Emily Blunt and the best selling novel it is based on delivered a healthy opening weekend for “The Girl on the Train.” A fall murder mystery, better than average, it will have hit right around $25, maybe $26 million by midnight tonight.

Opening wide, but not quite as wide, Nate Parker’s scandal-tainted “The Birth of a  Nation” didn’t set the world on fire. $7 million on over 2,000 screens isn’t terrible. It isn’t a movie that will gain screens, so Fox Searchlight probably won’t break even ($17.5 million for the rights) until the film hits video.

$6 million for “Middle School,” a kids’ film CBS films didn’t show to critics in advance.

Disney’s “Queen of Katwe” cracked the top ten.

“Denial,” the Holocaust bio-drama with Rachel Weisz did great per screen and rolls out wider Friday. Middling per screens for “American Honey,” a terrific but very long drama, which also rolls out wider this coming Friday.

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