The Weekend Report

The third weekend of The Fate of the Furious again led weekend viewing with an estimated $19.4 million and a global gross that crossed into the rarified realm of $1 billion box office. The session had but one wide national release but it was international day-and-date newcomers that stole the thunder. The storm came from the Hispanic comedy How to Be a Latin Lover that ranked second with $11.8 million and highly-anticipated Indian historic epic Baahubali 2: The Conclusion, which smashed global records, including a U.S. debut of $10.3 million.

Friday Box Office Estimates

Here’s something you don’t see every week… a Telugu-Tamil-Hindi-Malayalam language film release coming in #2 on the charts. These narrow releases do solid business and are on the chart almost every weekend. But rarely are the major U.S. distributors pushing so softly that you see a title in the Top 3. The #3 for Friday was another crossover, as Lionsgate pushes out a film to their developing Spanish-language market starring popular Mexican actor Eugenio Derbez. The third newcomer is STX’s The Circle, which has Beauty & The Hanks, but marketing that spoke no one’s language.

The DVD Wrapup: Girl With All the Gifts, Girl From Brothel, Underworld V, Detour, Catfight, We Are X, Borowczyk, Three Brothers and more

The more I learn about the business of distributing DVDs, Blu-ray and VOD, the less sense key business decisions make. Take, for example, Colm McCarthy and writer Mike Carey’s very representative horror flick The Girl With All the Gifts. Apart from being extremely well made and unusually thought-provoking, it features a performance by Glenn Close that almost has to be seen to be believed. Looking a bit like her cross-dressing butler Albert Nobbs – for which she won an Obie and received an Oscar nominated – but with an authoritative bearing not unlike her Nova Prime, in Guardians of the Galaxy, Close plays Dr. Caroline Caldwell, a no-nonsense biologist determined to find a vaccine for a zombie plague. The novelty of such casting, alone, would appear to be sufficient cause for an arthouse release. After debuting at last year’s Locarno, Stuttgart Fantasy Film and Toronto festivals – where it received excellent reviews — The Girl With All the Gifts was accorded little more than an Internet premiere, in January. Then, apparently, no one could figure out what to do with the darn thing,

The Weekend Report

Not truly turb0charged, but way out in front, The Fate of the Furious cruised to an estimated $38.6 million to lead in its second weekend. A clutch of new releases proved disappointing overall, though Disney’s annual wildlife doc Born in China (opening on Earth Day) was comparatively okay with a $5 million debut.

The rest of the national debuts were below par with distaff revenge thriller Unforgettable bowing with $4.7 million, and the Armenian genocide romantic drama The Promise struggling to $4.1 million. Also grim was the Blair Witch-like Phoenix Forgotten at $1.8 million.

Friday Box Office Estimates

A big, but not unexpected Friday-to-Friday drop for The Fate of The Furious, as the domestic engine of this franchise fades while the rest of the world keeps revving. Newcomers barely register, as barely-marketed Unforgettable, Disney doc Born in China and political passion project The Promise will each open to under $5 million for the weekend. Only one exclusive release will even hit $10k per-screen.

The DVD Wrapup: Founder, Punching Henry, Paris 05:59, Apocalypse Child, Donnie Darko, Woman of the Year, Tampopo, Handmaid’s Tale and more

As McDonald’s struggles once again to figure out how it wants to be perceived in markets in the U.S. and around the world, The Founder reminds of us of what made the concept so revolutionary in the first place. There’s a scene in John Lee Hancock’s appealing biographical drama in which Ray Kroc visits an early franchisee, where the operator has chosen to change the menu’s emphasis on hamburgers, fries and shakes and garishly promote its chicken entrees. The look on Kroc’s face made me think that he might take a cue from the New Testament and banish the blasphemers from his golden-arched temple, turning over tables and upending trash cans. Heaven only knows what he’d do if he returned to Earth, today, and visited my local McDonald’s, My guess is that he’d prefer spinning in his grave than sampling an Angus Mushroom & Swiss on a “premium bakery style bun.”

