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November 4, 2018
 

Behind the US/Worldwide Weekend Box Office – 11.4.2018

 

OPENINGS:  BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY (Regency/20th) is claiming a round-number $50M weekend, but even if that drifts down a bit in final numbers, it’s still a huge win.  The box office was steady from Friday to Saturday, which indicates a wide range of audience and strong word of mouth, and it has plenty of open road with no direct competition ahead.  It’s similarly big overseas, where it had a $72.5M weekend in 64 markets (a few more, including Japan, are still to come), giving it a $91.7M total including last week’s launch in the UK.  Bohemian should easily top $300M worldwide, and may go significantly higher, providing plenty of profit on $125M in production/marketing costs.

THE NUTCRACKER AND THE FOUR REALMS (Disney) is a rare speed bump for the studio synonymous with family entertainment.  Its US weekend was bleak at $20M, and it’s facing The Grinch in just a few days.  Things were a little better overseas, but not enough, with $38.5M in 45 territories that included China (Australia, France and Japan are among those still to open).  This was an expensive production, probably totaling $225M with marketing, and breakeven seems like a longshot.

NOBODY’S FOOL (Paramount) can’t have been anyone’s idea of a good start to Tyler Perry’s new distribution deal with Paramount after more than a decade with Lionsgate.  Its $14M opening is the 3rd worst of Perry’s directing career, only ahead of 2007’s Daddy’s Little Girls, and 2014’s Single Moms ClubFool may reach $35M in the US (it also earned under $300K in a small international opening), and even though he keeps his production budgets low, Paramount’s marketing campaign probably ate up any hope of profit.

HOLDOVERS:  A STAR IS BORN (MGM/Warners) held exceptionally, down a tiny 21% to $11.1M in its 5th weekend, and now seems to be on track for $185M in the US.  Overseas, it’s at $128.3M after a $13.9M weekend in 73 markets, with Japan opening next month.

HALLOWEEN (Blumhouse/Miramax/Universal) had a post-holiday 65% plunge to $11M, which should still get it to $170M in the US.  It’s at $79.2M overseas after an $18.3M weekend in 66 territories, with Japan not scheduled to open until Spring 2019.  The 2018 edition will more than triple the (unadjusted for inflation) next-highest worldwide total of any other installment of the franchise.

VENOM (Tencent/Columbia/Sony) continues to hold quite well, down 26% to $7.9M in its 5th weekend as it heads to $215M in the US.  Given its genre, it’s much bigger overseas, where it’s at $342.9M after a $15.6M weekend in 65 markets, and with China to be unleashed next weekend.

SMALLFOOT (Warners Animation) dipped 20% to $3.8M in its 6th weekend, on its way to $85M in the US.  It needed to make up ground overseas, but that isn’t really happening, with a $115.2M total after a $12.1M weekend in 77 territories.

GOOSEBUMPS 2: HAUNTED HALLOWEEN (Sony Animation/Columbia/Sony) suffered from the end of its holiday season, down 49% to $3.7M in its 4th weekend, as it heads to $50M in the US.  It’s at a bleak $38.6M overseas after a $9M weekend in 44 markets.

HUNTER KILLER (Millenium/Summit Premiere/Lionsgate) dropped 47% to $3.5M, and may barely reach $20M in the US.  It hasn’t opened yet internationally.

THE HATE U GIVE (20th) was actually up slightly on a per-theatre basis, but it lost 37% of its homes, dropping the weekend total by 33% to $3.4M.  Despite the seemingly solid word of mouth, it may not get past $30M in the US.  It has $2.1M overseas in early release.

BEAUTIFUL BOY (Amazon) expanded to the low end of wide release at 540 theatres, and had an inauspicious $2600 per-theatre weekend average for a $1.4M total.

MID90S (A24) fell a sharp 54% to $1.4M in its 2nd weekend of wide release, translating into a weak $1200 per-theatre average.

JOHNNY ENGLISH STRIKES AGAIN (Universal) lost 36% to $1M in its 2nd week of semi-wide US release.  It may not get much past $5M here, but things couldn’t be more different overseas, where it’s at $118.3M after a $5.7M weekend, with China and Japan yet to open.

LIMITED RELEASE:  BOY ERASED (Focus/Universal) had a fair start with a $44K per-theatre average at 5 NY/LA arthouses.  A PRIVATE WAR (Aviron) was thinner with an $18K average at 4.  MARIA BY CALLAS (Sony Classics) averaged $9500 at 16.  CAN YOU EVER FORGIVE ME? (Fox Searchlight) expanded to 180 theatres with an OK $6K average.  SUSPIRIA (Amazon) jumped from 2 theatres to 311 with a dim $3100 average.  WILDLIFE (IFC) averaged $2300 at 55.  THE HAPPY PRINCE (Sony Classics) had a disastrous expansion to 277 theatres with a $300 average.  BURNING (Well Go) averaged $9600 at 6.  BORDER (Neon) averaged $4300 at 12.  WHAT THEY HAD (Bleecker Street) widened to 37 with a sad $1000 average.  VIPER CLUB (YouTube/Roadside) couldn’t reach a $400 average with an expansion to 70.

NEXT WEEKEND:  THE GRINCH (Illumination/Universal) tells the old story one more time, while THE GIRL IN THE SPIDER’S WEB (MGM/Columbia/Sony) amounts to a reboot of its franchise, with an entirely new creative team. In addition, OVERLORD (Paramount) provides some post-Halloween horror.  The most interesting development of the weekend occurs in limited release, where the Coen Brothers’ THE BALLAD OF BUSTER SCRUGGS (Netflix) becomes its studio’s first film to get a theatrical release before its streaming premiere.  However, it appears that Netflix, which is paying a rental fee to the theatres involved, will not be reporting any box office results.

 



About the Author

Mitch Salem
MITCH SALEM has worked on the business side of the entertainment industry for 20 years, as a senior business affairs executive and attorney for such companies as NBC, ABC, USA, Syfy, Bravo, and BermanBraun Productions, and before that, at the NY law firm of Weil, Gotshal & Manges. During all that, he has more or less constantly been going to the movies and watching TV, and writing about both since the 1980s. His film reviews also currently appear on screened.com and the-burg.com. In addition, he is co-writer of an episode of the television series "Felicity."