Overstocked holiday edition
Memorial Day Weekend used to be the kickoff to the blockbuster season, but Hollywood has been in full-on summer mode for weeks already. Studios have long desired to extend the flush summer frame, and that has led to a problem.
Theaters right now are literally overrun with blockbusters at the moment, and as a result none are given the room to fully flex their box office muscle. The top 3 films this week are fan-boy-service friendly, and as that may be a heady time for some fans the result is overall titles are not permitted to realize their full potential. Tickets do get sold, but the overall haul for these films will be impacted in the long run. However, if you have the desire to spend an entire day at the cineplex, this is a great weekend to hibernate in their confines.
1. SOLO: A STAR WARS STORY – $83.325/101.2 Million
Once projected to pull in between $130-150 million this has become a disappointment on par with “Justice League”. There was plenty of negative advance word about the production but the main problem for this title is that is is facing a bloated marketplace, and this comes in probably too close to the release this winter of “The Last Jedi”. While this title may be lower the overall weekend is strong, with a 27% increase over last year. “Deadpool 2” and “Infinity War” are competing for the same audience, and they combined for almost $75 million. That is a significant amount of distraction away from a Star Wars title. While time will be needed to call it an outright failure Disney/Marvel did drop a high amount on the budget and marketing. It will be a challenge from here to see a profit.
2. DEADPOOL 2 – $42.7/53.5m
A steep drop of -66% is not alarming here given the expected drop off from a front-loaded debut, and the heavy competition. It has been strong overseas, roping in an additional $200 million. Ryan Reynolds has been so happy with the results he tweeted out a thank you video to fans.
To everyone seeing #deadpool2 this weekend: Thank You For Being A Friend. ⚔️ pic.twitter.com/I6Tz3Nawsx
— Ryan Reynolds (@VancityReynolds) May 25, 2018
3. AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR – $16.49/20.6m
The numbers are just boggling. It has become the second fastest title to hit $600 million domestic and sits at #8 all time, and with $1.86 billion it is #4 globally all time, and still going. The weeks ahead will be worth watching to see how it settles in historically.
4. BOOK CLUB – $9.4/12.0m
Following an okay open last week this one held up well as the primary adult feature, falling off just -30%. The comedy surrounding older ladies seems one of the few options for the grown ups.
5. LIFE OF THE PARTY – $4.9/6.4m
The Melissa McCarthy comedy has been mostly performing below expectations, and it is dropping screens already (losing over 700 this week). But it has edged itself over the $40 million level – a mild surprise, though it needs about double that to start seeing a profit.
6. BREAKING IN – $4.1/5.3m
This genre thriller is into its fade out phase already, but Universal is not complaining. This was to be a token theatrical release to set things up to market it for the secondary outlets (cable, DVD, etc) but this $6 million picture has managed to gross over $35 million. Found money for the studio.
7. SHOW DOGS – $3.0/4.0m
A dismal family release, while being ignored it managed to create a controversy, as the studio was obliged to cut out scenes that carried dialogue similar to what sex abusers use, in what is basically a kids film.
8. OVERBOARD – $2.9/3.6m
This one just begs for the film review puns — “Overboard” underwhelms, underperforms, is under water, should be thrown under a bus…
9. A QUIET PLACE – $2.1/2.6m
After 2 months it is still sitting in 1,500 theaters, as it has earned $180 million domestic, and now over $300 million globally.
10. RBG – $1/1.2m
This plucky little documentary about Ruth Bader Ginsburg has managed to keep sneaking into the top-10 as it adds screens each week (now showing on over 400) while finding its audience.
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