The Weekend Report

It was top gear as the debut of The Fate of the Furious left the pack eating dust with an estimated $100.1 million. It was the only egg opening wide in this year’s Easter roll. A couple of limited releases strived to get into the marketplace (and failed) including the animated Spark: A Space Tail, which grossed $108,000 and golfing origin tale Tommy’s Honour with $220,000.

Exclusive freshman saw an up-tempo start for biodoc Chasing Trane with $15,200 on a solo riff. Also strong were the political “what if” Norman: The Moderate Rise and Tragic Fall of a New York Fixer that grossed $100,000 at five sites and a potent $114,000 bow for period adventure The Lost City of Z from four expeditions.

Friday Box Office Estimates

The Fate of the Furious opened well in North America by every standard but the last F&F movie, Furious 7. But the rest of the world, particularly China, is making up for that in a big way, where Fate is having a $200 million weekend, which, even with Universal only getting a quarter of that, amounts to a huge worldwide opening. The rest of the Top 10 is holding well in spite of the big new opener. A $100 million opening just doesn’t stretch the marketplace to anything close to its max anymore. The Lost City of Z, Maudie and Chasing Trane all opened well in limited.

The DVD Wrapup: Lion, Toni Erdmann, Worlds Apart, Daughters of the Dust, Ludwig, Cathy’s Curse and more

Films made about children appropriated by authorities and handed over to politically connected or wealthy families as orphans aren’t all that unusual. Lion’s happy ending is what sets it apart from other stories.

The Weekend Report

The Boss Baby again edged out Beauty and the Beast for weekend bragging rights with two family movies grossing respective estimates of $26.4 million and $24.7 million. Smurfs: The Lost Village opened with a softish $13.7 million while the octo-heist yarn Going in Style had a surprisingly resilient $12.3 million launch. Best of the exclusive debs were the monster-relationship drama-comedy Colossal, which grossed $121,000 at four playlots and stiff-upper-lipped Brit Their Finest with $78,400.

Friday Box Office Estimates

It will be a close race for the Meaningless Box Office Title, as Boss Baby and Beauty & The Beast start the weekend neck & neck. Saturday will tell the tale, but Sunday estimates of the weekend for the two films will be as political as they are mathematical. Newcomers Going in Style and poorly-timed Smurfs: The Lost Village will also battle for position, though only for a soft third. Ghost in the Shell falls into the abyss (domestically). Three new limited releases with high profiles land, with the strongest looking like the Anne Hathaway “monster movie,” Colossal.

The DVD Wrapup: Rogue One, Office Party, Three, Story of Sin, Actor Martinez and more

The first things longtime fans will notice is the absence of a crawl, as well as an overture by a composer not named John Williams, although his aural fingerprints can be heard throughout the score. Buffs probably were already aware of the absence of Jedi in the cast of characters and the difference in narrative tone from the other episodes. Director Gareth Edwards (Godzilla) and co-writers Chris Weitz (Cinderella) and Tony Gilroy (The Bourne Identity) have emphasized that “Rogue One” was conceived as a war story with a sometimes ambiguous moral code.

The Weekend Report

The Boss Baby animated an estimated $49.7 million to take the crown from Beauty and the Beast, which grossed $47.5 million. The session’s other incoming national release Ghost in the Shell, wound up with a disappointing $18.8 million. The frame’s onslaught of new exclusives didn’t generate a single potent grosser.

The Zookeeper’s Wife bowed to a solid $3.3 million. Holidays in India saw a flood of new pictures with only Punjabi Raab de Radio displaying any commercial heft. China’s The Devotion of Suspect X admired a $328,000 launch from 43 venues.

Friday Box Office Estimates

Trump looks like he may win again, as his first-act incarnation, The Boss Baby, should trend as a family movie to take the weekend in a close contest with Beauty Weekend 3. Pulling into third place among newcomers, body suit Scarlett Johansson, built to kill the beast, but unable to do so. And The Zookeeper’s Wife looks to be doing exceptional business in a very unusual screen-count launch.