Tom Hanks Inferno On Track To Win Weekend Box Office

The most recent Dan Brown adaptation is living up to its namesake, as Inferno is seeing its box office numbers go up in flames, at least domestically speaking.

The third entry in the Dan Brown series, which includes the original The Da Vinci Code and Angels and Demons, was only able to bring in $5.6 million at the box office on Friday. At this rate, it's on track for a domestic debut of $15.9 million, a severe dropoff from the last installment (via Variety).

If it's not careful, last week's champ Boo! A Madea Halloween could overtake it with a stellar rest of the weekend. As it stands, though, the film should come in right underneath Inferno, as it pulled in another $4.6 million on Friday with an expected weekend take of $15 million. Still, it's not like Tyler Perry's Madea franchise hasn't knocked out top talent before, as last week it took the number one spot against Tom Cruise and his sequel Jack Reacher: Never Go Back.

The Jack Reacher sequel added another $2.9 million to its total on Friday and looks to hover around $9.1 million for the weekend. Along with Inferno, Jack Reacher has also disappointed at the box office, at least in comparison to the original. If current tracking holds up, it will have only pulled in around $39.3 million in its second week.

It should be noted however that while Inferno has disappointed here in the states, it has cruised to over $100 million already, which is good since it had a budget of $75 million. Each entry in the franchise has undergone a drop in box office, but this latest one is far from the $77 million dollars opening the original Da Vinci Code enjoyed. There are a litany of reasons the film is not enjoying the same success, but the most prevalent theory is that there is little one can do to match the hype of the first installment, as the book upon which it was based was highly controversial at the time and drew audiences en masse.

It also doesn't help that the Inferno novel received a rather mixed reception when it was released, and so the film was already digging itself out of a hole.