Weekend Wrap-Up
By Tim Briody
November 19, 2017
BoxOfficeProphets.com
The release of Justice League is here and being the DC’s version of Marvel’s The Avengers, there were hopes for an Avengers-sized opening. After all, it’s got Batman, Superman *and* Wonder Woman, what could go wrong? While that’s the dream scenario, based on the recent performances of DC films, most predictions had Justice League coming in with anywhere from $120 to $140 million, a perfectly acceptable opening considering the openings of the previous films in the DC Extended Universe (Man of Steel, $116.6 million, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, $166 million, Suicide Squad $133.6 million and Wonder Woman, $103.2 million). Reviews came in and they weren’t great, but neither were the reviews for any DC film except Wonder Woman. Nothing seemed off.
And then, Thursday night.
$13 million from Thursday night showings, and a Friday of $38.8 million with that figure included. Uh-oh. This was a Friday figure so disappointing that nobody would have believed Warner Bros. if they came up with a $100 million estimate for the weekend, so they didn’t.
The weekend estimate for Justice League is $96 million. As I’ve stated before, it is inherently ridiculous to point out that $96 million, an amount of money that you or I will never see in a lifetime, is disappointing if not disastrous, but that’s where we are right now in box office.
What went wrong? Did audiences finally tire of Zack Snyder’s schtick? After all, he brought us both Man of Steel and Batman v Superman and both of those performed well despite lousy reviews, as did Suicide Squad. Did the success and strong reviews for Wonder Woman actually hurt future bad DC movies, since now we know they can be, uh, good? We don’t have the answers for that just yet, but this is not the opening weekend that bodes well for the upcoming Thanksgiving long weekend. With a sequel already penciled in for 2019 or 2020 (along with standalone movies for Jason Momoa's Aquaman, Ezra Miller's Flash, Ray Fisher's Cyborg and of course a Wonder Woman sequel with Gal Gadot), the DCEU needs to quickly go back to the drawing board, and perhaps without Snyder involved. Or maybe he just needs to call up Patty Jenkins for advice.
In second place we have some good news in the form of counter programming, as Wonder, starring Julia Roberts, Owen Wilson and Jacob Tremblay, earned a surprising $27 million. An adaptation of a popular novel (as well as drawing comparisons to the now 30+ year old Mask), Wonder had strong reviews and while it’s not 1999 anymore, Roberts still has a bit of draw in the right project. This is the sort of performance that *will* lead to a strong Thanksgiving weekend, and it’s already money in the bank as it only had a reported $20 million budget.
Thor: Ragnarok is expectedly kneecapped down to third place, taking a 62% hit from last weekend, but still pulling in $21.7 million in its third weekend and giving it $247.3 million to date. Direct competition from Justice League definitely mattered here, but it’s still all sunshine and puppies for Marvel, as even after last weekend it was the most successful of the Thor movies and once again shows how the Marvel Cinematic Universe just can’t miss.
Daddy’s Home 2 takes fourth place with $14.8 million, down 50% from last weekend and giving the comedy sequel $50.5 million after two weekends. That’s only $100 million to go to match the performance of the original, which opened on Christmas Day 2015. As the only pure comedy around right now, it should hold well during Thanksgiving weekend, but it’s still not going to match the heights of the original.
In fifth we have Murder on the Orient Express, down 52% from opening weekend to $13.8 million and $51.7 million after two weekends. A top choice for older audiences (who also pushed it ahead of Daddy’s Home 2 midweek), it’s a bigger decline than Fox was hoping for, but it’s almost at its $55 million production budget so the Kenneth Branagh film is a mid-tier hit that should continue to play well over the next couple of weeks.
The Star is our third weekend opener, earning $10 million on the weekend. An animated Christian-themed comedy, The Star gets in ahead of Coco before it’s swallowed whole by the Pixar machine next week. With a strong voice cast but minimal marketing (depending on your location, I suppose), Sony shouldn’t have much trouble making back the $20 million reported cost, but it most certainly will not be the first choice of kids and families a few days from now.
A Bad Moms Christmas adds another $6.9 million to its total, giving it $50.9 million after three weekends. Another comedy sequel that goes down as a miss (compared to the first entry), The Bad Moms sequel is profitable (just a $28 million budget), but doesn’t have a chance to match the $113.2 million earned by the first film last year.
Lady Bird moves up two spots from last weekend after adding another 200 theaters. The film written and directed by Greta Gerwig earned $2.5 million in just 238 theaters, giving it $4.7 million in three weekends. A24 may begin to get more aggressive with the expansion here, as they’ve got a contender on their hands.
Another Oscar hopeful crashes the top ten, as Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri takes ninth on the weekend with $1.1 million in just 53 theaters. With expectations for Best Picture, Best Actress (Frances McDormand), Best Supporting Actor (Sam Rockwell) and Best Original Screenplay, Fox Searchlight will look to expand this one.
Rounding out the top ten is the fourth weekend of Jigsaw, dropping 69% to $1 million after shedding 1,400 screens. The Saw reboot has $35.6 million in the bank, one of the weakest performances in the franchise, but fine for something made on the cheap.
We finally have a weekend that beat last year, despite Justice League underwhelming. The top 12 films earned $196.1 million, ahead of the $149.1 million put up by last year’s top 12 when Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them opened with $74.4 million. Next weekend is Thanksgiving, and we’ve got the usual Wednesday opener, including Coco, the latest from Disney/Pixar, which is already wildly successful in Mexico.