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Low-budget chiller “Ouija” scared up the most ticket sales this weekend, but the strength of Keanu Reeves’ “John Wick” was the biggest box office surprise.
“Ouija” benefited from audiences looking to get into the Halloween spirit by topping charts with $20 million from 2,858 locations. The brain child of Michael Bay’s Platinum Dunes and “Paranormal Activity” maestro Jason Blum, “Ouija” cost less than $5 million to produce, setting Universal Pictures, the studio behind the seance horror film, up for some enviable profit margins.
It marks the seventh of Blum’s micro-budgeted horror films to open in first place.
“He just does it over and over and over again,” said Nikki Rocco, Universal’s distribution chief.
“Ouija’s” PG-13 rating helped the film broaden its appeal to younger, female audiences. The picture’s opening weekend crowd was 75% under the age of 25 and 61% female.
“Marketing knew exactly what audience they were going after and they nailed it, »
- Brent Lang
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