‘The Accountant’ tops box office by wide margin

Actor Ben Affleck attends the premiere of Warner Bros Pictures’ “The Accountant” at TCL Chinese Theater on October 10, 2016 in Hollywood, California. AFP

WASHINGTON, United States — Financial thriller “The Accountant” tallied $24.7 million in earnings to score number one at the box office in its debut week, an industry group estimated Sunday.

The Warner Bros film centers on an autistic mathematics savant who capitalizes on his fondness for numbers by becoming an undercover forensic accountant for criminal organizations.

Starring Ben Affleck and Anna Kendrick, the film opened to mixed reviews but yielded more than forecasters expected.

Stand-up comedy flick “Kevin Hart: What Now?” by Universal drew in $11.98 million in its opening weekend, narrowly edging the psychological thriller “The Girl on the Train” to nab second place, according to Exhibitor Relations.

The third-place film took in $11.97 million, dropping from its first place finish last week. The Universal movie based on a best-selling novel stars Emily Blunt as a depressed, alcoholic divorcee who witnesses something odd as she rides a commuter train and ends up launching a missing persons investigation.

Tim Burton’s fantasy tale “Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children” fell to fourth with $8.9 million, cumulatively earning $65.8 million over three weeks.

Burton’s latest movie, from 20th Century Fox and Chernin Entertainment, tells the story of a headmistress (Eva Green) at an orphanage in Wales full of odd youngsters with magical powers.

Mark Wahlberg’s oil-rig thriller “Deepwater Horizon” from Lionsgate came in at number five with $6.4 million.

The film directed by Peter Berg and also starring Kurt Russell, John Malkovich, Kate Hudson and Gina Rodriguez follows the deadly 2010 Transocean and BP oil rig explosion and spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

Rounding out the top 10 films were:

“Storks” ($5.6 million)

“The Magnificent Seven” ($5.2 million)

“Middle School: The Worst Years of My Life” ($4.3 million)

“Sully” ($2.96 million)

“The Birth of a Nation” ($2.7 million) CBB