Time Warner's (TWX) "Sully" topped the U.S. box office in its second week of release, earning $22M over the September 18 weekend against expectations for $20M-$25M. The Tom Hanks-led biographical drama dipped just 38% from its $35M opening and has already reached a cumulative domestic total of $70.5M.

Box-Office Runners Up

Lionsgate's (LGF) "Blair Witch," a sequel to the 1999 found-footage horror film "The Blair Witch Project," debuted at $9.7M against a $20M forecast. The film received a D+ in audience polls from CinemaScore, holds a 37% approval rating on reviews aggregator RottenTomatoes, and was produced with a reported budget of $5M.

The weekend's second major release, Comcast's (CMCSA) romantic comedy sequel "Bridget Jones's Baby," also underperformed at $8.2M versus predictions of $13M-$15M. The film received a B+ in CinemaScore polls and holds a 78% approval rating on RottenTomatoes. Notably, "Bridget Jones" took $29.9M in foreign markets.

Rounding out the top five, AMC (AMC) and Regal's (RGC) "Snowden" opened at $8M, while Sony's (SNE) "Don't Breathe" added $5.6M in its fourth weekend.

Other publicly traded companies in filmmaking include Viacom (VIA), Fox (FOX) and Disney (DIS).