Weekend Wrap-Up: Summer Ends on a Sweet Note with Crazy Rich Asians Crossing $100 million
September 5, 2018
Crazy Rich Asians came close enough to our predictions over the weekend that I’m willing to call it a victory. The only other film to earn more than $10 million over the three-date weekend was The Meg. This wasn’t enough to help the overall box office grow, but the overall box office only fell 3.6% when compared to last weekend earning $99 million. It is a little disappointing to drop below the $100 million mark, but it could have been much worse. Speaking of much worse, this weekend last year, the overall box office was just $76 million, meaning 2018 improved on the three-day mark by 29% and stretched its year-to-date lead. 2018 now sits 10.6% or $790 million ahead of 2017 at $8.22 billion to $7.43 million. The lead won’t remain this large for long, not with It’s opening on the horizon. That said, it would take a spectacular collapse for 2018 to completely lose this lead.
Crazy Rich Asians didn’t do quite as well as predicted over the three-day weekend, but did better than expected on Monday, given it a weekend haul of $21.96 million / $28.58 million. By the end of business on Monday, the film had earned $117.30 million domestically, making it the fourth film Warner Bros. released this year to get to the $100 million mark. (I keep forgetting Ready Player One came out this year.) On the other hand, Warner Bros. hasn’t had a single film come close to $200 million this year, but before you feel too bad for the studio, it did reach $1 billion domestically over the weekend and its two biggest films of the year, Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald and Aquaman, come out this holiday season. They’re doing just fine.
The Meg remained in second place with $10.54 million / $13.82 million. Unlike the previous film, this one performed a little better over the three-day weekend, but a little weaker on Monday. By the end of business on Monday, the film had pulled in $123.80 million domestically. It still has a shot at matching its $150 million production budget, but even if it doesn’t, it has made enough worldwide to break even during its initial push onto the home market.
Mission: Impossible—Fallout remained in third place over the weekend, meaning it will likely be in the top five next weekend as well. Impressive. The film added $7.03 million / $9.32 million over the weekend for a six-week total of $206.66 million after six weeks of release. It is the first release from Paramount to get to that milestone in far too long. It also won’t be long before it becomes the biggest domestic hit in the franchise.
As expected, the next three movies were intertwined at the box office. Searching earned fourth place over the three-day weekend with $6.07 million, but sunk to sixth on Monday with $1.55 million. This has more to do with target demographic than it does with quality, as the film’s reviews are amazing. Its three-day theater average was $5,026, which is enough to warrant some further expansion, but I’m not sure it will go truly wide.
Operation Finale was right behind with $6.02 million over the three-day weekend and fifth over four days with $7.87 million. Its six-day opening of $9.60 million is closer to what many were expecting it would earn over three days. The film’s reviews are positive and it earned an A minus from CinemaScore, so it could have good legs.
Christopher Robin missed the top five over the three-day weekend with $5.28 million while it earned fourth place on Monday with $1.92 million. Its running tally after Monday was $87.61 million, which could be enough to get to $100 million domestically, if Disney gives it a push.
Kin bombed with just $3.04 million / $3.87 million during its opening weekend. The film did better with audiences earning a B plus from CinemaScore than it did with critics, but a B plus is still just a merely okay result. It missed the Mendoza Line, so I suspect its days in theaters are numbered.
The Happytime Murders fell 54% during its third-day weekend with $4.38 million, for a ten-day total of $17.00 million earning $18.01 million including Monday. A 54% drop-off would normally be okay, but this is a holiday weekend, so it needed to do better. A.X.L. was only a little better down 52% to $1.36 million over the three-day weekend for a total of $5.67 million including Monday.
- Operation Finale Comparisons
- Searching Comparisons
- Kin Comparisons
Filed under: Weekend Wrap-up, Christopher Robin, The Happytime Murders, Mission: Impossible—Fallout, The Meg, Crazy Rich Asians, Kin, Operation Finale, Searching, A.X.L., Mission: Impossible