‘Hustlers' Surprises Weekend Box-Office with $33M Opening; ‘The Goldfinch' Bombs.

“It: Chapter Two” managed to keep its reign at the top spot of the box-office with a $41 million weekend intake. The Andy Muschietti-directed sequel has managed to become a blockbuster hit with close to $153 million in receipts since its opening more than 14 days ago — all this despite less-than-stellar reviews and the fact that it has a three hour runtime.

However, it was the Jennifer Lopez-starring “Hustlers” which surprised tracking experts, opening with a stronger-than-expected$33 million. The film, directed by Lorene Scafaria, was helped by strong reviews and a buzzed-upon TIFF premiere last week. I decided to skip the screening of “Hustlers” at Toronto, mostly due to the film conflicting with “A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood” on the Saturday schedule. However, it’s not like I didn’t try to catch up with it, I was about to watch it at an additional press screening a few days later but the air conditioning at the Scotiabank theater stopped working and they had to cancel that screening.

Meanwhile, another TIFF-premiered movie, “The Goldfinch,” only grossed $2.64 million in its opening three days. Based on the Pulitizer Prize-winning and bestselling novel, director John Crowley’s movie had a stellar cast which included Nicole Kidman and Anson Elgort, butth it mustered up terrible reviews — audiences for these kind of films usually look to reviews in their decisions as to whether they should buy a ticket or not. “The Goldfinch” currently sits at a 41 Metascore and a 25% rotten score. Yikes.

1. It Chapter Two (Warner Bros.) $40,735,000
2. Hustlers (STX) $33,230,000
3. Angel Has Fallen (Lionsgate) $4,400,000
4. Good Boys (Universal) $4,260,000
5. The Lion King (Disney) $3,555,000
6. Hobbs & Shaw (Universal) $2,770,000
7. Overcomer (Sony) $2,735,000
8. The Goldfinch (Warner Bros.) $2,640,000
9. The Peanut Butter Falcon (Roadside Attractions) $1,921,000
10. Dora and the Lost City of Gold (Paramount) $1,850,000