Box Office Battle: Western remake 'Magnificent Seven' hits $35M opening weekend

Sony's (SNE) "The Magnificent Seven" earned $35M in its U.S. debut over the September 25 weekend, underperforming against estimates of $44.5M-$48M. The film, a Denzel Washington and Chris Pratt-led remake of the 1960 western classic, received an A- in audience polls from CinemaScore, holds a 62% approval rating on reviews aggregator RottenTomatoes, and was produced with a reported budget of $90M. In foreign markets, "Magnificent Seven" took $19.2M. BOX OFFICE RUNNERS-UP: Time Warner's (TWX) "Storks," the weekend's other major release, opened at $21.8M against expectations for $32M-$33M. The animated feature from the studio behind "The Lego Movie" scored A- in CinemaScore polls and holds a RottenTomatoes rating of 64%. Meanwhile, Time Warner's "Sully" added $13.8M in its third weekend of release while Comcast's (CMCSA) "Bridget Jones's Baby" grossed $4.5M in the U.S. and a notable $21.9M in international territories. Rounding out the top five, AMC (AMC) and Regal's (RGC) "Snowden" earned $4M. Other publicly traded companies in filmmaking include Viacom (VIA), Fox (FOX) and Disney (DIS).