By Leonard Klady Klady@moviecitynews.com

The Weekend Report

The debut of Annabelle: Creation scared up an estimated $35.1 million to claim the box office crown in an otherwise largely downbeat session. Another recycle, The Nut Job 2: Nutty by Nature, saw its $8.7 million debut plunge more than 50% from the prior 2014 animated foray and the adaptation of Jeannette Walls’ confessional bestseller The Glass Castle bowed to a tepid $4.8 million.

Exclusive openers were led by dynamic starts for fest fave Ingrid Goes West with a $138,000 tally from three and the latterday Mean Streets-styled saga Good Time, which grossed $131,000 from four heists. Expansions for Wind River and Step saw the former breezing along with an impressive $638,000 while the latter faltered with a $281,000. Detroit also had a sharp downturn in its second weekend of national release.

In international day-and-dates, holidays in India saw a flood of new movies, led by Hindi Toilet: Ek Prem Katha with a solid $694,000 launch. Also buoyant was Telugu Nene Raju Nene Mantri with $363,000, while both LIE and VIP2 struggled to compete. Following the potent box office for Wolf Warrior 2, China’s Once Upon a Time entered the fray to good response of $253,000 while South Korean hit A Taxi Driver revved up a potent $317,000.

Following last weekend’s seasonal low revenues ebbed back a further 4% to about $120 million for the current frame. It was a 32% decline from 2016 when Sausage Party and Pete’s Dragon debuted respectively with $34.3 million and $21.5 million but Suicide Squad retained top spot with $43.5 million.

There are likely more malevolent than cuddly dolls in movie history dating back to the silent era, embracing Hugo (my favorite) in Dead of Nights, Fats in Magic and Chucky. Annabelle first popped up in The Conjuring before getting star billing in 2014. Her second haunting was expected to open to about $30 million but strong previews and Friday matinees indicated a more potent debut … closer to $40 million.

The film dipped into international waters last weekend with a solo Italian engagement that grossed $1.2 million. The weekend saw the addition of 38 overseas markets and a virtual carbon copy foreign to domestic result of $35 million. Indonesia led with a $3.9 million following by France at $2.9 million and Russia providing $2.3 million to the total.

Studio exit polls identified the crowd as tilting slightly female at 52% with 54% of the audience aged 25 and older.

Expectations for The Nut Job 2 weren’t exactly buoyant or good news for the beleaguered Open Road distribution outfit, with predictions spit-balling box office of $10-$12 million that erred on the optimistic.

Critical response was upbeat for The Glass Castle but industry tracking was lukewarm, with top end projections of $5 million. Potentially, it could have decent multiples via strong word of mouth and a general paucity of adult fare at the multiplex. Woman accounted for 80% of the opening audience and 76% of viewers were aged 25 and older.

