Box Office: ‘Magnificent Seven’ Rounds Up $12.7 Million on Friday

MGM and Columbia Pictures’ “The Magnificent Seven” is leading the weekend box office charge after lassoing $12.7 million on Friday at 3,674 locations. The film, from director Antoine Fuqua, is zeroing in on a $35 million opening.

The Western, which carries a $90 million price tag, features an ensemble cast including Denzel Washington, Chris Pratt, Ethan Hawke, Vincent D’Onofrio and Byung-Hun Lee. The film is co-financed by LStar Capital and Village Roadshow Pictures, and debuted on the Toronto Film Festival’s opening night. It carries an A- CinemaScore.

The last time Fuqua and Washington teamed up for “The Equalizer,” it opened with $34.1 million. Compared to other recent Westerns, “The Magnificent Seven” earned more than Tarantino’s “The Hateful Eight” which opened over Christmas weekend to $16.2 million. “Django Unchained” had a healthy $30.1 million opening in 2012.

“Storks,” from Warner Bros. Animation, takes second this weekend with $5.7 million Friday, and is flying toward a $20 million opening at 3,922 theaters. The animated film, led by Andy Samberg, currently has an A- CinemaScore and an A+ in the under 18 demo. It also has a Rotten Tomatoes score of 63%, which is almost dead even with “The Magnificent Seven’s” 64%.

Katie Crown, Kelsey Grammer, Keegan-Michael Key, Jordan Peele, Jennifer Aniston, Ty Burrell and Danny Trejo round out the voice cast of “Storks,” which is directed by Nicholas Stoller and Doug Sweetland. The film carries a $70 million production budget, which is about the same as the same studio’s “Lego Movie,” and Illumination’s “Secret Life of Pets,” but much lower than Pixar films which are regularly budgeted at between $175 and $200 million.

“Sully,” which has stayed on top of the box office for the past two weekends, falls to the third spot this weekend. After a $4.2 million Friday at 3,955 locations, the Tom Hanks film is eyeing a $13 — 14 million weekend.

Last week’s trio of relatively fruitless openings “Bridget Jones’s Baby,” “Blair Witch” and “Snowden” rounds out the top five this weekend in the aforementioned order. Universal’s threequel starring Renee Zellweger slightly edged out the other two with a $1.5 million Friday at 2,930 locations.

Broad Green is releasing Kate Winslet’s “The Dressmaker” in 36 theaters and Disney released “Queen of Katwe” starring David Oyelowo and Lupita N’yongo in 52 theaters. The former earned $53,000 on Friday and the latter, $82,000.