“Insidious: Chapter 2” scared up a respectable $1.5 million from midnight and late Thursday night shows, according to studio estimates.
James Wan‘s sequel to his 2011 hit is expected to be the highest grossing film this weekend and is projected to earn as much as $30 million at the domestic box office. It will expand to 3,049 locations in North America on Friday.
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The film has earned lackluster reviews, earning a 41 percent “rotten” rating from the critics aggregation site Rotten Tomatoes.Despite the critical deficit, it should easily top the weekend’s other new wide-release, the Robert DeNiro and Michelle Pfeiffer mob comedy “The Family,” which analysts project will sputter out at just over $10 million.
Patrick Wilson and Rose Byrne reprise their roles from the original film, with the sequel finding the family continuing to be the target of paranormal unpleasantness.
The first “Insidious” had a strong afterlife on DVD and grossed $53 million domestically on a $1.5 million production budget. The studio did not release a production budget for the follow-up.