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 |