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 Club. Fool 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.
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