Star power fuels ‘The Accountant’ to the top

LOS ANGELES - Ben Affleck’s star power, apparently undiminished after a rough run last year, helped “The Accountant” overcome anemic reviews to place No. 1 at the North American box office over the weekend. “The Accountant,” also starring Anna Kendrick, took in a sturdy $24.7 million, according to comScore, which compiles ticketing data. The movie cost Warner Bros. roughly $40 million to produce and tens of millions more to market. Critics may have been underwhelmed, but the studio noted that moviegoers gave “The Accountant” an A grade in CinemaScore exit polls. About 68 percent of ticket buyers were over 35 years old. The next two films tied. “Kevin Hart: What Now?” (Universal Pictures) arrived to about $12 million in tickets, a healthy result for a concert movie that cost about $10 million to make and was backed by a thrifty marketing campaign. “The Girl on the Train” (Universal) also collected about $12 million, for a two-week domestic total of $46.6 million. Also of note: “Max Steel” (Open Road), a science-fiction adventure based on a little-known Mattel action figure, managed to receive a 0 percent positive score on the RottenTomatoes review-aggregation meter and was an equal bomb with ticket buyers. It collected about $2.2 million. The “Max Steel” budget was unknown.

AP