By Leonard Klady Klady@moviecitynews.com
The Weekend Report
You Can Stop the Music
It was a weekend surprise as The Equalizer 2 edged in front of Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again with an estimated $35.4 million to take the frame’s box office crown. The ABBA musical debuted to $34.4 million. The session’s other wide release newcomer was Unfriended: Dark Web that slotted ninth with $3.5 million.
In the niches the Hindi Dhadak opened to a sturdy $403,000. Also strong was the Filipino rom-com I Love You, Hater that bowed to $119,000 from 35 engagements. The exclusive freshman class included good starts of $95,300 for the doc profile of fashionista (Alexander) McQueen at four venues and $17,900 for the single screen launch of the non-fiction Far From the Tree. However, the big noise was for the irreverent urban tale Blindspotting that opened to $332,000 from 14 screens. Coincidently the film and the sleeper hit Sorry to Bother You are both set in Oakland, Ca.
The session also featured expansions for Eighth Grade and Don’t Worry He Won’t Get Far on Foot with the first title maintaining very impressive per screens.
Revenues for the session approached $170 million and a slight 1% uptick from last weekend. It was an 8% decline from 2017 when debuts of Dunkirk and Girls Trip were at the top with respective starts of $50.5 million and $31.2 million.
Pundits were somewhat taken aback by the building momentum for The Equalizer 2 and frankly taken aback when it took the top box office spot with a gross that exceeded the 2014 first entry. The film had very strong response from Hispanic and African American movie goers that comprised 22% and 31% of opening weekend viewers per exit demos. Overall the crowd was 58% male with 68% of viewers aged 25-years and older.
Equalizer 2 also dipped its toe in the international marketplace with 11 (mostly secondary) territories that grossed an estimated $3.3 million. The brunt of business came from Australia which accounted for $2.2 million.
The frame’s presumed champ Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again was expected to gross $40 million on the high end and previews along with Friday figures suggested it would come close to that figure. However, its most rabid fans front loaded its box office and the crown slipped away. Hispanics and African Americans were not its core, accounting for 20% of domestic viewers. Overall the crowd was 83% female with 64% aged 25-years and older.
As with the 2008 Mamma Mia the new film is expected to have a much stronger appeal in foreign climes. It debuted in 43 overseas markets to an estimated $42 million with 34 recording bigger debuts than the original. The UK led the charge with a $13 million debut, Australia grossed $5 million and the Swedish base was a very tuneful $2.6 million. France opens on Wednesday with August launches in Mexico, China, Japan and Russia.
| Weekend (estimates) July 20 – 22, 2018 | |||||
| Title | Distributor | Gross (avg) | % chng | Thtrs | Cume |
| The Equalizer 2 | Sony | 35.4 (10,440) | NEW | 3388 | 35.4 |
| Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again | Uni | 34.4 (10,360) | NEW | 3317 | 34.4 |
| Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation | Sony | 23.2 (5,430) | -47% | 4267 | 91.1 |
