By Leonard Klady Klady@moviecitynews.com
The Weekend Report
A Hard Habit to Break
Decidedly not second to The Nun, the hooded horror was an easy box office favorite with a $53.7 million debut. The session’s other national opener was the distaff actioner Peppermint that spiced up $13.2 million to rank third in the lineup. The faith targeted God Bless the Broken Road bowed in a limited wide pattern to a fractured $1.4 million.
In the niches the top Indian import was the Telugu C/o Kancharapalem with a passable $197,000 at 96 locations. Following its record breaking debut last week in the Philippines The Hows of Us posted a potent domestic start of $537,000. And the raft of exclusive freshmen saw but a single encouraging start for the doc portrait of an artist Kusama: Infinity with two screens ushering in $29,100.
Revenues for the fall start amounted to roughly $122 million that translated into a 26% spike for last weekend. It was a 25% decline from 2017 when the launch of It had a thunderous opening of $123.4 million.
With albeit loose ties to The Conjuring franchise, The Nun’s tale of a possessed “daughter” was tracking to debut at record levels for the series in the neighborhood of $45 million. It proved to be even scarier than anticipated. Exit demos identified viewers as ever so slightly male at 51% with 56% aged 25-years and younger. The core 18-34 year-old corridor dominated with 58% of the audience.
The film opened day-and-date in 60 overseas markets to an estimated $77 million with series topping numbers in 75% of the initial wave of debuts. Top grossing markets included Mexico with $10.7 million, Brazil grossing $6.8 million, a $7.7 million from the genre-loving Indonesians and the UK bowing with $5.2 million.
Peppermint provided fuel to the kickass female empowerment movie of recent note with a debut on the high end of tracking estimates. Its audience was 56% female with 78% aged 25-years and older. The film also dipped its toe into international waters with 17 largely second tier territories to tepid returns of $1.4 million.
| Weekend (estimates) September 7 – 9, 2018 | |||||
| Title | Distributor | Gross (average) | % Chng | Thtr | Cume |
| The Nun | WB | 53.7 (13,850) | NEW | 3876 | 53.7 |
| Crazy Rich Asians | WB | 13.5 (3,500) | -38% | 3865 | 136.2 |
| Peppermint | STX/Elevation | 13.2 (4,440) | NEW | 2980 | 13.2 |
| The Meg | WB | 6.0 (1,710) | -43% | 3511 | 131.6 |
| Searching | Sony | 4.4 (2,210) | -27% | 2009 | 14.2 |
| Mission: Impossible – Fallout | Par | 3.8 (1,640) | -46% | 2334 | 212.1 |
| Christopher Robin | BV | 3.2 (1,280) | -39% | 2518 | 91.7 |
| Operation Finale | MGM | 3.0 (1,670) | -50% | 1818 | 14.1 |
| BlacKKKlansman | Focus | 2.6 (1,660) | -39% | 1547 | 43.5 |
| Alpha | Sony | 2.4 (960) | -47% | 2521 | 32.4 |
| God Bless the Broken Road | FreeStyle | 1.4 (1,140) | NEW | 1235 | 1.4 |
| Incredibles 2 | BV | 1.3 (880) | -62% | 1446 | 604.4 |
| Mile 22 | STX/VVS | 1.2 (660) | -69% | 1802 | 35 |
| The Happytime Murders | STX/VVS | 1.1 (590) | -76% | 1839 | 20 |
| Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation | Sony | 1.1 (1,060) | -50% | 1012 | 164.2 |
| Slender Man | Sony | .83 (840) | -54% | 983 | 29.7 |
| Kin | Lionsgate | .81 (380) | -74% | 2141 | 5.3 |
| Ya Veremos | Lionsgate | .75 (2,040) | -58% | 369 | 3.3 |
| The Wife | Sony Classics | .69 (4,530)) | 33% | 153 | 2 |
| Juliet, Naked | Roadside Attractions | .67 (1,430) | -19% | 467 | 2.5 |
| Ant-Man and the Wasp | BV | .62 (1,130) | -56% | 548 | 214.8 |
| Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again | Uni | .58 (950) | -53% | 614 | 119.1 |
| The Hows of Us | ABS | .54 (7.070) | NEW | 76 | 0.54 |
| The Equalizer 2 | Sony | .51 (780) | -65% | 646 | 101.6 |
| Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom | Uni | ,42 (720) | -73% | 579 | 415.9 |
| Weekend Total ($500,000+ Films) | $117.90 | ||||
| % Change (Last Year) | -25% | ||||
| % Change (Last Week) | 26% | ||||
| Also debuting/expanding | |||||
| The Bookshop | Greenwich | .26 (1,900) | -6% | 136 | 0.7 |
| C/o Kancharapalem | Weekend | .20 (2,050) | 96 | 0.2 | |
| Eighth Grade | A24 | .18 (1,010) | -34% | 176 | 13.3 |
| Stree | Viva | .16 (3,190) | -23% | 51 | 0.51 |
| Three Identical Strangers | Neon/Mongrel | .15 (1,140) | -40% | 132 | 11.9 |
| Puzzle | Sony Classics | 91,600 (700) | -51% | 131 | 1.8 |
| Sorry to Bother You | Annapurna/eOne | 82,200 (1,140) | -36% | 72 | 17.3 |
| The Little Stranger | Focus | 64,800 (140) | -84 | 477 | 0.68 |
| Little Italy | eOne | 62,500 (670) | -37% | 93 | 0.91 |
| Manu | Nirvana | 48,300 (470) | 103 | 0.05 | |
| Kusama-Infinity | Magnolia | 29,100 (14,550) | 2 | 0.03 | |
| The Favorite | Lightbearer | 24,700 (2,740) | 9 | 0.02 | |
| Paltan | Zee Studios | 15,600 (1,040) | 15 | 0.02 | |
| Silly Fellows | Magnus | 12,300 (320) | 39 | 0.01 | |
| Tenderness | A-Z Films | 11,400 (1,420) | 8 | 0.01 | |
| The Apparition | Music Box | 10,200 (1,460) | 7 | 0.01 | |
| Domestic Market Share (January 2 – September 3, 2018) | |||||
| Distributor (releases) | Box Office (millions) | Market Share | |||
| Buena Vista (10) | 2726.8 | 32.70% | |||
| Universal (13) | 1078.3 | 12.90% | |||
| Warner Bros. (22) | 1019.1 | 12.20% | |||
| Sony (18) | 792.6 | 9.50% | |||
| 20th Century Fox (11) | 715.8 | 8.60% | |||
| Paramount (8) | 552.9 | 6.60% | |||
| Lionsgate (14) | 244.4 | 2.90% | |||
| STX (8) | 184.9 | 2.20% | |||
| Focus (11) | 158.2 | 1.90% | |||
| Fox Searchlight (4) | 139.8 | 1.70% | |||
| Roadside Attractions (7) | 103.7 | 1.30% | |||
| A24 (8) | 77.1 | 0.90% | |||
| Entertainment (3) | 51.7 | 0.60% | |||
| MGM (3) | 46.7 | 0.50% | |||
| Other * (294) | 447.4 | 5.40% | |||
| 8339.4 | 100% | ||||
| * none greater than 0.45% | |||||
