It wasn't quite enough to take down Pennywise the clown, but Jennifer Lopez and the scheming strippers of Hustlers topped even the high expectations they brought to the weekend box office, the AP reports. It: Chapter Two brought in $40.7 million in the US and Canada to keep the top spot in its second week and has earned a total of $153.8 million, according to studio estimates Sunday. The original, the biggest September release ever, had earned more than $200 million at the same point two years ago. Hustlers, riding stellar reviews, film-festival buzz, and Oscar talk for Lopez, earned $33.2 million, a record for a film from STX Entertainment, which was launched less than five years ago.
The film, budgeted at just $20 million, became the rare recent hit that was neither a sequel nor a reboot nor part of a series. It was also the biggest opening ever for a live-action Lopez film, and had numbers comparable to co-star Constance Wu's hit Crazy Rich Asians, whose long-term box office success could be a model for Hustlers. "This is exactly the kind of movie that every studio dreams of producing, because it's going to be profitable, prestigious and a long-term performer," says Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst for Comscore. Angel Has Fallen, starring Gerard Butler, was a distant third with $4.4 million, and has brought in $60.4 million in its four weeks of release. The week's other new release, The Goldfinch, landed with a thud, bringing in just $2.6 million.
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