• by Wayne Friedman , Yesterday

Sony Pictures/Lionsgate’s “Now You See Me: Now You Don’t” worked some magic to ascend to the top of the mid-November weekend -- besting the bigger-budgeted “Running Man” from Paramount.

The third installment of the movie about thieving magicians, named "The Four Horsemen," took in $21.3 million domestically -- higher than the bigger studio effort of Paramount Pictures’ “The Running Man” at $17 million, according to Comscore.

Analysts say the difference was the demographic makeup of the two films: "Now You See Me” pulled in 54% of all box-office tickets sold in the U.S. and Canada from female consumers.

By contrast, "The Running Man" took in 64% male consumers, but had to compete with another male-focused film -- "Predator: Badlands” in its second week of release. Walt Disney/20th Century Studios’ “Badlands” came in third with $13 million.

“Now You See Me” also outperformed “Running Man” internationally -- at $54.2 million versus $11.2 million.

In national TV ad-spending efficiency, “Now You See Me” also topped “Running Man," with a $6.51 million budget on a slim 529 airings with a modest 706.7 million impressions, according to estimates from EDO Ad EnGage.

By contrast, “Running Man” came in at $15.3 million -- with 3,890 airings and 1.98 billion impressions.