Weekend Wrap-Up: Hustlers Helps Box Office Thrive
September 17, 2019
It: Chapter Two and Hustlers both topped expectations by large margins over the weekend and that helped the overall box office earn $110 million. Granted, this is 20% lower than last weekend; however, this was also 2.2% higher than the same weekend last year and that is by far the more important detail. 2019 is still behind 2018, but the gap closed by a little bit and is now at 5.9% or $500 million at $7.98 billion to $8.48 billion. Fortunately, the international box office is doing better and overall 2019 is merely mediocre and it still has time to improve.
It: Chapter Two held on better than most horror sequels do, down 57% to $39.61 million over the weekend for a total of $152.68 million after just ten days of release. This is enough for Warner Bros.’ share of the box office to cover its entire production budget, so even though the film can’t match the original domestically, it will break even. On the other hand, it is doing better internationally, but more on that later.
Hustlers was arguably more impressive earning $33.18 million during its debut, which is a record for the STX Entertainment. Additionally, the film’s reviews are fantastic and its target audience suggests its legs could be long enough to reach $100 million domestically. On the downside, it only managed a B minus from CinemaScore, but I think that has more to do with its genre, as dark comedies rarely do well in this regard. They are similar to horror films when it comes to CinemaScore ratings. We will have a better idea about the film’s legs this coming weekend, but I remain cautiously optimistic.
Angel Has Fallen and Good Boys were as close as expected, but both films topped $4 million with $4.49 million and $4.22 million respectively. Both are solid midlevel hits with running tallies of $60.47 million and $73.28 million respectively and both will break even early in their home market runs.
The Lion King was a surprise entrant in the top five, partly because it held on better than expected, but partially because the competition bombed. The film earned $3.65 million over the weekend for a total of $534.09 million after two months of release. It is rare for a film to last two months in the top five, but while this is great news for Disney, it is also a sign that a lot of films have missed expectations since its release.
The Goldfinch only managed eighth place during its opening weekend with $2.68 million. Not only is this opening below the Mendoza Line ($2,000/theater), its theater average is barely more than halfway there. Furthermore, its reviews and its B plus from CinemaScore suggest short legs.
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Filed under: Weekend Wrap-up, It, The Lion King, Good Boys, It: Chapter Two, The Goldfinch, Angel Has Fallen, Hustlers