M. Night Shyamalan’s horror tale “The Visit” did better than expected in its debut at the box office Friday, but was upstaged by the stalker saga “The Perfect Guy.”
The thriller starring Sanaa Lathan, Michael Ealy and Morris Chestnut was heading for the weekend crown with around $25 million for Sony Screen Gems, after taking in nearly $10 million from 2,221 theaters on its first day. “The Visit” was in more theaters at 3,069, but came in just behind it with $9.3 million Friday, and the chiller written, directed and bankrolled by Shyamalan was looking at an estimated $21.6 million in its first weekend for Universal Pictures.
The strong showing by “The Perfect Guy” will give its second straight No. 1 film and is a repeat of last year when the studio had the top film with “No Good Deed,” another thriller aimed at African-American audiences, on this same weekend. And it prevents a seventh No. 1 opening this year for Universal, which has been on an historic hot streak in 2015. “The Perfect Guy” received an “A-” CinemaScore from audiences and “The Visit” got a “B-.”
Click here to read more about the top box office draws this weekend.