Weekend Wrap-Up: Venom Beats Up Expectations, and New Releases
October 16, 2018
Last weekend, Venom and A Star is Born opened better than predicted by a large margin and they even held on better than expected this weekend. Unfortunately, none of the new releases matched predictions and that hurt the overall box office. The total box office was down 25% from last weekend at $136 million. More importantly, this is 36% higher than the same weekend last year. Year-to-date, 2018 is ahead of 2017 at $9.18 billion to $8.31 billion, which is a $880 million or 10.5% lead. A double-digit lead at this point of the year is stunning and while it very likely won’t last, it would take an complete collapse for the lead to evaporate by the end of the year.
Venom fell just 56% to $35.01 million over the weekend for a two-week total of $142.11 million. This is a surprisingly strong hold for a blockbuster film, especially one with really weak reviews and a B plus from CinemaScore. The film will have no trouble becoming Sony’s first $200 million hit released in 2018. In fact, because of its body horror elements, it might even get a little boost from Halloween. When it gets to that milestone, Warner Bros. will be the only major studio without a $200 million hit this year... so far.
A Star is Born remained in second place with $28.45 million over the weekend for a two-week total of $94.61 million. The film will soon become the sixth Warner Bros. film released in 2018 to hit the $100 million mark.
First Man missed even low end expectations with just $16.01 million during its opening weekend. The film’s reviews are nearly 90% positive, but it only managed a B plus from CinemaScore. The film could still earn some Awards Season nominations, especially in some technical categories, but I don’t think it will stick around long enough to match its $60 million production budget domestically.
Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween was very close behind with $15.80 million, which is 33% lower than the original films debut. Its legs will be shorter than most family films for a few reasons. Firstly, sequels rarely have long legs compared to the original film. Secondly, its reviews are much weaker than the original’s reviews were. Finally, the film only managed a B from CinemaScore, which is terrible for a family film. On the other hand, it only cost $35 million to make, so it could still break even.
Smallfoot rounded out the top five with $9.07 million over the weekend for a three-week total of $57.38 million. The film cost $80 million to make and it should, at the very least, come close to that figure domestically. It will earn more than this internationally, meaning it should break even relatively early in its home market run.
Bad Times at the El Royale opened in seventh place with $7.13 million over the weekend. Its reviews are good, but not great, while it only managed a B minus from CinemaScore, so its legs are likely going to be short. Perhaps it will be a hit on the home market, but that’s the only way it will break even.
The Hate U Give isn’t technically a sophomore film, because it is a limited release. However, it climbed into ninth place with $1.74 million in 248 theaters for a two-week total of $2.45 million. Its theater average this week was just a hair over $7,000, so it still has room to grow. That said, I don’t think it will expand wide, as was the previous plan. Even getting past 1,000 theaters might be asking too much.
- First Man Comparisons
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- Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween Comparisons
- Bad Times at the El Royale Comparisons
Filed under: Weekend Wrap-up, Venom, Smallfoot, A Star is Born, Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween, First Man, Bad Times at the El Royale, The Hate U Give