Weekend Wrap-Up
By Tim Briody
January 26, 2020
It's a much more on brand January weekend as the new releases disappoint and Bad Boys For Life easily passes the $100 million mark.
Bad Boys For Life does drop 46% from opening weekend, but still earns $34 million to give it an impressive $120.6 million in two weekends. That's a figure that will let the film hold the title of 2020's biggest for quite a while (I don't think Birds of Prey is the one, it might be Pixar's Onward in March). Because the previous two films were released in different box office epochs, Bad Boys For Life will be the highest earner of the three films by next weekend, passing the $138.5 million of Bad Boys II, though that's $209 million in today's dollars. Still, with a budget of $90 million, Sony's going to be very happy here, even if it falls short of $200 million. It's actually on its way to be of the biggest January new release of all time, surpassing luminaries such as Paul Blart: Mall Cop ($146.2 million in 2009) and Kung Fu Panda 3 ($143.5 million in 2016).
Second goes to prohibitive Best Picture favorite, 1917. Dipping just 28% to $15.8 million, the war film crosses $100 million as it now has $103.8 million after three weekends in wide release. It earned the DGA award for Sam Mendes this weekend, another feather in its cap as it heads for the big prize this year.
Robert Downey, Jr.'s Dolittle drops 43% to $12.5 million and $44.6 million in two weekends. The $175 budget is still weighing heavy on this one, and it's not even over $100 million yet with the worldwide earnings.
The first opener of the weekend places fourth as The Gentlemen earns $11 million. A return to form for director Guy Ritchie, fresh off the biggest film of his career (did you know he directed Aladdin? I didn't because it wasn't a caper film where Aladdin, The Genie and Jasmine plan the robbery of Jafar), it's an action comedy starring Matthew McConaughey, Charlie Hunnam, Henry Golding, Jeremy Strong, with Colin Farrell and Hugh Grant included just for kicks. Generally positive reviews (72% Fresh at Rotten Tomatoes), but Ritchie's original films have never really been big hits. He pays the mortgage with movies like Aladdin and the Sherlock Holmes films so he gets to keep making the type of movies that put him on the map. It's not sure how much it cost to make, but STX will probably be happy with their return on The Gentlemen.
Jumanji: The Next Level continues to find an extra life, sliding 19% to $7.9 million in its seventh weekend and $283.4 million to date. Still in fifth place for the weekend, it's starting to echo the performance of Welcome to the Jungle, just on a smaller scale. Where $300 million initially seemed out of reach, it's looking like it gets there after all.
Sixth goes to the other opener this weekend, horror entry The Turning, taking in $7.3 million. Critically destroyed (12% Fresh at Rotten Tomatoes), it also earned an F CinemaScore from audiences, the second time that's happened this year. And it's still January. Made cheaply, with a reported budget of $14 million, Universal is probably going to break even on this one as a best case scenario.
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker stumbles over the $500 million mark in its sixth weekend with $5.1 million and $501.5 million to date. Ladies and gentlemen, we may have the first ever $500 million disappointment. I feel safe in saying that it's now going to finish under Rogue One, which earned $532.1 million. Interpret it how you will (reception to TROS, reception to The Last Jedi, how moviegoing habits have changed rapidly in the last couple years), but very few people saw any of this coming before the opening.
Little Women also holds on, dipping just 26% to $4.7 million in its fifth weekend and $93.7 million since Christmas Day. Set to cross $100 million in a weekend or two, Greta Gerwig has established herself as one of the best young directors in the business in just two films.
Just Mercy adds $4 million in its third wide weekend, giving it $27 million to date. Still no information on the budget, but that's a perfectly acceptable performance for something shut out of the major awards.
Knives Out takes us home this week as it crosses $150 million with $3.6 million and $151.8 million since a Thanksgiving opening. A big win for Rian Johnson, who had no comment on the performance of The Rise of Skywalker.
The top 12 films this weekend earned $110.6 million, which thanks to the strength of Bad Boys 4 Life, easily tops last weekend when the second weekend of Glass led with $18.8 million and the top films could only muster $79.8 million.
Super Bowl weekend is yet another weekend when the studios take a pass, so we get more mid to low tier releases in (another) horror entry Gretel & Hansel and action thriller The Rhythm Section, starring Blake Lively and Jude Law.
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Top Ten for Weekend of January 24-26, 2020
|
Rank |
Film |
Distributor |
Estimated
Gross ($) |
Weekly Change |
Cumulative
Gross ($) |
|
1
|
Bad Boys For Life
|
Sony Pictures
|
34.0
|
-46%
|
120.6
|
|
2
|
1917
|
Universal
|
15.8
|
-28%
|
103.8
|
|
3
|
Dolittle
|
Universal
|
12.5
|
-43%
|
44.6
|
|
4
|
The Gentlemen
|
STX Entertainment
|
11.0
|
New
|
11.0
|
|
5
|
Jumanji: The Next Level
|
Sony Pictures
|
7.9
|
-19%
|
283.4
|
|
6
|
The Turning
|
Universal
|
7.3
|
New
|
7.3
|
|
7
|
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker
|
Walt Disney
|
5.1
|
-38%
|
501.5
|
|
8
|
Little Women
|
Sony Pictures
|
4.7
|
-26%
|
93.7
|
|
9
|
Just Mercy
|
Warner Bros.
|
4.0
|
-30%
|
27.0
|
|
10
|
Knives Out
|
Lionsgate
|
3.6
|
-15%
|
151.8
|
|
Box office data supplied by Exhibitor Relations
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