By Leonard Klady Klady@moviecitynews.com
The Weekend Report
Destination Terminus
Crazy Rich Asians made it a hat trick atop weekend movie going with an estimated $22.4 million for the three-day portion of the Labor holiday (all figures reflect 3-day box office; chart update tomorrow). The closing of the summer season is traditionally fallow commercial ground so it was highly unusual to see three films make their national debuts.
The historic Operation Finale ranked fourth with $6 million and a notch behind with $5.8 million was the psychological thriller Searching that had a limited bow last weekend. The sci-fi yarn Kin struggled to $2.9 million.
The Gothic horror tale The Little Stranger went out in a limited wide pattern to OK results of $370,000.
In the niches the Mexican comedy Ya Veremos bowed with $1.8 million following a near $10 million tally south of the border in three weeks. Best of the flood of new Indian imports were Mar Gaye Oye Loko with $292,000 and Stree that grossed $189,000. Exclusive entries had no standout entries.
Revenues for the session edge close to $100 million and ebbed 7% from the prior weekend. It was a 26% improvement from 2017 when The Hitman’s Bodyguard led with $17.6 million and there were no new national releases. A breakdown of summer movie going will appear tomorrow. Initial figures suggest an improvement of about 13% from the prior year.
The capture of Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann is the basis of Operation Finale. The story had been tackled previously in 1961’s Operation Eichmann (a year after the actual event) and several TV movies. Its audience per exit polling was 51% female with 65% of viewers aged 35-years and older.
For the record Kin had a 56% male profile with 65% of the crowd aged 25-years and older.
| Weekend (estimates) August 31 – September 2, 2018) | |||||
| Title | Distributor | Gross (average) | % Chng | Thtr | Cume |
| Crazy Rich Asians | WB | 22.4 (5,800) | -10% | 3865 | 111.1 |
| The Meg | WB | 10.2 (2,720) | -20% | 3761 | 120.2 |
| Mission: Impossible – Fallout | Par | 6.9 (2,620) | -15% | 2639 | 204.3 |
| Operation Finale | MGM | 6.0 (3,290) | NEW | 1818 | 7.7 |
| Searching | Sony | 5.8 (4,840) | 1401% | 1207 | 6.3 |
| Christopher Robin | BV | 5.2 (1,770) | -17% | 2925 | 85.6 |
| The Happytime Murders | STX/VVS | 4.4 (1,340) | -54% | 3256 | 17 |
| BlacKKKlansman | Focus | 4.2 (2,360) | -18% | 1766 | 38.4 |
| Alpha | Sony | 4.2 (1,450) | -31% | 2881 | 27.1 |
| Mile 22 | STX/VVS | 3.6 (1,230) | -43% | 2950 | 31.8 |
| Incredibles 2 | BV | 3.2 (1,120) | 97% | 2890 | 601.1 |
| Kin | Lionsgate | 2.9 (1,370) | NEW | 2141 | 2.9 |
| Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation | Sony | 2.1 (1,460) | -18% | 1421 | 162 |
| Ya Veremos | Lionsgate | 1.8 (4,820) | NEW | 369 | 1.8 |
| Slender Man | Sony | 1.8 (1,150) | -37% | 1534 | 28.1 |
| The Equalizer 2 | Sony | 1.4 (970) | -30% | 1476 | 100.3 |
| Ant-Man and the Wasp | BV | 1.3 (1,610) | -25% | 830 | 213.5 |
| Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom | Uni | 1.3 (850) | 79% | 1556 | 414.6 |
| A-X-L | Global Road | 1.2 (720) | -56% | 1710 | 5 |
| Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again | Uni | 1.1 (1,130) | -43% | 1010 | 117.6 |
| Juliet, Naked | Roadside Attractions | .78 (2,460) | 225% | 318 | 1.2 |
| The Wife | Sony Classics | .52 (6,690) | 145% | 78 | 1 |
