Ding-dong! ‘Blair Witch’ appears to be dead at the box office

“Blair Witch,” the sequel to the 1999 found-footage horror phenomenon, likely won’t scare “Sully” out of first place at the box office this weekend.

The third film in the Lionsgate horror franchise, “Blair Witch” earned $4 million at the box office Friday, putting it on track to gross an underwhelming $9.4 million for the weekend, after opening on more than 3,000 screens.

Critics panned “Blair Witch,” which was made for less than $10 million, and audiences are turning up their noses at it, too, giving the film a D+ Cinemascore. Heading into the weekend, some expected the film to gross as much as $19 million in ticket sales from the U.S. and Canada through Sunday.

As it stands, “Blair Witch” will have little chance to catch Warner Bros.’ true-life hero tale, “Sully,” which collected $6.5 million Friday, on its way to a likely $21.76 million in its second week of release. The Tom Hanks vehicle, directed by Clint Eastwood, looks likely to drop just 38% in its second weekend, largely by attracting older audiences to theaters. The film took in $35 million last weekend.

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“Sully” also seems to be robbing audiences from Universal’s “Bridget Jones’s Baby,” which earned $3.04 million Friday, heading to a third place, $8.7 million opening weekend, a figure roughly in line with the mediocre opening for the second film in the Renee Zellwellger franchise, 2004’s “Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason.”

In fourth place, Open Road’s “Snowden,” Oliver Stone’s biographical thriller about the computer professional who leaked classified information, collected $3.02 million Friday, on its way to an $8.5 million opening weekend.

Also among new releases, “Hillsong — Let Hope Rise,” a faith-based documentary from PureFlix, earned $628,000 Friday, placing it on track to collect $1.87 million this weekend.

rebecca.keegan@latimes.com

Follow me on Twitter for more movie news: @thatrebecca

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