead in the American rankings, right under the nose of Edgar Wright’s muscular Running Man, who disappoints.

Tada!

Jesse Einsenberg pulled off a move that no one saw coming! The franchise Elusive 12-year-old film has made a spectacular return to American screens. Elusive 3 – released Wednesday in France – created a surprise by taking control of the US box office. For its first weekend in theaters, Now You See Me: Now You Don’t brought in $22 million. An excellent start for the Lionsgate studio, especially since no one would have bet on such excitement. Elusive 3 even got off to a better start than the second part (21 million in 2016) and is not that far from the first (29 million in 2013). Worldwide, the film has already grossed almost $80 million (for a budget of around $100 million).

Glen Powell pays the price for this sleight of hand. The reboot of the cult science fiction film from the 80s, carried at the time by Arnold Schwarzenegger, and adapted by Stephen King, did not manage to ride on its enormous worldwide promotion.

Paramount had pulled out all the stops to put Running Man in starting blocks. The forecasts thus aimed for a start beyond 20 million. But the momentum has evaporated in recent days. Edgar Wright’s film – which will be released this Wednesday in France – will ultimately open with around 17 million in American theaters, well below expectations. The shift was made, according to analysts, by the female public who preferred magicians to SF chases.

Third place in this US box office goes to Predator: BadlandsThe Hunter from 20th Century Studios loses its throne but keeps in good shape: it takes in a second weekend at 13 million dollars, a drop of 65%, for a cumulative total approaching 70 million in 3,725 American theaters.

Fourth position for romantic comedy Regretting Youadaptation of the novel by Colleen Hoover, which adds 4 million this weekend (-40%) for an American total of almost 50 million. A hell of a performance for the film with a budget of 30 million and which has grossed 80 million worldwide.

Finally, NEON launched this weekend The Chosen One (Keeper), the new horror film by Oz Perkins, on 1,950 screens. But the director of Longlegs missed its start, estimated at 2.6 million. A score lower than other Perkins titles distributed by NEON. However, thanks to its tight budget (6 million dollars for production, 4 for worldwide acquisition), the demonic behind closed doors worn by Tatiana Maslany still has the possibility of being profitable. The Chosen One will be released in France on December 10.