| The Little Stranger | Focus | .37 (7,760) | NEW | 474 | 0.37 |
| Papillon | Bleecker/Elevation | .33 (610) | -70% | 539 | 1.9 |
| The Spy Who Dumped Me | Lionsgate | .32 (690) | -69% | 460 | 33 |
| Little Italy | eOne | .31 (2,170) | 5% | 141 | 0.78 |
| Weekend Total ($500,000+ Films) | $92.30 | ||||
| % Change (Last Year) | 26% | ||||
| % Change (Last Week) | -7% | ||||
| Also debuting/expanding | |||||
| Mar Gaye Oye Loko | Rising Sun | .29 (4,710) | 62 | 0.29 | |
| Sorry to Bother You | Annapurna/eOne | .26 (520) | 80% | 505 | 16.9 |
| Eighth Grade | A24 | .26 (1.130) | -39% | 227 | 12.9 |
| The Bookshop | Greenwich | .23 (3,010) | 205% | 75 | 0.36 |
| Three Identical Strangers | Neon/Mongrel | .22 (1,310) | -30% | 170 | 11.6 |
| Stree | Viva | .19 (3,150) | 60 | 0.19 | |
| Puzzle | Sony Classics | .17 (810) | -51% | 213 | 1.6 |
| Imaikkaa Nodigal | Cameo | 69,900 (1,270) | 55 | 0.07 | |
| The Miseducation of Cameron Post | FilmRise/FWL | 63,200 (1,400) | -48% | 45 | 0.76 |
| Yamla Pagla Deewana Phir Se | Zee Studios | 55,300 (1,380) | 40 | 0.06 | |
| Big Brother | Well Go | 38,400 (1,540) | 25 | 0.04 | |
| We the Animals | Orchard | 35,500 (1,970) | -21% | 18 | 0.2 |
| Nartanashala | Nagar | 28,800 ( 210) | 139 | 0.06 | |
| The Witness | Well Go | 22,500 (2,040) | 11 | 0.02 | |
| Pick of the Litter | IFC | 17,200 (8,600) | 2 | 0.02 | |
| Let the Corpses Tan | Kino | 11,600 (3,870) | 3 | 0.01 | |
| On Your Wedding Day | Opus | 10,100 (3,370) | 3 | 0.01 | |
| Active Measures | Super | 8,700 (2,900) | 3 | 0.01 | |
| Domestic Market Share (January 2 – August 30, 2018) | |||||
| Distributor (releases) | Box Office (millions) | Market Share | |||
| Buena Vista (10) | 2712.9 | 33.10% | |||
| Universal (13) | 1074.4 | 13.10% | |||
| Warner Bros. (22) | 975.8 | 11.90% | |||
| Sony (18) | 771.8 | 9.40% | |||
| 20th Century Fox (11) | 715.6 | 8.70% | |||
| Paramount (8) | 543.6 | 6.60% | |||
| Lionsgate (12) | 237.6 | 2.90% | |||
| STX (8) | 175.6 | 2.10% | |||
| Focus (10) | 151.9 | 1.90% | |||
| Fox Searchlight (4) | 139.8 | 1.70% | |||
| Roadside Attractions (7) | 102.6 | 1.20% | |||
| A24 (8) | 76.8 | 0.90% | |||
| Entertainment (3) | 51.7 | 0.60% | |||
| MGM (3) | 38.8 | 0.50% | |||
| Other * (287) | 439.1 | 5.40% | |||
| 8208 | 100% | ||||
| * none greater than 0.45% | |||||
| Top Limited Releases (January 2 – August 30, 2018) | |||||
| Title | Distributor | Box Office | |||
| Won’t You Be My Neighbor? | Focus | 22,405,337 | |||
| Sorry to Bother You | Annapurna/eOne | 16,690,613 | |||
| RBG | Magnolia/Mongrel | 13,931,018 | |||
| Eighth Grade | A24 | 12,663,293 | |||
| Padmaavat | Viva | 12,159,664 | |||
| Three Identical Strangers | NEON/Mongrel | 11,344,825 | |||
| The Death of Stalin | IFC/Elevation | 8,681,157 | |||
| Sanju | Fox Intl | 7,909,317 | |||
| Leave No Trace | Bleecker/Elevation | 5,783,945 | |||
| Death of a Nation | Quality | 5,662,849 | |||
| Gotti | Vertical | 4,346,788 | |||
| Blindspotting | Lionsgate | 4,177,608 | |||
| Pandas | Imax/WB | 3,957,503 | |||
| Bharat Ane Nenu | Great India | 3,662,967 | |||
| Rangasthalam | Creative | 3,632,267 | |||
| 2018 Oscar Nominated Shorts | Magnolia | 3,508,777 | |||
| Disobedience | Bleecker Street | 3,480,702 | |||
| First Reformed | A24 | 3,448,256 | |||
| The Leisure Seeker | Sony Classics/eOne | 3,226,443 | |||
| Raazi | Zee Studios | 3,027,556 | |||
