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Box Office Report: LAIKA’s ‘Boxtrolls’ Rakes in $35M Globally

Focus Features' 3D family offering ‘The Boxtrolls’ takes in $17.3 million for its North American debut, the best showing yet for animation house LAIKA; internationally the stop motion feature earns $5.1 million for a foreign total of $17.7 million and early worldwide cume of $35 million.

Denzel Washington's The Equalizer debuted to $35 million at the North American box office this weekend, one of the top September openings ever for an R-rated movie. Equalizer, reuniting Washington with Training Day director Antoine Fuqua, is based on the 1980s TV series created by Michael Sloan and Richard Lindheim. Overseas, the $55 million action thriller from Sony, Village Roadshow Pictures and LStar Capital earned an additional $17.8 million for a worldwide total of $52.8 million.

In second place, 20th Century Fox's YA adaptation The Maze Runner added $17.5 million for a 10-day total of $58 million and, based on this weekend's results, is now reportedly on track to earn between $95 and $105 million domestically. Overseas The Maze Runner won the international box office race, taking in an additional $27.5 million from 62 territories for an early worldwide total of $149 million.

Focus Features' 3D family offering The Boxtrolls was the weekend's other new nationwide entry, earning $17.3 million, the best showing yet for animation house LAIKA and a third place finish. The Portland-based studio’s two previous releases were Coraline, which debuted to $16.8 million in 2009, and ParaNorman, which saw a $14.1 million debut in 2012.

Internationally, where it rolled out early in several countries, The Boxtrolls earned another $5.1 million from 16 markets for a foreign total of $17.7 million and early worldwide cume of $35 million.

Directed by Anthony Stacchi and Graham Annable with a budget of $60 million, Boxtrolls' star-studded voice cast includes Ben Kingsley, Isaac Hempstead Wright, Elle Fanning, Dee Bradley Baker, Steve Blum, Toni Collette, Jared Harris, Nick Frost, Richard Ayoade, Tracy Morgan and Simon Pegg.

Shawn Levy's adult dramedy, This Is Where I Leave You, came in fourth place in its second weekend at the domestic box office, taking in $7 million for a total $22.6 million.

Fellow Warner Bros. release Dolphin Tale 2 took the number five spot in its third weekend with $4.8 million from 3,376 locations for a total of $33.7 million.

Screen Gems' Idris Elba thriller No Good Deed fell to number six in its third weekend, bringing in $4.6 million for a domestic total of $46.6 million.

Liam Neeson's action movie A Walk Among the Tombstones, produced by Cross Creek Pictures and distributed by Universal in the U.S., came in seventh place, earning $4.1 million for a domestic total of $20.9 million.

In eighth place, James Gunn’s Guardians of the Galaxy made $3.8 million for Disney and Marvel for a domestic total of $319.2 million. Overseas, the tentpole feature has made $325.1 million to date for a worldwide total of $644.3 million.

Twentieth Century Fox’s buddy action comedy Let’s Be Cops came in ninth place, bringing in $1.5 million over its seventh weekend at the domestic box office for a total of $79.6 million.

Rounding out the list at number 10 is Paramount’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Now in its seventh week at the North American box office, the film made $1.45 million for a domestic total of $187.2 million. Overseas the film has made $154.9 million for a worldwide total of $342.1 million.

Elsewhere, EuropaCorp’s Lucy extended its remarkable run this weekend, adding $11.1 million for a total of $269.1 million. The sci-fi thriller opened in first place in Italy with an impressive $3.2 million. By Thursday or Friday, Lucy will have passed $400 million worldwide.

Box office numbers were obtained on boxofficemojo.com.

Jennifer Wolfe's picture

Formerly Editor-in-Chief of Animation World Network, Jennifer Wolfe has worked in the Media & Entertainment industry as a writer and PR professional since 2003.