Weekend (estimates) August 11 – 13, 2017
Title Distributor Gross (avg) % chng Thtrs Cume
Annabelle: Creation WB 35.1 (10,010) NEW 3502 35.1
Dunkirk WB 11.3 (3,010) -34% 3762 153.6
The Nut Job 2: Nutty by Nature Open Road/eOne 8.7 (2,180) NEW 4003 8.7
The Dark Tower Sony 7.8 (2,260) -59% 3451 34.2
The Emoji Movie Sony 6.5 (2,030) -46% 3219 63.5
Girls Trip Uni 6.5 (2,830) -43% 2303 97.2
Spider-Man: Homecoming Sony 6.1 (2,330) -31% 2607 306.4
Kidnap Aviron/eOne 5.1 (2,110) -49% 2418 19.3
The Glass Castle Lionsgate 4.8 (3,310) NEW 1461 4.8
Atomic Blonde Focus 4.6 (2,190) -44% 2093 42.8
War for the Planet of the Apes Fox 3.7 (1,750) -41% 2098 137.3
Despicable Me 3 Uni 3.1 (1,520) -44% 2013 247.7
Detroit Annapurna/eOne 2.9 (980) -59% 3007 13.4
Baby Driver Sony 1.5 (1,690) -43% 865 100.1
The Big Sick Lionsgate/Elevation 1.5 (2,100) -31% 709 36.4
Wonder Woman WB 1.5 (1,520) -36% 961 402.2
Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets STX/eOne .88 (1,120) -63% 785 38.3
An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power Par .79 (1,420) -17% 556 2.3
Toilet: Ek Prem Katha Reliance .69 (3,920) NEW 177 0.69
Wind River Weinstein Co. .64 (14,160) 293% 45 0.86
Wolf Warrior II Well Go .44 (8,500) -13% 52 1.9
Nene Raju Nene Mantri Magnus .36 (2,810) NEW 129 0.51
Cars 3 BV .35 (1,150) -34% 308 148.3
De Pere en Flic 2 Seville .35 (5,160) -39% 68 4.6
A Taxi Driver Well Go .32 (7,730) NEW 41 0.32
Finally Found Someone ABS .30 (4,580) -44% 65 1.2
Weekend Total ($500,000+ Films) $113.70
% Change (Last Year) -32%
% Change (Last Week) -4%
Also debuting/expanding
Step Fox Searchlight .28 (1,520) 92% 185 0.48
Once Upon a Time Well Go .25 (4.960) NEW 51 0.25
Menashe A24 .18 (3,910) 138% 47 0.41
Maudie Mongrel/Sony Classics .17 (1,030) -34% 163 5
LIE Cineparadiso .16 (1,640) 99 0.22
VIP2 CineGalaxy .16 (1,660) 96 0.18
The Battleship Island CJ .15 (4.050) -60% 38 0.91
Ingrid Goes West Neon .14 (45,900) 3 0.14
Good Time A24 .13 (32,820) 4 0.13
Landline Magnolia .13 (970) -43% 133 0.73
Lady Macbeth Roadside Attractions 86,400 (730) -47% 119 0.92
The Trip to Spain eOne/IFC 81,300 (4,780) 200% 17 0.13
The Midwife Music Box/MK2 77,200 (1,480) -8% 52 0.36
Jaya Janaki Nayaka CineGalaxy 74,600 (920) 81 0.09
The Little Hours Gunpowder & Sky 60,800 (1,010) -12% 60 1.4
The Only Living Boy in New York Roadside Attractions 55,600 (3,710) 15 0.06
Brigsby Bear Sony Classics 53,900 (1,460) 39% 37 0.17
Whose Streets? Magnolia 42,500 (1,770) 24 0.04
In This Corner of the World FunImation 20,100 (3,350) 6 0.02
The Nile Hilton Incident Strand 9,300 (4,650) 2 0.01
The Farthest Abramorana 7,200 (2,400) 3 0.01
Catastropic Palmera 6,900 (380) 18 0.01
Pilgrimage RLJ 5,400 (110) 47 0.01
Open Water 3: Cage Dive Lionsgate 3,100 (260) 12 0.01
Bedevilled FreeStyle 2,700 (2,700) 1 0.01
Domestic Market Share (January 2 – August 10, 2017)
Distributor (releases) Box Office Market Share
Buena Vista (8) 1374.9 19.50%
Universal (12) 1283.9 18.20%
Warner Bros. (18) 1124.2 15.90%
20th Century Fox (18) 972.6 13.80%
Sony (14) 679.6 9.60%
Lionsgate (14) 479.3 6.80%
Paramount (13) 384.6 5.40%
Focus (12) 97.3 1.40%
STX (6) 83.7 1.20%
Weinstein Co. (5) 63.3 0.90%
Entertainment (2) 46.4 0.65%
Fox Searchlight (7) 42.8 0.60%
Open Road (6) 41.8 0.60%
A24 (8) 38.3 0.55%
Other * (225) 345.8 4.90%
7058.5 100%
* none greater than 0.45%
Top Domestic Grossers (January 2 – August 10, 2017)
Titles Distributor Box Office
Beauty and the Beast BV 504,014,165
Wonder Woman WB 400,728,085
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 BV 388,621,948
Spider-Man: Homecoming Sony 300,353,694
Despicable Me 3 Uni 244,606,445
Logan Fox 226,277,068
The Fate of the Furious Uni 225,966,192
The Lego Batman Movie WB 175,969,510
Get Out Uni 175,589,248
The Boss Baby Fox 174,854,435
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales BV 171,453,090
Kong: Skull Island WB 168,583,087
Hidden Figures * Fox 167,050,622
Cars 3 BV 147,994,196
Dunkirk WB 142,307,551
Split Uni 138,280,171
War for the Planet of the Apes Fox 133,628,493
Transformers: The Last Knight Par 129,551,483
La La Land * Lionsgate 116,956,426
Fifty Shades Darker Uni 114,534,596
* does not include 2016 box office
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Leonard Klady's Friday Estimates
Friday Screens % Chg Cume
Title Gross Thtr % Chgn Cume
Venom 33 4250 NEW 33
A Star is Born 15.7 3686 NEW 15.7
Smallfoot 3.5 4131 -46% 31.3
Night School 3.5 3019 -63% 37.9
The House Wirh a Clock in its Walls 1.8 3463 -43% 49.5
A Simple Favor 1 2408 -50% 46.6
The Nun 0.75 2264 -52% 111.5
Hell Fest 0.6 2297 -70% 7.4
Crazy Rich Asians 0.6 1466 -51% 167.6
The Predator 0.25 1643 -77% 49.3
Also Debuting
The Hate U Give 0.17 36
Shine 85,600 609
Exes Baggage 75,900 62
NOTA 71,300 138
96 61,600 62
Andhadhun 55,000 54
Afsar 45,400 33
Project Gutenberg 36,000 17
Love Yatri 22,300 41
Hello, Mrs. Money 22,200 37
Studio 54 5,300 1
Loving Pablo 4,200 15
3-Day Estimates Weekend % Chg Cume
No Good Dead 24.4 (11,230) NEW 24.4
Dolphin Tale 2 16.6 (4,540) NEW 16.6
Guardians of the Galaxy 7.9 (2,550) -23% 305.8
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 4.8 (1,630) -26% 181.1
The Drop 4.4 (5,480) NEW 4.4
Let's Be Cops 4.3 (1,570) -22% 73
If I Stay 4.0 (1,320) -28% 44.9
The November Man 2.8 (1,030) -36% 22.5
The Giver 2.5 (1,120) -26% 41.2
The Hundred-Foot Journey 2.5 (1,270) -21% 49.4