At least we know whodunnit.

"its first week. It seriously just copied and pasted its own opening weekend. That's amazing.

Good for them. It also bodes well for the sequel now in development.

Bad for "The Happytime Murders."

The R-rated puppet crime comedy and the PG-13 romantic comedy may not have been competing for the same audience, but they played in close to the same number of theaters, and only one of them walked away with much of an audience at all. "Happytime" debuted with only $10 million from 3,256 theaters, taking third place in its opening weekend.

DOA.

"Happytime" was made on a reported $40 million production budget and it hasn't been embraced by critics or viewers, earning a "C-" Cinemascore. It'll probably end up a cult classic, but for now it's an open wound.

The film is Brian Henson, son of Muppets creator Jim Henson.

"last week's top two. The shark bait nabbed another $13 million from 4,031 theaters.

With "Happytime" in third, fourth went to "Slender Man."

The PG robotic dog adventure film "A.X.L." -- which had a reported production budget of $10 million -- opened at $2.9 million. It was the only other new movie to make the top 10, even with that small take. It opened in 1,710 theaters, with a $1,719 per-screen average, which is about the same as "Mile 22," but the lowest of all films opening this weekend. "A.X.L" clearly disappointed.

The other two new movies this week -- "Searching" -- took 16th and 21st respectively, but had much more limited releases.

"Papillon" made $1.15 million from 544 theaters, and "Searching" impressed with $360,000 from only nine theaters. That's a fantastic $40,000 per-screen average for John Cho's film. (For comparison, "Crazy Rich Asians" topped this week's chart with a per-screen average of $7,093.)

"Searching" goes wide next Friday, hot off this strong limited opening and equally strong reviews.

What's next?

In addition to "Searching," a bunch of new releases will arrive to close out August -- including "Destination Wedding" on August 31.

[Via: Deadline, Box Office Mojo]

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