By Leonard Klady Klady@moviecitynews.com
The Weekend Report
On Her Majesty’s Movie Service
The debut of the intrepid Kingsman: The Golden Circle led weekend movie going with an estimated $38.7 million. The session featured two other national newcomers. The Lego Ninjago Movie ranked third with an animated $20.9 million while the horror potboiler Friend Request had a slow burn of $2.2 million
In limited national exposure the inspirational Stronger muscled $1.7 million. Indian imports perked up following a recent downturn with solid bows for the Telugu Jai Lava Kusa of $763,000 and a $353,000 start for the Hindi Nikka Zalidar 2. The initial expansion of Brad’s Status generated a soft $1 million tally.
Exclusive bows with an eye to awards glory saw both Battle of the Sexes and Victoria & Abdul steeping out on a strong footing. The tennis tale grossed $523,000 at 21 serves and the covert history of another court launched with $151,000 from four screens.
Revenues for the frame butted up to about $120 million and improved on the prior weekend by 8%. It was a 17% boost from 2016 when debuts of The Magnificent Seven and Storks topped the charts with respective openings of $34.7 million and $21.3 million.
Pundits gave the second installment of Kingsman a clear edge in the marketplace with predictions in the area of $40 million. While it narrowly missed the benchmark it scored strong critical response with many citing it as an improvement on the original. The domestic crowd skewed 58% male with 65% of viewers aged 25-years older and maturer.
The film also opened day-and-date in 64 international markets and had a formidable estimated gross just north of $60 million. The UK led the charge with $11.1 million while its Russian adversary countered with $6 million. Other top markets included Taiwan with $4.8 million and Australia down over with $4.3 million.
The verdict for The Lego Ninjago Movie was diminishing returns. However a week out they were seen in the area of minimally $30 million and the studio’s Sunday response was noticeably quiet. The pieces didn’t appear to click and for the uninitiated Ninjago translated into “nonsense.” Viewers skewed modestly male at 52% with a carbon copy 52% aged 25-years and older.
Despite recent rollbacks at Lego HQ in Denmark the Ninjago movie was launched in 37 foreign climes to an estimated $10.5 million. Russia was in the forefront with $1.7 million with Germany grossing $1.1 million. The UK opens next month.
The German production Friend Request was shot in English with an eye to global marketing. It opened on home turf almost two years ago and circled most of the orb prior to its belated North American landing. It was expected to open around $5 million or $6 million and fell conspicuously short of that target.
| Weekend (estimates) September 22 – 24, 2017 | |||||
| Title | Distributor | Gross (avg) | % chng | Thtrs | Cume |
| Kingsman: The Golden Circle | Fox | 38.7 (9,670) | NEW | 4003 | 38.7 |
| It | WB | 29.8 (7,440) | -50% | 4007 | 266.2 |
| The Lego Ninjago Movie | WB | 20.9 (5,170) | NEW | 4047 | 20.9 |
| American Assassin | CBS | 6.3 (1,990) | -58% | 3154 | 26.2 |
| Home Again | Open Road/eOne | 3.3 (1,220) | -37% | 2685 | 22.3 |
| mother! | Par | 3.2 (1,370) | -57% | 2368 | 13.4 |
| Friend Request | Entertainment | 2.2 (840) | NEW | 2569 | 2.2 |
| The Hitman’s Bodyguard | Lionsgate/VVS | 1.8 (900) | -49% | 2037 | 73.6 |
| Stronger | Lionsgate | 1.7 (2,990) | NEW | 574 | 1.7 |
| Wind River | Weinstein/VVS | 1.3 (880) | 51% | 1431 | 31.7 |
| Spider-Man: Homecoming | Sony | 1.1 (1,070) | -42% | 1006 | 331.9 |
| Brad’s Status | Annapurna | 1.0 (2,220) | 1009% | 450 | 1.1 |
| Leap! | Weinstein Co. | .96 (740) | -56% | 1301 | 20.3 |
| Jai Lava Kusa | US Telugu | .76 (4,260) | NEW | 179 | 2 |
| Annabelle: Creation | WB | .71 (1,040) | -70% | 682 | 101.1 |
| Dunkirk | WB | .59 (870) | -54% | 678 | 186.3 |
| Battle of the Sexes | Fox Searchlight | .52 (24,910) | NEW | 21 | 0.52 |
| Despicable Me 3 | Uni | .51 (950) | -40% | 539 | 261.8 |
| The Emoji Movie | Sony | .43 (750) | -57% | 573 | 84.6 |
| Wonder Woman | WB | .36 (1,010) | -46% | 355 | 412 |
| Nikka Zalidar 2 | Grand Showbiz | .35 (7,840) | NEW | 45 | 0.35 |
| Logan Lucky | Bleecker/eOne | .26 (660) | -74% | 397 | 27.5 |
| War for the Planet of the Apes | Fox | .26 (850) | -25% | 306 | 146.3 |
| Girls Trip | Uni | .23 (730) | -60% | 313 | 114.8 |
| The Dark Tower | Sony | .22 (620) | -71% | 358 | 50.4 |
| Baby Driver | Sony | .22 (870) | -27% | 252 | 107.4 |
| Weekend Total ($500,000+ Films) | $106.42 | ||||
| % Change (Last Year) | 17% | ||||
| % Change (Last Week) | 8% | ||||
| Also debuting/expanding | |||||
| Victoria & Abdul | Focus | .15 (38,170) | 4 | 0.15 | |
| Rebel in the Rye | IFC | 76,300 (890) | -24% | 81 | 0.26 |
| Les Rois mongols | Telefiction | 59,400 (1,750) | 34 | 0.06 | |
| Bhoomi | B4U | 49,700 (1,340) | 37 | 0.05 | |
| The Tiger Hunter | KVH | 37,100 (860) | 43 | 0.04 | |
| Woodshock | A24 | 13,500 (4,500) | 3 | 0.01 | |
| Unrest | Shella | 10,900 (10,900) | 1 | 0.01 | |
| The Tag-Along 2 | Crimson Forest | 10,300 (1,470) | 7 | 0.01 | |
| Bobbi Jene | Oscilloscope | 7,700 (7,700) | 1 | 0.01 | |
| I Can Speak | Little Big | 7,400 (3,700) | 2 | 0.01 | |
| The King’s Choice | Goldwyn | 7,100 (3,550) | 2 | 0.01 | |
| Axis | Hot Machine | 5,200 (5,200) | 1 | 0.01 | |
