Goosebumps is killing it at the box office this weekend , without actually killing anyone, of course. This is PG-rated "horror" after all.
The Jack Black movie, based on those R.L. Stine books that everybody checked out from their school library in the '90s, earned $23.5 million in its debut weekend, according to the Sunday studio estimates. That was enough to knock The Martian down into second place as that movie brought in $21.5 million this weekend and is approaching the $150 million mark.
With just a couple weeks to go until Halloween, Goosebumps' success is showing that the power of '90s nostalgia is real, even outweighing the power of legit horror films that usually dominate this time of year. For example, Guillermo del Toro's new one, Crimson Peak, opened weaker than expected with only $12.6 million in its debut weekend.
The Associated Press reports that figure as one of the lowest openings in del Toro's career, going all the way back to the release of Mimic in 1997.
Even a Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks combo wasn't good enough for No. 1 this week. The cold war thriller Bridge of Spies opened in second place with just over $15 million.
