Weekend Wrap-Up: Ford v Ferrari has no Competition at the Box Office
November 18, 2019
Ford v Ferrari had a good opening over the weekend, but unfortunately, it was only good and not great. Furthermore, it was the only film that had a good weekend. The other two new releases crashed and burned, while the holdovers couldn’t compensate for this weakness. The overall box office fell 11% from last weekend to just $108 million, which was 37% lower than the same weekend last year. The year-to-date numbers don’t look any better, as 2019 is now behind 2018’s pace by a margin of 6.5% or $660 million at $9.47 billion to $10.13 billion. Worse still, 2019 has fallen behind 2016’s pace. Things need to turn around and fast.
Ford v Ferrari opened in first place with $31.47 million over the weekend, which is almost as much as the rest of the top five earned. The film also earned the best reviews and an A plus from CinemaScore, so it should have really long legs. With a little luck, and some Awards Season success, it could even reach $100 million domestically.
Midway matched expectations nearly perfectly with a sophomore stint of $8.51 million giving it a total of $34.90 million after two weeks of release. It is on pace to top its production budget domestically, so if it can merely match this figure internationally, it will be in a great position to break even sometime during its home market run.
Charlie’s Angels only managed third place with just $8.35 million during its opening weekend. This is less than half of what most were expecting and low enough that theater owners won’t be interested in keeping it around longer than they need to. Additionally, its reviews are merely mixed and it only managed a B plus from CinemaScore, which is a little below average for a film like this. Short legs will ensure it loses money after a start like this.
Playing with Fire was right behind with $8.33 million over the weekend for a running tally of $25.28 million after two weeks of release. This is a great hold, but direct competition will crush it this coming weekend.
Last Christmas managed to hold onto a spot in the top five with $6.49 million over the weekend for a total of $22.37 million after two. A 43% sophomore stint decline would normally be great news, but I fear this is too little, too late.
Doctor Sleep was down 57% to just $6.01 million giving it a two-week total of $24.87 million. Its theater average is low enough that it will start losing theaters very soon.
This takes us to The Good Liar, which earned seventh place with just $5.61 million. The film’s reviews are not too bad, but it only managed a B from CinemaScore, which is a terrible omen. Word-of-mouth will hurt it enough that theater owners will be looking to drop it before December rolls around.
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Filed under: Weekend Wrap-up, Frozen II, Charlie’s Angels, The Good Liar, Midway, Doctor Sleep, Ford v. Ferrari, Last Christmas, Playing with Fire