Weekend Wrap-Up: Magnificent Wins Weekend with $34.70 million, but Box Office Slump Continues
September 27, 2016
Is it time to panic? Not yet, but we are definitely getting concerned. The overall box office was soft due to the weaker than expected openings of The Magnificent Seven and Storks. Neither bombed exactly, but they weren’t particular strong either. The overall box office rose 16% from last weekend, but was down 25% from this weekend last year. Ouch. You usually only see that large a change in the year-over-year comparison when there is a misalignment in holidays. Year-to-date, 2016’s lead over 2015 dropped to 6.3% or $490 million at $8.35 billion to $7.86 billion.
The Magnificent Seven earned first place with ease, but mainly because the competition was weaker than expected. Granted, a $34.70 million opening is good for September, but the film cost $90 million to make, so the studio isn’t exactly going to be overjoyed here. That said, the reviews are mostly positive and Denzel Washington’s films tends to have good legs. For example, The Equalizer had a nearly identical opening and reached $100 million domestically. That’s the target for The Magnificent Seven.
Storks opened in a distant second place with $21.31 million. Like the above film, this isn’t a terrible opening for a September release, but it cost $70 million to make, so it will need good legs to break even. Fortunately, its reviews improved over the weekend so it could do well in the coming weeks. It will need help internationally and on the home market to break even.
On the other hand, Sully is racing towards $100 million, after pulling in $13.54 million over the weekend, lifting its running tally to $92.10 million. It will top $100 million this coming weekend making it one of the few bright spots of the month.
Bridget Jones’s Baby fell a little faster than anticipated down 46% to $4.66 million over the weekend for a two-week total of $16.59 million. It cost $35 million to make and it won’t match that domestically. However, it will likely earn more than that in its native U.K. alone. Its international numbers will lead it to profitability.
Snowden earned fifth place with $4.06 million over the weekend for a ten-day total of $15.05 million. Meanwhile, Blair Witch was a rounding error behind at $4.05 million over the weekend for a total of $16.23 million.
The only other sophomore stint movie was Hillsong: Let Hope Rise. This film fell 69% to just $415,000 over the weekend for a running tally of $2.10 million after two weeks of release. It will be all but gone from theaters by Friday.
- The Magnificent Seven Comparisons
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- Storks Comparisons
Filed under: Weekend Wrap-up, Bridget Jones’s Baby, Hillsong: Let Hope Rise, Snowden, The Magnificent Seven, Storks, Sully, Blair Witch, Denzel Washington