Weekend Wrap-Up: Is Despicable Becoming Disposable after $72.43 million Opening?
July 5, 2017
The weekend box office chart was as predicted, at least in terms of the order. Most of the new releases / top five had weaker openings / sharper declines. Despicable Me 3 still led the way, but with a more subdued $72.43 million. Baby Driver is hoping to earn that much in total after a $20.55 million / $29.58 million opening. This is almost as much as it cost to make. The House, on the other hand, was DOA with just $8.72 million. On the positive side, Monday and Tuesday were much stronger than usual, so rather than looking at the weekend box office and saying it is weaker than anticipated, we could instead say the weekend box office was stretched out over five days. Overall, the box office grew 20% from last week to $169 million. This is down 11% from the same weekend last year, but again, one could argue this is due to a misalignment in the Independence Day holiday. Year-to-date, 2017 is still ahead of 2016, but the lead shrank to under $30 million at $5.64 billion to $5.61 billion.
Despicable Me 3 topped the chart during its opening weekend, but it only managed $72.43 million. If you add in Monday and Tuesday, then the film pulled in $99.02 million, which is a healthy figure and well over the film’s $75 million budget. On the other hand, the film’s three-day weekend number is 14% lower than Despicable Me 2’s opening weekend and 37% lower than the Minions movie opened with. The film’s reviews are not good and Franchise Fatigue is definitely an issue at the box office right now. However, there isn’t another family film till The Emoji Movie comes out at the end of the month, so it should have reasonable legs.
Baby Driver opened in a distant second place, but with a still impressive $20.55 million over three days and $29.58 million from Wednesday through Sunday. Add in Monday and Tuesday and the film’s seven-day opening was $39.00 million, which is $5 million more than it cost to make. Additionally, its Tomatometer Score is 97% positive, while it earned an A minus from CinemaScore, so its legs should be great. It only needs to earn a little more than $60 million to pay for its entire production budget and topping $70 million is more likely. If it just matches that internationally, then it will likely break even before it hits the home market.
Transformers: The Last Knight sank 62% over the weekend to just $16.88 million for a total of $101.98 million after 12 days of release. It took 12 days to reach $100 million domestically, while no other film in the franchise took more than five days to get to that milestone. Furthermore, its reviews, rapidly shrinking theater average, and Spider-Man: Homecoming opening this Friday all suggest its theater count will take a hit and it don’t have much in the way legs. Getting to $150 million could be out of reach.
Wonder Woman’s chances to get to $400 million got a huge boost, mainly because of Transformers: The Last Knight. The film earned $15.71 million over the weekend for a total of $346.24 million after a month of release. The most important number is $4,614, its theater average, which is significantly better than The Last Knight’s average of $4,085. Wonder Woman earned a better theater average during its fifth week of release than The Last Knight’s average during its second week of release. Come Friday when theater owners are looking to dump a film to make room for Spider-Man: Homecoming, they are more likely to keep Wonder Woman and give The Last Knight the boot.
Cars 3 rounded out the top five with just $9.69 million over the weekend for a three-week total of $120.88 million. Its legs are similar to the average summer blockbuster and not a family film. Its box office numbers are disappointing for a Pixar movie, but its merchandising will save it.
Finally we get to The House, which only managed to pull in $8.72 million. There’s no way to spin that positively, nor can you spin its 20% positive reviews or its B minus from CinemaScore. It is going to disappear from theaters quickly and be forgotten by the end of the month.
- Despicable Me 3 Comparisons
- Baby Driver Comparisons
- The House Comparisons
Filed under: Weekend Wrap-up, Wonder Woman, Baby Driver, Despicable Me 3, Spider-Man: Homecoming, The House, Cars 3, Transformers: The Last Knight, Transformers