Weekend Wrap-Up
By Tim Briody
August 25, 2019
After a one week break where an original idea led the box office, we end the summer movie season with yet another sequel. And hey, IT Chapter 2 is right around the corner!
In 2013, Olympus Has Fallen surprised with a $30.3 million opening and $98.8 million total. A movie with a very similar concept later that year, White House Down, topped out at just $73.1 million, so two years later they ran it back with London Has Fallen, which earned just $62.5 million, but overseas earnings sent it to nearly $200 million, so you knew they'd find a way to put Gerard Butler in yet another situation where the President and/or other world leaders are in danger.
So here's Angel Has Fallen, where this time, Butler's character is the one framed for an assassination attempt on the President (Morgan Freeman, because of course). With $21.2 million, that matches the opening weekend of London Has Fallen, and is more than enough to top the box office this weekend.
Critics hated it (39% Fresh) but audiences went with what they knew this weekend. Budget estimates are all over the place, but they top at $80 million, and overseas earnings, which boosted both Olympus Has Fallen and London Has Fallen, should do the same here as Angel Has Fallen will drop hard over the upcoming Labor Day weekend.
Good Boys slides to second, down 45% to $11.7 million and $42 million in two weekends. That's probably a slightly better hold than expected for the R-rated comedy, which only cost $20 million to make so it's a late summer win for Universal, and something that should have a solid second life on video/streaming.
Faith-based entry Overcomer lands in third with $8.2 million. The last film by the same filmmakers (in this case, director/star/co-writer Alex Kendrick and co-writer/producer Stephen Kendrick) was 2015's War Room, which opened with $11.3 million and ended up surprisingly leggy, finishing with $67.7 million. A slow box office time always seems to benefit faith-based films, as they can get some more exposure in theaters. Overcomer only cost $5 million to make, so it's already beaten that, and if it can find the same audience that fueled War Room, it will end up with a very solid total relative to its budget. It helps that audiences gave Overcomer an A+ CinemaScore.
The Lion King sailed past $500 million midweek and added $8.1 million this weekend, to give it $510.6 million in six weekends. Hey, remember when that was good enough to land you in the top ten highest earning films of all time? Admission to that club now starts at $608 million. Lion King is headed to about $550 million, which would give it a solid hold on 11th all time.
Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw earns $8.1 million in its third weekend, giving the spinoff $147.7 million to date. Overseas earnings have finally kicked it, putting it close to $600 million worldwide. That's like, half of what The Fate of the Furious earned worldwide, but this is essentially found money for Universal (despite the $200 million budget), and they'll just keep making sequels until everybody tires of them, and that shows no signs of happening.
Our other opener this weekend lands in sixth as Ready or Not earns $7.5 million for the weekend after a Wednesday opening and has $10.5 million in five days. A comedic-horror twist on the Most Dangerous Game concept, it's a Fox Searchlight film (another subsidiary now owned by Disney), which will be one of the last to be released under that banner. The good news here is Ready or Not only cost $6 million to make, and it's going to at minimum triple and likely quadruple that in theaters.
The Angry Birds Movie 2 dives to seventh, dropping 39% to $6.3 million and $27 million in two weekends. The way too late sequel to the way too late original (which earned $107 million in 2016!) cost $65 million to make, something it's not going to get close to domestically. Even overseas, it's yet to cross $100 million whereas the first one took in $350 million total worldwide. Swipe left on this one.
Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark hits $50 million with $6 million (down 40%) in its third weekend. The young adult horror book adaptation is a winner for Lionsgate and CBS Films, as it cost $28 million to make.
Dora and the Lost City of Gold earns $5.2 million in its third weekend and has $43 million to date. It's yet to match its $49 million production budget, which is the sort of thing that tends to happen when you make movies well after their expiration date.
Once Upon a Time...in Hollywood wraps up the top ten this weekend as with $5 million this weekend and $123.1 million in five weekends, it becomes Quentin Tarantino's second biggest film of all time, passing Inglorious Basterds. His high water mark is Django Unchained with $162.8 million, and this is a big success for Tarantino and all involved.
The top 12 films this weekend earned $93.7 million, just ahead of last year's $89.1 million when Crazy Rich Asians led with $24.8 million (falling just 6%) and the top opener was the flop The Happytime Murders with just $9.5 million.
Labor Day weekend awaits us next week, and there's just one wide release in Don't Let Go, as we are looking at one of the all time terrible weekends ahead of us.
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Top Ten for Weekend of August 23-25, 2019
|
Rank |
Film |
Distributor |
Estimated
Gross ($) |
Weekly Change |
Cumulative
Gross ($) |
|
1
|
Angel Has Fallen
|
Lionsgate
|
21.2
|
New
|
21.2
|
|
2
|
Good Boys
|
Universal
|
11.7
|
-45%
|
42.0
|
|
3
|
Overcomer
|
Sony Pictures
|
8.2
|
New
|
8.2
|
|
4
|
The Lion King
|
Walt Disney
|
8.1
|
-34%
|
510.6
|
|
5
|
Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw
|
Universal
|
8.1
|
-43%
|
147.7
|
|
6
|
Ready or Not
|
Fox Searchlight
|
7.5
|
New
|
10.5
|
|
7
|
The Angry Birds Movie 2
|
Sony Pictures
|
6.3
|
-39%
|
27.0
|
|
8
|
Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark
|
CBS Films
|
6.0
|
-40%
|
50.4
|
|
9
|
Dora and the Lost City of Gold
|
Paramount
|
5.2
|
-39%
|
43.0
|
|
10
|
Once Upon a Time...in Hollywood
|
Sony Pictures
|
5.0
|
-35%
|
123.1
|
|
Box office data supplied by Exhibitor Relations
|
|
|
|
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