| Ant-Man and the Wasp | BV | 16.1 (4,250) | -45% | 3778 | 165 |
| Incredibles 2 | BV | 11.4 (3,610) | -30% | 3164 | 557 |
| Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom | Uni | 11.0 (3,250) | -32% | 3381 | 384 |
| Skyscraper | Uni | 10.9 (2,860) | -56% | 3822 | 46.7 |
| The First Purge | Uni | 5.0 (2,130) | -47% | 2331 | 60.2 |
| Unfriended: Dark Web | OTL | 3.5 (2,250) | NEW | 1546 | 3.5 |
| Sorry to Bother You | Annapurna | 2.8 (2,660) | -34% | 1050 | 10.2 |
| Sicario: Day of the Soldado | Sony | 1.8 (1,270) | -53% | 1448 | 47 |
| Ocean’s 8 | WB | 1.6 (1,570) | -46% | 1002 | 136 |
| Uncle Drew | Lionsgate/Elevation | 1.5 (1,220) | -52% | 1237 | 40 |
| Three Identical Strangers | Neon | 1.4 (4,280) | 18% | 332 | 4.6 |
| Won’t You Be My Neighbor? | Focus | 1.3 (1,770) | -34% | 730 | 18.4 |
| Leave No Trace | Bleecker Street | .89 (2,470) | -24% | 361 | 3.6 |
| Eighth Grade | A24 | .76 (23,150) | 189% | 33 | 1.2 |
| Tag | WB | .65 (1,120) | -49% | 581 | 52.8 |
| Deadpool 2 | Fox | .44 (1,180) | -44% | 373 | 317 |
| Avengers: Infinity War | BV | .40 (1,350) | -36% | 294 | 677 |
| Dhadak | Zee Studios | .40 (4,070) | NEW | 99 | 0.4 |
| Blindspotting | Lionsgate | .33 (23,560) | NEW | 14 | 0.33 |
| Don’t Worry He Won’t Get Far on Foot | Amazon | .25 (4,080) | 204% | 62 | 0.37 |
| Hereditary | A24/Elevation | .24 (1,210) | -43% | 201 | 43.5 |
| Solo: A Star Wars Story | BV | .22 (1,050) | -47% | 208 | 212 |
| Sanju | Fox Intl | .21 (1,901) | -58% | 112 | 7.6 |
| Weekend Total ($500,000+ Films) | $163.60 | ||||
| % Change (Last Year) | -8% | ||||
| % Change (Last Week) | 1% | ||||
| Also debuting/expanding | |||||
| RBG | Magnolia | .17 (1,660) | -36% | 101 | 13.1 |
| I Love You, Hater | ABS | .12 (3,400) | 35 | 0.12 | |
| Whitney | Roadside Attractions | .12 (1,010) | -79% | 117 | 2.8 |
| McQueen | Bleecker Street | 95,300 (23,820) | 4 | 0.1 | |
| La Chute de l’empire American | Seville | 89,700 (1,550) | -45% | 58 | 1.4 |
| Maquia: When the Promised Flower Blooms | 11Arts | 61,300 (420) | 145 | 0.06 | |
| Teefa in Trouble | Yash Raj | 52,400 (1,590) | 33 | 0.05 | |
| Generation Wealth | Magnolia | 30,900 (7,720) | 4 | 0.03 | |
| Boundaries | Sony Classics | 29,800 (580) | -60% | 51 | 0.63 |
| Running for Grace | Blue Fox | 29,500 (7,210) | 4 | 0.03 | |
| Lover | Wall Poster | 20,800 (410) | 51 | 0.02 | |
| Far From the Tree | IFC | 17,900 (17,900) | 1 | 0.02 | |
| Je vais mieux | MK2 | 15,100 (2,160) | 7 | 0.02 | |
| The Third Murder | Film Movement | 5,700 (5,700) | 1 | 0.01 | |
| Damascus Cover | Vertical | 4,200 (1,400) | 3 | 0.01 | |
| Domestic Market Share (January 2 – July 19, 2018) | |||||
| Distributor (releases) | Box Office (m) | Market Share | |||
| Buena Vista (9) | 2512.9 | 36.40% | |||
| Universal (13) | 875.7 | 12.70% | |||
| Warner Bros. (19) | 737.7 | 10.70% | |||
| 20th Century Fox (10) | 700.8 | 10.20% | |||
| Sony (15) | 529.3 | 7.70% | |||
| Paramount (7) | 345.3 | 5.00% | |||
| Lionsgate (10) | 196.8 | 2.80% | |||
| Fox Searchlight (4) | 139.7 | 2.00% | |||
| STX (6) | 138.7 | 2.00% | |||
| Focus (8) | 103.7 | 1.50% | |||
| Roadside Attractions (6) | 101.8 | 1.50% | |||
| A24 (8) | 63.7 | 0.90% | |||
| Entertainment (3) | 51.7 | 0.75% | |||
| MGM (2) | 37.1 | 0.55% | |||
| Other * (231) | 368.1 | 5.30% | |||
| 6903 | 100% | ||||
| * none greater than 0.45% | |||||
