Weekend Wrap-Up: Bad Boys’ Box Office Boon Balances Mixed Opening Results

January 28, 2020

Bad Boys for Life saved the box office this weekend earning $34.01 million, which was more than The Gentlemen and The Turning earned combined. Granted, the overall box office was still down 27% from last weekend, but it is a post-holiday weekend, so this decline was expected. More importantly, it was 23% higher than the same weekend last year and this helped 2020 continue its early winning streak. 2020 is now ahead of 2019’s early pace by 8.2% / $63 million at $828 million to $765 million. It is still way to early to make any projections for the end of the year, but any lead 2020 can build up now will help it during the slower stretches of the year.

Bad Boys for Life dipped just 46% for $34.01 million over the weekend for a two-week total of $120.66 million. Even with strong reviews and an A-rating from CinemaScore, this is a better than expected and we have to reconsider how well it will do long term. We will have to see how well it holds up against the Super Bowl this weekend, as it does share a lot of its target audience with that sporting event. That said, I am cautiously optimistic about its chances next weekend and going forward.

1917 also held on better than expected down a mere 28% to $15.92 million over the weekend for a running tally of $104.00 million. $150 million domestically seems likely at this point, especially if the film can convert Oscar nominations into wins.

Dolittle matched expectations nearly perfectly with $12.20 million over the weekend for a two-week total of $44.38 million. Decent legs can help it save face, but that’s all it can really hope for now.

The Gentlemen opened in fourth place with $10.65 million, which is more than the $7 million STX Entertainment paid for the American distribution rights. That is just America and not even Canada. The film has an older target demographic, so that should help its legs, as will its reviews. On the other hand, it only managed a B plus from CinemaScore, which is not good enough to help its legs, but not poor enough to hurt. Solidly mediocre.

Jumanji: The Next Level managed a spot in the top five thanks to an incredibly small 21% decline. The film added $7.70 million over the weekend to its running tally, which now sits at $283.25 million after seven weeks of release. Unless the film collapses during Super Bowl weekend, it will have enough legs to get to $300 million domestically.

The Turning just missed the top five with $6.95 million during its opening weekend. It has some of the worst reviews of the year so far and it became the second film released in 2020 to earn an F-rating from CinemaScore. Horror movies already tend to have short legs and the reactions from critics and audiences won’t help. That said, it is a low-budget horror movie, so it could still break even, eventually.

Finally, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker crossed $500 million domestically over the weekend. It earned $5.57 million over the weekend for a total of $501.98 million after six weeks release. The film is the third film released in 2019 to get to that milestone domestically and currently sits in 15th place on the all-time domestic chart. It will climb one more spot, as Beauty and the Beast is just ahead of it.

- Weekend Box Office Chart
- Friday Box Office Chart
- Thursday Box Office Chart

- Weekend Estimates
- Friday Estimates
- Thursday Previews
- Weekend Predictions
- Theater Counts

- All-time Domestic Chart
- 2019 Domestic Chart
- 2020 Domestic Chart

C.S.Strowbridge

Filed under: Weekend Wrap-up, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, Bad Boys For Life, Dolittle, Jumanji: The Next Level, The Turning, The Gentlemen, 1917