OPENINGS: THE EQUALIZER 2 (Escape Artists/Columbia Sony) rode a relatively stable Saturday (down 5% from Friday) to a $35.8M weekend win, up about 5% from the opening for the first Equalizer in 2014. That film had an 8% Saturday bump, suggesting that the sequel, like most sequels, will burn out faster than the original, but it should still end up close to Equalizer‘s $101.5M US total. The question is whether that will be enough for profitability, since Equalizer 2 reportedly cost about $15M more than the first installment. The answer will depend on its international results, which are TBD, since the sequel has only opened in 11 territories with $3.3M to date.
MAMMA MIA! HERE WE GO AGAIN (Perfect World/Universal) suffered greatly from front-loading, with a big 23% Saturday drop. (The first Mamma Mia! slipped less than 1% on its initial Saturday, although some of that was because its Friday didn’t also include millions from Thursday night.) The result was a $34.4M weekend that was nevertheless up 24% from the first film. Still, it’s clear that Here We Go Again won’t have anything like the amazing 4.2x multiple as its predecessor, which reached $144.1M in the US. $125M would be fine, so long as the sequel has the same kind of international strength as the first film, which more than tripled its US total overseas. It has $42.4M to start, in 41 markets.
UNFRIENDED: DARK WEB (BH Tilt/Blumhouse/Universal) opened with $3.5M, which is nowhere near the $15.8M opening of the first Unfriended, even taking into account the fact that it’s in 55% as many theatres. That opening is also somewhat below the $4.7M opening for BH Tilt’s last title Upgrade, and suggests Dark Web may not get to $10M, dicey even with its tiny production and marketing costs.
HOLDOVERS: The difference between a summer and fall opening is demonstrated by HOTEL TRANSYLVANIA 3: SUMMER VACATION (Sony Animation/Columbia/Sony). Although its Weekend 2 drop of 48% (to $23.2M) was far worse than the first two entries in the series (36%/32%), its midweek numbers have been double or better what those films earned. The result is that despite having the lowest 2nd weekend of the series, it has the highest 10-day total, and should get close to the $169.7M of Transylvania 2. It’s at $115M overseas, after a $37.7M weekend in 51 territories, with major markets like the UK and France still to come.
ANT-MAN & THE WASP (Marvel/Disney) shed 45% in its 3rd weekend to $16.1M, a bit better than the first Ant-Man, which dropped 49% in its parallel weekend. It’s still likely to nose its way to $200M before it’s done in the US. Overseas, it’s at $188.9M after a $21.6M weekend in 46 territories, with many major markets including China, the UK and Germany still to open
INCREDIBLES 2 (Pixar/Disney) slipped just 29% in its 6th weekend to $11.5M, as it makes its way to $575M in the US. It’s at $383.1M overseas, after a $36.5M weekend in 42 markets.
JURASSIC WORLD: FALLEN KINGDOM (Legendary/Perfect World/Universal) is holding well, down 32% in its 5th weekend to $11M, and now looking likely to get past $400M in the US. (Still down almost 40% from the first Jurassic World.) It’s a monster overseas with $813M to date, down about 20% from its predecessor.
SKYSCRAPER (Legendary/Universal) is well on its way to being done in the US, down 56% in its 2nd weekend to $11M on its way to perhaps $70M. Its only chance for profit lies overseas, where it’s at $132.8M after a $75M weekend in 67 territories, which includes its $47.7M opening in China. That number probably isn’t high enough to propel the picture out of red ink.
THE FIRST PURGE (Blumhouse/Perfect World/Universal) continued on pace for $70M in the US, down 47% to $5M in its 3rd weekend, which would put it ahead of the original Purge and behind the other sequels. Overseas, it’s at $36.3M.
SORRY TO BOTHER YOU (Annapurna) dropped 33% to $2.8M in its 2nd wide weekend, but that’s not quite as good as it looks, since it also expanded its footprint by 30%. (Weekend per-theatre average was down 49%.) It will hope to reach $20M in the US.
LIMITED RELEASE: BLINDSPOTTING (Summit/Lionsgate) opened at 14 theatres with an OK $24K average, significantly below the $46.5K average Sorry To Bother You had at 16. The documentary MCQUEEN (Bleecker Street) opened at 4 with a $24K average. 3 IDENTICAL STRANGERS (Neon) is reporting a fair expansion to 332 with a $4300 average (a bit below the $5200 average that Won’t You Be My Neighbor had at 348), but that number may come down, since it assumes an unusually strong Sunday. LEAVE NO TRACE (Bleecker Street) widened to 361 with a $2500 average. EIGHTH GRADE (A24) expanded well to 33 with a $24K average, not that far off the pace of Lady Bird‘s $32K average at 37. DON’T WORRY, HE WON’T GET FAR ON FOOT (Amazon) is reporting a $4300 average after an expansion to 62 theatres, but that number is extremely suspect as it assumes a 6% Sunday increase even though the film fell 19% last Sunday.
NEXT WEEKEND: The summer’s last mega-movie is MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE: FALLOUT (Paramount), with counterprogramming from the animated TEEN TITANS GO! TO THE MOVIES (Warners). In limited release, PUZZLE (Sony Classics) begins its run.
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