Weekend Wrap-Up: Toy Story Can’t Overcome Box Office Woes
July 2, 2019
June ended with shrug, as the weekend was neither a success nor a disaster. Toy Story 4 was the top draw, but it fell faster than most family films do, down 51% to $59.70 million. Annabelle Comes Home had the weakest opening in the franchise, while Yesterday did well as counter-programming, but that’s all. The overall box office fell 26% from last weekend and, more importantly, 15% from the same weekend last year. Year-to-date, 2019 has fallen behind 2018’s pace by a margin of 9.5% or $580 million at $5.52 billion to $6.10 billion. At the beginning of June, I thought 2019 would have cut into 2018’s lead by $100 million, but that clearly didn’t happen.
Toy Story 4 matched predictions perfectly falling 51% to $59.70 million over the weekend for a two-week total of $238.69 million. This is more than the film cost to make, so it should have no trouble breaking even before too long, but the film won’t match its predecessor at the box office. It should come relatively close with well over $350 million and $400 million domestically can’t be entirely ruled out.
Annabelle Comes Home opened with $20.27 million over the weekend for a five-day debut of $31.10 million. This is the weakest three-day opening in the franchise; in fact, its five-date opening isn’t that much ahead of The Curse of La Llorona’s three-day opening. The film’s reviews and its B minus from CinemaScore suggest decent legs, for a horror movie, so it will be very profitable in the end. It just won’t match original expectations.
Yesterday was a pleasant surprise earning $17.01 million, which is a strong start for a film that reportedly cost $26 million to make. Its reviews are good, but far from great. On the other hand, it managed an A from CinemaScore, so audiences clearly loved the movie more than critics did. There’s also not a lot of direct competition in the coming weeks, so it could have surprisingly long legs.
Aladdin added $10.11 million to its running tally over the weekend, which now sits at $306.63 million. This film has been the biggest positive surprise of the summer. It has also been one of the few positive surprises of the summer.
The Secret Life of Pets 2 beat expectations by a small margin earning $7.32 million over the weekend for a four-week total of $131.43 million. It could reach $150 million in the end, which is more than enough to make a profit, but I don’t think it will be enough to justify another installment in the franchise.
Avengers: Endgame returned to the top ten with $6.11 million over the weekend for a ten-week total of $841.89 million. Its domestic total isn’t that important. What’s important is its place on the all-time worldwide chart, as the film is just $14.62 million behind Avatar for top spot. Will this result be enough to earn first place? I think it will be, especially with Spider-Man: Far From Home debuting this week.
There were two other films in the sophomore class to talk about. Child’s Play fell 69% to just $4.43 million over the weekend for a total of $23.56 million after two weeks of release. This sharp decline is disappointing, but the film reportedly only cost $10 million to make, so it will be fine financially. Anna fell 59% to just $1.48 million over the weekend for a two-week total of $6.71 million. The film was made for international audiences, but it is too soon to tell if it will do well globally.
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Filed under: Weekend Wrap-up, Avengers: Endgame, Toy Story 4, The Secret Life of Pets 2, Spider-Man: Far From Home, The Curse of La Llorona, Aladdin, Anna, Yesterday, Child’s Play, Annabelle Comes Home, The Conjuring, The Secret Life of Pets