THE MUMMY (Perfect World/Universal) is a disaster, although the studio and its minions will try to spin otherwise through the course of the weekend. According to preliminary numbers at Deadline, it earned $12M on opening day ($2.7M of it from Thursday night), which puts it in line for a $30M weekend and a US total that may not get past $75M. The studio claims a production budget that would put total costs (with marketing) at around $275M, but other reports have the total as much as $100M higher. If we split the difference and account for other costs of release, Mummy won’t turn a profit even if it performs wildly well overseas and the US is only 20% of the worldwide total, especially since both reviews and exit polls suggest that word of mouth will be deadly. The worst part of this for Universal, of course, is that The Mummy isn’t just a one-time flop, but was intended as the kick-off for an entire “Dark Universe” of rebooted horror movies. Can the studio really follow this by investing hundreds of millions of dollars in a remake of The Bride of Frankenstein and an Invisible Man starring Johnny Depp? No doubt high-level discussions will be debating that very question.
The collapse of The Mummy was great for WONDER WOMAN (RatPac/Wanda/Ten Cent/DC/Warners), which was likely to hold well anyway, but still benefited from the lack of competition. Its Friday-to-Friday drop was 59% to $15.7M, much better than the 2d Friday drops for any of the summer’s other blockbusters (71% for Guardians 2, 80% for Alien: Covenant, and 73% for Pirates 5), while superhero genre drops for Marvel hits include 64% for The Avengers, 74% for Captain America: Civil War, and 68% for the first Guardians, and the DC universe has fared as badly if not worse, with drops of 72% for Man of Steel, 80% for Suicide Squad, and 82% for Batman v Superman. Wonder Woman should have a $55M weekend, and there’s a real chance it could become the highest-grossing DC title in the US, beating the $330.4M for Batman v Superman, despite having the lowest opening of the franchise.
The weekend’s other openings were relatively miniscule. IT COMES AT NIGHT (A24) only earned $2.6M on Thursday night/Friday at 2533 theatres, and may not reach $7M for the weekend despite strong reviews. MEGAN LEAVEY (Bleecker Street) was even lower, with a $1.1M Friday at 1956 theatres and a likely $3M weekend. MY COUSIN RACHEL (Fox Searchlight) barely in wide release at 523 theatres, is heading for a weak $1500 per-theatre average for the weekend.
CAPTAIN UNDERPANTS: THE FIRST EPIC MOVIE (DreamWorks Animation/20th) couldn’t make much of being the only family movie around for the weekend, and it fell 55% from last Friday to $3.6M, with a $13M weekend ahead. With Cars 3 just a week away, it may get to $75M in the US.
PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: DEAD MEN TELL NO TALES (Disney) continued its slide, down 53% from last Friday to $3M for a $10M weekend and an eventual US total of $155M or so.
GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL 2 (Marvel/Disney) dipped 35% on its 6th Friday to $1.7M, and it should have a $6M weekend and top $375M in the US.
BAYWATCH (Skydance/Shanghai/Huahua/Paramount) is nearly done, down 52% from last Friday to $1.2M for a $4M weekend and a US total that will struggle to pass $60M.
BEATRIZ AT DINNER (Roadside) entered limited release at 5 theatres, and is headed for an OK weekend per-theatre average of $20K.
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