Weekend Wrap-Up: Maleficent Holds Off Joker for Top Spot
October 28, 2019
It was a super close race for top spot on the weekend box office chart with Maleficent: Mistress of Evil and Joker neck-and-neck. In fact, they changed positions over the weekend and even reversed positions from the weekend estimates. Both of these films topped expectations by a small degree, as did most of the new releases. Unfortunately, this wasn’t enough, as the box office fell 24% from last weekend to $105 million. This is also lower than the same weekend last year, but by a tiny 0.7% margin. I’m not going to get upset about a decline this small, but it does mean 2019 has fallen further behind 2018’s pace with the deficit growing to $520 million / 5.4% at $9.00 billion to $9.52 billion.
Maleficent: Mistress of Evil remained in first place, down 48% to $19.37 million over the weekend for a total of $66.25 million after two weeks of release. The film is on pace for $100 million domestically, assuming the end of Halloween doesn’t kill it at the box office. This isn’t enough for a film that cost $185 million to make, but it is performing a lot better internationally and that will save its financial future.
Joker was right behind with $19.25 million over the weekend for a total of $277.93 million after four weeks of release. It will top $300 million domestically, maybe before falling out of the top five. There are a lot of films opening wide over the next two weeks, so the competition might push it down the chart too fast for that, though.
The Addams Family rose to third place thanks to a minuscule 26% drop to $12.01 million over the weekend for a running tally of $73.10 million after three weeks of release. Normally, this would be enough to ensure the film would reach $100 million domestically; however, Halloween is this week and the film will likely collapse on October 31st and start to disappear from theaters on November 1st.
Zombieland: Double Tap fell faster than I would have liked, down 56% to $11.82 million over the weekend for a total of $47.22 million after two weeks of release. That said, this isn’t a terrible result for a horror comedy sequel and the film has already earned made more than it cost to make. It will make a healthy profit, even with an expected post-Halloween collapse.
Countdown earned fifth place with $8.87 million during its opening weekend. Its reviews are not going to help its long-term chances, nor will its C plus from CinemaScore. Additionally, horror films tend to have short legs and tend to have a post-Halloween collapse. That said, the film cost just $6.5 million to make and reportedly about $21 million including advertising, so this is still a good start, even if it doesn’t last long in theaters.
Black and Blue was very close behind with $8.38 million during its opening weekend. Its reviews are better and it did earn an A minus from CinemaScore. Additionally, its genre historically has longer legs and Halloween won’t kill its box office chances as much. That said, it cost about $20 million to make and I have doubts about its international chances, so it will need to find a sizable audience on the home market to break even any time soon.
The Current War: Director’s Cut barely managed a spot in the top ten, opening in ninth place with $2.63 million. Mixed reviews won’t help its legs, while it didn’t open in enough theaters to get a CinemaScore. Its theater average is low enough that if it falls more than 50% this coming weekend, then theater owners will be looking to drop it next weekend.
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Filed under: Weekend Wrap-up, Zombieland: Double Tap, The Current War: Director’s Cut, Maleficent: Mistress of Evil, The Addams Family, Black and Blue, Joker, Countdown