Madea scares up a storm with Halloween movie

Tyler Perry’s new comedy Boo 2! A Madea Halloween has scared its way to the top of the North American box office.
The sequel, written, directed by, and starring Perry as the titular character, easily spooked its way to number one with a $21.7 million (£16.5 million) take, although it grossed less in its opening weekend than last year’s (16) Boo! A Madea Halloween, which launched with $28.5 million (£21.6 million), according to The Associated Press.
Gerard Butler’s latest disaster epic, Geostorm, landed in a distant second place on the new box office chart, taking a disappointing $13.3 million (£10.1 million) against its $120 million (£91 million) budget.
The weather apocalypse movie suffered from a string of negative reviews, with critics blasting the film as “big, dumb and boring,” “dull-witted”, and “preposterous”, a further blow for first-time director Dean Devlin after having to do extensive reshoots costing $15 million (£11.4 million) following dismal initial test screenings in 2015.
Horror film Happy Death Day took third place with $9.4 million (£7.1 million) in its second weekend, while Blade Runner 2049 continued to draw the crowds, earning $7.2 million (£5.5 million) three weeks after its release.
Real-life firefighter movie Only the Brave, starring Josh Brolin, Miles Teller, Jeff Bridges, and Taylor Kitsch, rounded out the new top five at five with $6 million (£4.6 million).
Meanwhile, Michael Fassbender’s critically-panned crime thriller The Snowman melted into the background, only managing to debut in eighth place with a poor $3.4 million (£2.6 million).
There was better news for limited releases like Nicole Kidman and Colin Farrell’s mystery The Killing of a Sacred Deer, which grossed a promising $114,585 (£86,890), and Julianne Moore’s Wonderstruck, which earned $68,762 (£52,142). Both films were screened in just four theatres.