Sunday Update: The horror sequel repeated on top, but the second place crime comedy opened at the highest ends of expectations — and potentially set up a rise to first place next frame.

Warner Bros.’ It: Chapter Two fell -56.5% in its sophomore frame, a sharper drop than its predecessor’s -51.3%. But the film still claimed the number one spot for a second weekend.

STX’s Hustlers opened with $33.1M, near the top of pre-release projections, for the runner-up spot.

Considering how steeply It is falling, how positive the word of mouth is for Hustlers at 87% currently on Rotten Tomatoes, and next weekend’s releases not expecting to break out of the low-20M range, it might be possible Hustlers could experience the rare rise to #1.

Warner Bros.’ drama The Goldfinch, on the other hand, debuted below essentially all pre-release projections with a $2.6M start for eighth place.

Roadside Attractions’ The Peanut Butter Falcon finally rose into the box office top 10 in its sixth weekend, after a gradual nationwide rollout. The film took ninth place with $1.8M.

Comparisons

Total box office this weekend was $110.3M.

That’s -20.3% below last weekend, but +1.1% above this same weekend last year, when The Predator led with $24.6M.

Year-to-date box office stands at $8.12B. That’s -6.0% behind this same date last year, up from -6.1% after last weekend.

Sunday Update: It: Chapter Two may have won the weekend frame with an estimated $40.7 million in its sophomore outing, but the real story this weekend was the crime drama Hustlers, which overperformed to a spectacular $33.2 million, in the process becoming both the biggest opening of star Jennifer Lopez’s career and a record debut for its distributor STX, far surpassing its previous best performer Bad Moms ($23.8 million opening). The weekend’s other wide release, Warner Bros.’ The Goldfinch, unfortunately wasn’t so lucky.

Finishing in first once again, It: Chapter Two dropped 55% from its strong $91 million bow last weekend. That’s a slightly sharper dip than its predecessor, which fell 51% in its second weekend with $60.1 million. The horror sequel now has $153.8 million domestically after ten days of release, pacing it 30% behind the first installment, which had taken in a whopping $218.8 million by the same point in its run.

Not far behind in second place was Hustlers, which rode a wave of sensational reviews and buzz out of the Toronto Film Festival to a breakout performance. Critics love the film—it currently holds a 87% average on Rotten Tomatoes—and moviegoers seem to have been more or less enjoying it as well, awarding it a B- Cinemascore and a RT Audience Score of 74%.

In addition to strong critical notices, the film’s star-studded and very of-the-moment cast of women includes pop stars Cardi B and Lizzo as well as Crazy Rich Asians star Constance Wu, helping propel the film with a diverse audience, including female moviegoers (which made up 67% of the opening weekend audience) and people of color (26% African American and 27% Hispanic). With a modest $20 million budget, the STX release—which is based on a New York Magazine article—is well on its way to profitability and has potential to play well through the rest of the fall season—particularly with awards buzz already swirling around Lopez. The studio’s release touting Hustlers’ opening weekend number noted that the film’s cast have a combined 318 million followers across social media platforms, which also helped generate excitement for the film.

In third, the action threequel Angel Has Fallen declined a very modest 27% to an estimated $4.4 million, bringing the total for the Lionsgate release to $60.3 million through the end of its fourth weekend. The Gerard Butler vehicle continues to pace ahead of its predecessor London Has Fallen, which had taken in $55.7 million by the same point in its run.

Fourth place went to leggy comedy Good Boys, which eased just 22% in its fifth weekend of release to an estimated $4.2 million. The Universal release now has $73.3 million in its coffers, making it one of the highest-grossing pure comedies of the year to date.

Disney’s The Lion King finished in fifth place with an estimated $3.6 million, giving the remake a domestic cume of $534 million. It is now the 12th highest-grossing release of all time in North America, having surpassed Rogue One: A Star Wars Story ($532.1 million) over the weekend.

Universal’s Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw brought in an estimated $2.77 million in sixth place, bringing its domestic total to $168.3 million through the end of its seventh weekend. Sony/Affirm’s Overcomer finished in seventh place with an estimated $2.73 million, bringing the faith-based drama’s total to $28.9 million through the end of its fourth weekend.

Finishing way down in eighth place was Warner Bros.’ The Goldfinch, which debuted to just $2.64 million from 2,542 theaters. The adaptation of Donna Tartt’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, which debuted at this year’s Toronto Film Festival, garnered a dismal 25% average on Rotten Tomatoes—a particularly damaging number for a prestige release, where audiences are more likely to pay attention to reviews. The debut came in far below industry expectations, including the studio, which had projected an opening in the high single to low double digits going into the weekend.

The Peanut Butter Falcon added 180 screens this weekend and finished in ninth place with an estimated $1.92 million in its sixth weekend (fourth in wide release), bringing the total for the Roadside Attractions comedy to $15 million.

Dora and the Lost City of Gold rounded out the Top 10 with an estimated $1.85 million, bringing the total for the Paramount release to $56.7 million through the end of its sixth weekend.

Overseas Update:

It: Chapter Two was also the No. 1 film globally for the second weekend in a row, bringing in an estimated $47 million this weekend. That brings the international tally to $169.5 million and the worldwide total to $323.3 million.

The feature-film continuation of Downton Abbey opened in 17 markets this weekend with $11.7 million, including $6.3 million in the U.K. The Focus Features release will unroll in several more markets next weekend, including the U.S.

Once Upon a Time in Hollywood became the second highest-grossing film of Quentin Tarantino’s career worldwide this weekend with an estimated $8.4 million overseas, bringing its global total to $329.4 million. His highest-grossing release remains 2012’s Django Unchained, which finished its run with a global tally of $425.3 million.

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