This weekend is looking like a battle of the family films, with no clear victor at this point. THE BOSS BABY (DreamWorks Animation/20th) is performing quite a bit better than expected, with preliminary numbers at Deadline giving it nearly $15M on Friday (including $1.5M from Thursday night), which should lead it to a $50M weekend. That’s roughly similar to Home, another March DreamWorks Animation release 2 years ago, which had a $15.7M opening day and a $52.1M weekend, on its way to a $177.4M total in the US. (Its overseas result was less sunny for a big animated title at $208.6M.) The X factor for Boss Baby is that it may have more appeal than Home did for adults, considering that Alec Baldwin’s title characterization is just a few inches away from his roles on 30 Rock and as Donald Trump.
BEAUTY & THE BEAST (Disney), though, won’t go down without a fight. It dropped 45% from last Friday to $13M, and should also be just around $50M for the weekend. That would put it a bit below $400M in the US, with $500M within reach.
GHOST IN THE SHELL (DreamWorks/Reliance/Shanghai/Huahua/Paramount) is another in a long line of failed would-be franchise efforts from Paramount (which, not coincidentally, has just appointed a new studio head), assembling a dim $7.6M on Friday (inculding $1.8M from Thursday night) for a $20M weekend. Ghost carries around $225M in worldwide costs, which means it will join the line of action pictures needing major international overperformance just to escape being drowned by red ink. In the case of Ghost, its Asian setting may help, although the protests against the originally Japanese lead role being played by Scarlett Johansson might undercut that appeal.
POWER RANGERS (Lionsgate) proved to be heavily frontloaded, down a horror movie level 72% from last Friday to $4.1M for a $14M weekend. It might get to $90M in the US, another expensive fantasy spectacle in need of overseas help. LIFE (Columbia/Sony) also sagged, down 61% from its opening day to $1.7M, aiming for a $6M weekend and a dismal $35M US total. Despite awful reviews, CHIPS (Village Roadshow/Warners) seems to be benefiting from being the only comedy in the market, down a decent 55% from last Friday to $1.1M despite awful reviews. However, that’s still only going to get it to $4M for the weekend, and it will be lucky to reach $25M in the US.
KONG: SKULL ISLAND (Legendary/Tencent/Warners) is holding quite well, down 37% from last Friday to $2.3M for a $9M weekend, en route to $170M in the US, which would be down around $30M from Godzilla. LOGAN (TSG/20th) dipped 31% to $1.8M for a $7M weekend as it heads to $225M in the US. GET OUT (Blumhouse/QC/Universal) continues to be the champion holdover, down 31% on its 6th Friday to $1.7M, heading to a $6M weekend and perhaps $175M in the US.
THE ZOOKEEPER’S WIFE (Focus/Universal) opened at a quasi-wide 474 theatres with a fair $900K Friday as it attempts to run the playbook of Woman In Gold, the 2015 Holocaust-themed film that also opened in March and ran a $2.1M opening weekend (at fewer theatres) to a stirring $33.7M US total.
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