The premise of this cliched thriller is familiar: A stranger asks to use the phone: Car trouble, he explains.
Terri (Taraji P. Henson), a wife and mother of two, offers aid to an escaped convict (Idris Elba) who enters her home and soon terrorizes her family.
Playing the villain is a welcome change for Elba, who was last seen starring in the biopic “Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom.”
“No Good Deed,” The family in peril thriller, starring Idris Elba and Taraji P. Henson’s, holds the top spot at the box-office.
The Sony thriller opened to $8.8 million Stateside on Friday and is headed for a $24 to $25 million launch that will provide a much-needed boost to the historically low U.S. box office earnings.
The film, which carries a modest $13 million production budget, stands to benefit from targeting under-served African American audiences. It reunites Elba with his “Luther” TV show director, Sam Miller, and “Obsessed” producer, Will Packer, who is also behind the “Think Like a Man” franchise, which stars Henson. .