A crowded October field hits theaters this weekend, and all of it is chasing the same incumbent. Verity, the Colleen Hoover adaptation that opened to $62.1 million worldwide, holds the number-one spot at the North American box office — and the question for Friday is which newcomer comes closest to dislodging it.
The most ambitious challenger may be The Uprising, directed by Paul Greengrass — his twelfth film, returning to the kinetic territory of his Bourne entries — and starring Andrew Garfield alongside Jamie Bell. Greengrass’s name carries weight with older audiences, the demographic least served by the current chart and most likely to decide whether a mid-budget theatrical release lives or dies.
Also opening: A Prayer for the Dying, a directorial debut from Dara Van Dusen starring Johnny Flynn and John C. Reilly, and the Spanish-language and specialty titles California Schemin’ and Vampire Carnival filling out the specialty market. In Britain, Ha Chan, Shake Your Booty! joins the same two headline releases.
Last weekend’s top ten showed how fragmented the market has become: behind Verity sat a Resident Evil sequel at $12.5 million, a Paramount adventure at $11 million, an A24 title at $8 million, and the Tom Cruise feature Digger at $8 million — reportedly the star’s weakest opening in 19 years. With horror’s Other Mommy posting the strongest previews of the new class, the smart money says the champion survives the weekend. The fight, as usual, is for second place.
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