New at BOP: Review: Matrix Resurrections Movie Review: Moonfall Movie Reviews: Scream The #1 Movie in America November Forecast The Many Saints of Newark October Forecast New Trivia Question All site updates Share & Save   Tweet Print this column

In 2015, Valentine's Day and President's Day landed on the same weekend, priming the box office for a huge drop in the second frame. The original fell 74% in weekend two, and the sequel was bound to do better due to the holiday weekend and the Friday result. Fifty Shades Darker finished its second weekend with $21 million, off a not terrible 55%, at least compared to Fifty Shades of Grey. After ten days of release, the original had earned $129.2 million. The sequel has tallied $89.7 million in the same amount of time. Fifty Shades has also dominated the overseas market, pulling in almost $190 million so far. The first film earned over $400 million internationally, cementing a path for a series of sequels. With a budget of $80 million, Universal is going to make another tidy profit of this one, and likely off the next one as well, which - surprise, surprise - opens next February.

The Great Wall debuted in third this weekend, following its $170 million run in China alone. The fantasy flick opened to $18.1 million in North America from 3,326 venues, about what Universal was expecting. The Great Wall cost a stunning $150 million to make and got killed by poor reviews (36% fresh at Rotten Tomatoes). The Cinemascore was a disappointing B, leaving it in a tough position to be financially positive against that huge budget. My guess is that The Great Wall disappears quickly on the North American side. It does have nearly $250 million overseas, though.

John Wick: Chapter 2 (or John Wick 2 in my book) started its second weekend with a $4.2 million Friday, off a respectable 62% compared to its opening day. That's better than the original, which fell 67% when comparing Fridays, earning a seemingly small $1.8 million; however, Wick's second Friday happened to be Halloween. Over its second frame, the sequel took in $16.5 million, falling 46%, which compares well with the original, as John Wick earned $8 million and fell 45% in weekend two. The sequel has already out-earned the original, as it has tallied $58.7 million so far, compared to the original's overall domestic total of $43 million.

In fifth we get our second new wide release of the weekend. This time, it's Ice Cube in Fist Fight. This is the second of our three new releases that failed with critics and viewers. Fist Fight is no Ride Along, as this one earned only $12 million from 3,185 venues for Warner Bros. Unfortunately for them, Fist Fight is currently a deadbeat 32% at Rotten Tomatoes and earned a terrible B Cinemascore. Ice Cube is often review proof, so it shouldn't be too hard to get it to a profitable session. The cost for Fist Fight was only $25 million.

I've got Hidden Figures in sixth this morning, but that may change once actuals roll in on Tuesday. Hidden Figures -aka the little train that could - keeps going today, its seventh weekend in the top ten, earning another $7.1 million and dropping only 11%. This film is a force of nature, having a domestic total of of $142.6 million to date.

Split continues its dominant run this weekend, landing in seventh place. Split earned another $7 million and dropped 26%, despite losing 500 or so screens. Split is moving from a North American phenomenon to a worldwide hit, as it has picked up $123.6 million stateside and another $70 million overseas.

Eighth is A Dog's Purpose, the film that started with a whole bunch of controversy, and has settled in to become a decent earner for Universal. This weekend, its fourth, A Dog's Purpose picked up $5.6 million and fell 24%. This $22 million film has now earned $50.7 million domestically, and has added $15 million or so overseas. It will continue its worldwide expansion with the UK opening on April 14th.

Ninth place goes to La La Land, our leading Oscar contender. La La Land earned another $4.5 million at the this weekend and brings its domestic take up to $133.5 million. It has also accumulated more than $200 million overseas.

Our last opener, A Cure For Wellness, debuts at an unhealthy tenth this weekend. With an opening gross of $4.2 million, this one is destined for failure. as it cost $40 million to make, and that fake news ad campaign couldn't have been cheap. Wellness is DOA, and its 38% fresh rating and C+ Cinemascore support that.

Overall, the totals are disappointing for a long weekend (or really any weekend). The top 12 films this weekend earned a miserable $136.6 million. Still, it's a better total than last year, which came in at $125.2 million, as new openers Risen, The Witch and Race all had middling totals. Next weekend brings some interesting titles as Get Out, the new horror flick from Jordan Peele debuts. We'll also see the opening of Collide, with Nic Hoult and Felicity Jones, and Rock Dog, one of those instantly forgettable animation efforts from Lionsgate.

Top Ten for Weekend of February 17-19, 2017
Rank	Film	Distributor	Estimated Gross (millions)	Weekly Change	Running Total (millions)
1	The LEGO Batman Movie	Warner Bros.	34.2	-35%	98.8
2	Fifty Shades Darker	Universal	21.0	-55%	89.7
3	The Great Wall	Universal	18.1	New	18.1
4	John Wick: Chapter 2	Lionsgate	16.5	-46%	58.7
5	Fist Fight	Warner Bros.	12.0	New	12.0
6	Hidden Figures	20th Century Fox	7.1	-11%	142.6
7	Split	Universal	7.0	-26%	123.6
8	A Dog's Purpose	Universal	5.6	-24%	50.7
9	La La Land	Lionsgate	4.5	-9%	133.5
10	A Cure for Wellness	20th Century Fox	4.2	New	4.2
11	Lion	Weinstein Co.	4.1	+4%	36.4
12	Rings	Paramount	2.3	-60%	25.7

Continued:       1       2