Weekend Wrap-Up: Curse Tops Chart, but 2019 Suffers Another Loss
April 23, 2019
Easter weekend gave box office watchers a few reasons to celebrate. The Curse of La Llorona topped expectations and earned first place with $26.35 million over the weekend. That’s a very strong debut for this time of year. Additionally, both Shazam and Captain Marvel held on amazingly well, which bodes well for their chances against Avengers: Endgame. Overall, the box office rose 1% from last weekend to $108 million. This was 14% lower than the same weekend last year, and it wasn’t Easter weekend last year. On a side note, I’ve seen some stories call this past weekend the worst Easter weekend in over a decade. However, this is misleading, as it was the first time Easter weekend was one weekend before the start of the Summer Blockbuster season. Avengers: Endgame opening on Friday had more to do with the weak box office than any other factor and if Endgame is as big as some box office analysts expect, then by this time next week, we will be talking about how quickly 2019 will turn things around rather than how bad 2019 has been. In the meantime, we’ve hopefully sunk to the low point in the year-over-year comparison, as 2019 is now behind 2018 by a $570 million or 17% margin at $2.84 billion to $3.41 billion.
The Curse of La Llorona debuted in first place with an impressive opening of $26.35 million. Granted, this is the weakest opening in The Conjuring franchise; however, the film also had the worst release date in the franchise as well. Additionally, it only cost $9 million to make, so even if it has very short legs, it will break even. Having short legs is likely, as horror films tend to not stick around in theaters very long and this film’s reviews are going to make its legs even shorter.
Shazam matched expectations perfectly with $16.46 million over the weekend for a total of $120.44 million after three weeks of release. On the one hand, its legs suggest it could top $160 million domestically. On the other hand, Avengers: Endgame comes out in just a few days and it could lose a lot of theaters as a result.
Breakthrough didn’t live up to its Wednesday debut, but it still earned $11.28 million over the weekend for a total opening of $14.79 million. The film’s reviews are only mixed, but it scored an A from CinemaScore, which is solid for a faith-based film. Additionally, its legs should be better than the other new releases from this week, because it doesn’t share a lot of its crossover audience as Avengers: Endgame, so it won’t get crushed this week. On the other hand, it will still get hurt, because a lot of people not interested in Endgame might just stay home to avoid the crowds.
Captain Marvel rose to fourth place with $9.11 million over the weekend for a seven-week total of $400.03 million. It became the 33rd film to reach $400 million domestically, the seventh film in the MCU to do so, and the first film of 2019 to get to that milestone.
Little rounded out the top five with $8.33 million for a two-week total of $29.26 million. It fell 46%, which is a solid sophomore stint for a family film and puts it on pace to become a midlevel hit.
Penguins bombed. It only managed $2.28 million during its opening weekend for a total opening of $3.23 million. It needed more than $3.23 million during the three-day weekend to be a success. This is a real disappointment, because its reviews and its A from CinemaScore were the best of the weekend and it really deserved to be seen by more.
The sophomore class really struggled. Missing Link did the best, but it only managed ninth place with $4.16 million over the weekend for a two-week total of $12.46 million. It only fell 30%, but this is way too little, way too late. Hellboy fell the most, and was down 67% to just $3.95 million over the weekend for a total of $19.75 million. So much for a franchise reboot. After fell out of the top ten with just $2.38 million over the weekend for a total of $10.32 million. The film seemed like a risk and it clearly didn’t pay off.
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Filed under: Weekend Wrap-up, Shazam!, Captain Marvel, Avengers: Endgame, Missing Link, The Curse of La Llorona, Hellboy, Penguins, Little, Breakthrough, After, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Conjuring