'End of Watch' grabs first in close weekend

After a close race, End of Watch grabbed the first place spot with $13.2 million. Positive word-of-mouth fueled the cop drama, giving it an extra edge over its competitors. Hispanic audiences, who made up 32% of attendees, may have been drawn in part by co-star Michael Peña,
as well as the setting in Los Angeles, which has a large Hispanic community. Audiences also gave the movie an "A-" rating in CinemaScore exit polls, another reason for newbie distributor Open Road Films to celebrate.

In second place, The House at the End of the Street earned $12.2 million. Audiences gave the horror movie, which stars Oscar nominee Jennifer Lawrence, a "B" rating.

Trouble with the Curve was right behind in third with $12.1 million. The South and Midwest regions posted the highest returns for the Clint Eastwood-led picture, which is about
old-fashioned, non-Moneyball baseball scouting. Trouble's demographic should give the drama long playability, with plenty of people turning out in coming weeks as word spreads.

Earning half as much as the other three wide releases, Dredd 3D faltered with $6.3 million. The rub is that even a re-release, Finding Nemo 3D, did better, easily accruing a return of $9.4 million.

The Master made a bet by expanding from four to 788 locations in its second weekend. The bet didn't exactly pay off. Although the drama earned $5 million in seventh place, only 36% of locations earned more than $5,000, a sign
that a smaller release might have yielded higher per-screen averages. That being said, digital distribution is a lot cheaper than film prints, so perhaps that affected distribution plans.

The Perks of Being a Wallflower had an extremely strong opening of $244,000 on four screens, a per-screen average of $61,000. With a debut like that, there's no way this offbeat teen comedy will fade into the background.

This Friday, the well-received sci-fi picture Looper (read FJI's profile of the director here) leads the pack. Halloween starts early with the animated feature Hotel Transylvania, parents fight for better teaching in Won't Back Down, and college a capella gets its due in Pitch Perfect.