The Accountant racks up numbers

LOS ANGELES (AP):

Ben Affleck is still a box office draw outside of the bat suit. His new thriller The Accountant opened to a chart-topping US$24.7 million this weekend, according to studio estimates Sunday. Gavin O'Connor directed the R-rated thriller, starring Affleck as an autistic mathematician

The Accountant far surpassed Warner Bros.' early predictions for the film, which had it in the US$15 to US$20 million range.

The weekend's other new star-driven project, Kevin Hart: What Now?, narrowly took second place over last week's champ The Girl on the Train.

In third place, The Girl on the Train netted US$11.975 million for Universal, bringing its domestic total to US$46.6 million,

Holdovers Miss Peregrine's Home For Peculiar Children and Deepwater Horizon rounded out the top five with US$8.9 million and US$6.4 million respectively.

new opener

The weekend's other new opener, the Mattel-inspired Max Steel, bombed with only US$2.2 million. Open Road distributed the film starring Ben Winchell, which currently has a zero per cent on Rotten Tomatoes.

Overall, the year is still up 3.5 per cent, but the fall season is down from last year, according to box office tracker comScore.

Following are estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at US and Canadian cinemas, according to comScore.

1. The Accountant, US$24.7m (US$2.8m international).

2. Kevin Hart: What Now?, US$11.98 million.

3. The Girl on the Train, US$11.975m (US$7.8m international).

4. Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, US$8.9m (US$23.5m international).

5. Deepwater Horizon, US$6.4m (US$4.2m international).

6. Storks, US$5.6m (US$10.6 international).

7. The Magnificent Seven, US$5.2m (US$3.5m international).

8. Middle School: The Worst Years of My Life, US$4.3m.

9. Sully, US$3 (US$1.3m international).

10.The Birth of a Nation, US$2.7m.