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'No Good Deed,' 'Dolphin Tale 2' give bay area top weekend box office slots

 
"Dolphin Tale 2," filmed at the Clearwater Marine Aquarium and a few other locations in the bay area, came in No. 2 at the box office to another local film powerhouse, Will Packer, who produced  "No Good Deed," starring Idris Elba. Packer is a St. Petersburg High graduate. [Warner Bros.]
"Dolphin Tale 2," filmed at the Clearwater Marine Aquarium and a few other locations in the bay area, came in No. 2 at the box office to another local film powerhouse, Will Packer, who produced "No Good Deed," starring Idris Elba. Packer is a St. Petersburg High graduate. [Warner Bros.]
Published Sept. 15, 2014

Someone from Pinellas County was bound to win Hollywood's weekend box office race. The surprise was who finished on top: Will Packer, not Winter the dolphin.

Packer, a 1991 St. Petersburg High graduate turned Hollywood producer, scored his seventh No. 1 debut with No Good Deed, starring Idris Elba as an escaped murderer terrorizing a mother and her children. No Good Deed earned an estimated $24.5 million on 2,175 screens, despite a dismal 9 percent approval rating from critics on RottenTomatoes.com.

Dolphin Tale 2, chiefly filmed in Clearwater, was runnerup with $16.6 million on 3,656 screens. That's down 14 percent from the debut weekend of 2011's original Winter adventure. The sequel scored a 73 percent "fresh" rating at RottenTomatoes.com.

Steve Persall, Times movie critic