The new drama Prisoners, directed by Denis Villeneuve opened big at the box office on Friday, with estimated earnings of $7 million with potential earnings between $20 million and $22 million for the weekend.
The film has been received positively by critics and even though is a difficult matter to digest, audiences seemed to flock to watch Hugh Jackman and Jake Gyllenhaal do their thing.
Warner Bros. has been promoting the film in the last stages before release and even though the plot is not the easiest to digest audiences seem to like the film awarding it a B+ CinemaScore.
Prisoners is the story of two families who have their world turned upside down when their daughters are kidnapped from one of their homes on Thanksgiving Day.
Hugh Jackman plays a father who, after the abduction takes matters into his own hands when frustration sets in. He thinks not enough is being done to recover his little girl and he starts stalking the man he believes is responsible.
Prisoners’ box office numbers are not surprising, a strong cast, director, and excellent script all come together to make the long running time inconsequential with viewers and the R-rating didn’t seem to hurt it either.
An early Oscar contender after receiving praise at the Toronto International Film Festival, Prisoners is one of those films you won’t soon forget.
Insidious: Chapter 2 had a strong showing at number two and is expected to gross $17 million for the three day weekend. It is on track to do better than the original which raked in $13 million in 2010.
The dance movie Battle Of The Year comes in at number three with only $9 million, proving once again that the genre is not one for blockbusters.
In fourth place is Relativity’s The Family with $7 million, which despite the stellar cast, which includes Robert DeNiro, couldn’t overcome the poor opening weekend numbers. Rounding up the top five is Vin Diesel’s Riddick with $5 million.
Prisoners opened in 3,260 theaters, the most of any other film this weekend, according to Box Office Mojo .
