The Weekend Report

Alien: Covenant edged ahead of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 with an estimated $36.1 million to make off with a wobbling weekend box office crown. Teen romantic drama Everything, Everything won a distant third with $11.8 million and the latest episode of the Wimpy Kid franchise, the appropriately-entitled The Long Haul, bowed with a limpy $7.1 million.

International day-and-date releases featured new Indian imports that could not usurp Baahubali 2, including Hindi Half Girlfriend and Telugu Keshava, with barely OK openings Exclusive newcomers included solo flights of the claustrophobe Wakefield and the Steve James’ nonfiction Abacus: Small Enough to Jail registering a modest pulse.

Revenues topped $125 million and ebbed back 9% from last weekend. It was a carbon-copy 9% erosion from 2016 when the opening of The Angry Birds Movie pushed ahead of Captain America: Civil Wars with respective three-days of $38.2 million and $32.9 million.

Alien: Covenant, a prequel and a sequel, was expected to lead weekend ticket buys, altough tracking suggested a debut in the low $40 million. The film got a jumpstart internationally a week ago with a $40.1 million burst from 34 markets. A:C expanded to 76 territories (with only China and Japan remaining) and an estimated $30 million. Top new openings included $4.4 million in Russia and Germany grossing $2.3 million.

On the domestic side the film drew a 62% male audience. Studio tracking identified the audience as 66% aged 25 and older with 60% at 18-34.

Although targeted to the same crowd as Me Before You, Everything, Everything was not expected to equal the earlier film’s appeal. Still, it readily exceeded predictions of an $8-$9 million debut. Based on a YA novel, the tale of a sensitive girl, allergic to a laundry list of organic and synthetic substances, and the shut-in breaking out and finding romance. Unsurprisingly the film tilted 82% female with 74% of the crowd aged 25 and younger.

Jeff Kinney’s Wimpy Kid books debuted on screen back in 2010 and the current effort (following a five-year hiatus) is the fourth on the big screen. A surprising choice for a reboot with a complete cast overhaul, it failed to meet even modest expectations of a $10-$12 million bow. The landscape for ancillares has also changed for the worse in the past half decade, so the Heffley’s future is apt to shift to a more modest scale. Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Long Haul had a 59% female audience with 60% of viewers aged 25 and younger. That younger crowd was 57% male and 83% of ticket buyers identified as families.

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