Weekend Estimates: Impossible Tops Chart with Franchise Best $61.5 million Debut

July 29, 2018

Mission: Impossible—Fallout

Mission: Impossible—Fallout dominated the weekend box office chart with $61.5 million over the weekend. This is the best opening in the franchise, unless you take inflation into account. Assuming the film can have the same legs as Rogue Nation, it will be able to top $200 million domestically. The film’s reviews and its A from CinemaScore, and the nearly total lack of quality competition in August, make that seem likely; however, I think we should wait a week before predicting a final box office tally. Internationally, the film made $92 million in 36 markets, which is close to 20% higher than Rogue Nation’s debuts in those markets, which should be enough to keep Paramount happy. Although given the studio’s struggles in the past few years, if the film was just marginally profitable, it would have been reason for Paramount to celebrate.

Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again! plummeted 57% to $15.0 million over the weekend for a two-week total of $70.4 million. It will hit $100 million, if it can recover next weekend. If it drops a similar amount next weekend, then theater owners will be looking to drop it before it can get to the century mark. Its international numbers are better with a weekend haul of $26.6 million in 46 markets for a running tally of $96.8 million. It won’t live up to the first film, but it will break even sooner rather than later.

The Equalizer 2 also fell quickly, down 61% to $14.0 million for a ten-day total of $64.2 million. Unless the film falls only 50% next weekend, even the weak action films coming out in August are going to push this film out of theaters. Unfortunately, its early international numbers are not strong enough to compensate for this result. Its biggest market is Australia, where it has $4.2 million after two weeks.

Up next is Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation. It’s down 48% to $12.31 million over the weekend for a total of $119.23 million after three weeks of release. There’s no real direct competition coming out in theaters any time soon, so it could have long trailing legs. That said, it will likely finish a little below average for the franchise.

Teen Titans Go! To the Movie only managed fifth place during its opening weekend with $10.51 million. That is more than it cost to make, so it is not a bomb, but it will need a lot of help on the home market to break even. Or, it could boost the TV show’s profitability enough that its theatrical numbers won’t matter. That’s the benefit of brand synergy like this. As for the film’s long term chances, its reviews look great, but it only managed a B plus from CinemaScore, which is weak for a family film.

Looking at the limited releases, Scotty and the Secret History of Hollywood had a strong start with $30,941 in one theater. Meanwhile, Puzzle opened with an average of $12,673 in five theaters.

- Weekend Box Office Chart

- Mission: Impossible—Fallout Comparisons
- Teen Titans Go! To The Movies Comparisons

Filed under: Weekend Estimates, The Equalizer 2, Mission: Impossible—Fallout, Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation, Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again!, Teen Titans Go! To The Movies, Puzzle, Scotty and the Secret History of Hollywood, Mission: Impossible, Hotel Transylvania