By Leonard Klady Klady@moviecitynews.com
The Weekend Report
Show Me the Honey!
Mission: Impossible – Fallout proved its mettle and continued to lead weekend movie going with an estimated $35.3 million. Three new national releases entered the fray with the family friendly Christopher Robin slotting second with $25 million and the comic mash-up The Spy Who Dumped Me one spot back with $12.2 million. However, there was no yeah for the YA The Darkest Minds that bowed with $5.7 million.
In limited wide release the political tract Death of a Nation displayed a faint pulse with a $2.3 million debut. New Indian imports also largely failed to connect apart from the Telugu Goodachari that opened with $514,000 from 148 venues. Other niche newcomers saw a strong start for the Korean sequel Along With the Gods: The Last 49 Days that grossed $311,000 from 48 screens and a bland $45,700 for the Filipino comedy Kusina Kings.
The sole exclusive entry to display signs of life was the Sundance winner The Miseducation of Cameron Post that opened with $53,200 from two engagements.
Revenues for the session topped $140 million and slid back 11% from the prior weekend. It was still a 15% improvement from 2017 when the debut of The Dark Tower led with $19.1 million and the third weekend of Dunkirk added $17.1 million.
An aggressive marketing campaign helped to put across the fanciful Christopher Robin even if it failed to reach high end predictions of a $30 million launch. The literary protagonist viewed in adulthood re-connects with Winnie-the-Pooh and you can guess the rest. It didn’t help that last year’s Goodbye Christopher Robin _ a more traditional telling of the creation of the beloved characters _ also debuted in cable rotation this week.
Exit demos identified the audience as 56% female with half of viewers aged 25-years and older. Roughly 60% of respondents identified as families.
The picture also dipped its toe into 18 international markets and generated almost $5 million. A studio exec said the picture poses hurdles outside English territories and Asian markets where the characters are well known. Nonetheless the initial top grossing nations were Mexico with $1.4 million and Russia that opened to $1.2 million. The UK opens in two weeks.
Critics generally characterized The Spy Who Dumped Me as the “dumb” action-comedy audiences have been anxiously awaiting. While verging on hyperbole, it nonetheless debuted with a commercial punch that was on target as far as tracking was concerned. Its domestic audience was 62% female with 70% aged 25-years and older.
With echoes of the likes of the The Maze Runner and X-Men franchises the bestselling youth novel The Darkest Minds appeared primed to become a potent movie trilogy. However signs of audience fatigue for the genre were evident from the on-set of previews and industry honchos felt it was likely to spiral downward with a dire $5 million or $6 million start. The studio clearly wants to press on and opted not to send out exit demos.
Weekend (estimates) August 3 – 5, 2018 | ||||||
Title | Distributor | Gross (average) | % Chng | Thtr | Cume | |
Mission: Impossible – Fallout | Par | 35.3 (8,030) | -43% | 4395 | 124.8 | |
Christopher Robin | BV | 25.0 (6,930) | NEW | 3602 | 25 | |
The Spy Who Dumped Me | Lionsgate | 12.2 (3,930) | NEW | 3111 | 12.2 | |
Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again | Uni | 9.1 (2,700) | -40% | 3359 | 91.3 | |
The Equalizer 2 | Sony | 8.8 (3,220) | -37% | 2725 | 80.9 | |
Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation | Sony | 8.2 (2,600) | -33% | 3162 | 136.5 | |
Ant-Man and the Wasp | BV | 6.2 (2,790) | -29% | 2233 | 195.5 | |
The Darkest Minds | Fox | 5.7 (1,830) | NEW | 3127 | 5.7 | |
Incredibles 2 | BV | 5.0 (2,790) | -31% | 1802 | 583.2 | |
Teen Titans Go! To the Movies | WB | 4.9 (1,530) | -53% | 3188 | 20.8 | |
Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom | Uni | 4.0 (2,080) | -41% | 1914 | 405.6 | |
Eighth Grade | A24 | 2.8 (2,620) | 107% | 1084 | 6.5 | |
Death of a Nation | Quality | 2.3 (2,220) | NEW | 1032 | 2.3 | |
Skyscraper | Uni | 2.2 (1,440) | -59% | 1523 | 64.4 | |
Three Identical Strangers | Neon | 1.0 (2,570) | -13% | 405 | 8.5 | |
The First Purge | Uni | .93 (1,320) | -59% | 708 | 67.8 | |
Sorry to Bother You | Annapurna | .81 (2,000) | -41% | 404 | 14.9 | |
Blindspotting | Lionsgate | .66 (1,270) | -48% | 523 | 3.2 | |
Goodachari | RedHeart | .51 (3,470) | NEW | 148 | 0.57 | |
Won’t You Be My Neighbor? | Focus | .49 (1,740) | -30% | 464 | 21 | |
1991 | Seville | .34 (4,680) | -2% | 73 | 1.3 | |
Sicario: Day of the Soldado | Sony | .33 (1,540) | -51% | 216 | 49.4 | |
Along With the Gods: The Last 49 Days | Well Go | .30 (6,190) | NEW | 48 | 0.41 | |
Ocean’s 8 | WB | .28 (1,140) | -56% | 248 | 138 | |
Leave No Trace | Bleecker Street | .26 (1,560) | -44% | 169 | 5.2 | |
Avengers: Infinity War | BV | .24 (1,180) | -41% | 205 | 678.1 | |
Weekend Total ($500,000+ Films) | $136.10 | |||||
% Change (Last Year) | 15% | |||||
% Change (Last Week) | -11% | |||||
Also debuting/expanding | ||||||
McQueen | Bleecker Street | .17 (5,120) | 109% | 34 | 0.48 | |
Don’t Worry He Won’t Get Far on Foot | Amazon | .14 (840) | -56% | 177 | 1.2 | |
Fanney Khan | Rising Sun | .13 (1,590) | 83 | 0.13 | ||
Puzzle | Sony Classics | .13 (7,870) | 106% | 16 | 0.22 | |
Karwaan | Ishka | .10 (1,710) | 58 | 0.1 | ||
Chi La Sow | U.S. Telugu | 91,300 (1,000) | 91 | 0.09 | ||
Koode | Little Films | 55,600 (2,140) | 26 | 0.06 | ||
The Miseducation of Cameron Post | FilmRise | 53,200 (26,600) | 2 | 0.05 | ||
Mulk | Zee Studios | 52,600 (1,750) | 30 | 0.05 | ||
Kusina Kings | ABS | 45,700 (1,310) | 35 | 0.05 | ||
Scotty and the Secret History of Hollywood | Greenwich | 43,600 (8,720) | 55% | 5 | 0.08 | |
Doctor Dee: The Four Heavenly Kings | Well Go | 40,300 (1,020) | -68% | 20 | 0.22 | |
Fleuve noir | MK2 | 17,400 (2,180) | 8 | 0.02 | ||
Never Goin’ Back | A24 | 10,100 (5,050) | 2 | 0.01 | ||
Night Comes On | Goldwyn | 9,900 (1,100) | 9 | 0.01 | ||
Nico, 1988 | Magnolia | 3,500 (3,500) | 1 | 0.01 | ||
Domestic Market Share (January 2 – August 2, 2018) | ||||||
Distributor (releases) | Box Office (millions) | Market Share | ||||
Buena Vista (9) | 2588.1 | 34.90% | ||||
Universal (13) | 1021.4 | 13.80% | ||||
Warner Bros. (20) | 759.8 | 10.20% | ||||
20th Century Fox (10) | 702.5 | 9.50% | ||||
Sony (15) | 661.7 | 8.90% | ||||
Paramount (8) | 435.6 | 5.90% | ||||
Lionsgate (11) | 202.6 | 2.70% | ||||
Fox Searchlight (4) | 139.7 | 1.90% | ||||
STX (6) | 138.8 | 1.90% | ||||
Focus (9) | 115.5 | 1.60% | ||||
Roadside Attractions (6) | 102.1 | 1.40% | ||||
A24 (8) | 67.6 | 0.90% | ||||
Entertainment (3) | 51.7 | 0.70% | ||||
MGM (2) | 37.1 | 0.50% | ||||
Other * (247) | 389.3 | 5.20% | ||||
7413.5 | 100% | |||||
* none greater than 0.45% | ||||||
Top Limited Releases (January 2 – August 2, 2018) | ||||||
Title | Distributor | Box Office | ||||
Won’t You Be My Neighbor? | Focus | 20,536,607 | ||||
Sorry to Bother You | Annapurna/eOne | 14,106,602 | ||||
RBG | Magnolia/Mongrel | 13,475,351 | ||||
Padmaavat | Viva | 12,159,664 | ||||
The Death of Stalin | IFC/Elevation | 8,681,157 | ||||
Sanju | Fox Intl | 7,858,842 | ||||
Three Identical Strangers | NEON | 7,425,929 | ||||
Leave No Trace | Bleecker Street | 4,935,557 | ||||
Gotti | Vertical | 4,346,788 | ||||
Eighth Grade | A24 | 3,711,474 | ||||
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 | ||||
Pandas | Imax/WB | 3,301,262 | ||||
The Leisure Seeker | Sony Classics/eOne | 3,226,443 | ||||
Raazi | Zee Studios | 3,027,556 | ||||
Veere di Wedding | Zee Studios | 2,934,416 | ||||
Whitney | Roadside Attractions | 2,927,951 | ||||