Weekend Wrap-Up: Beast Blows Past $300 million with $90.43 million Weekend
March 27, 2017
Our predictions for Beauty and the Beast was higher than average, but even we underestimated the film’s weekend box office numbers. It fell just 48% to $90.43 million, which was more than double the second place film, Power Rangers. This one-two punch helped the overall box office earn $202 million, but this was 23% lower than last weekend. It was also 20% lower than the same weekend last year. Granted, this weekend last year was the weekend Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice debuted, so a decline like this was expected. Year-to-date, 2017 has earned $2.75 billion, putting it 6.7% or $170 million ahead of last year’s pace.
Beauty and the Beast held on better than expected earning $90.43 million over the weekend for a two-week total of $319.03 million. Not only is this the best second weekend for a March release, it is also tied for fourth fastest to $300 million, fourth biggest second weekend, etc. Its family friendly nature is helping even more than its reviews are. At this pace, the film will likely hit $400 million by the end of next weekend and $500 million domestically seems like a sure thing. There are a lot of family films opening in the next few weeks, The Boss Baby, Smurfs: The Lost Village, etc., but none are anywhere near as big as Beauty and the Beast is and I don’t think they will be able to slow the film down by any real degree.
Power Rangers won over moviegoers more than it pleased critics earning $40.30 million during its opening weekend. This is on the high end of expectations and means $100 million domestically seems very likely. If it can just match that figure internationally, then it should break even sometime during its home market run. That is assuming the film is boosting sales of other Power Rangers merchandise, which I think is a safe bet.
Kong: Skull Island slipped to fourth place with $14.67 million over the weekend for a total of $133.75 million after three weeks of release. At this pace, $160 million to $170 million seems likely, which is not too far below the $190 million it cost to make. Add in its international numbers and it is on pace to cover its entire production budget before the home market.
Life only managed fourth place with $12.50 million over the weekend. Its reviews are 66% positive, which is good enough that it shouldn’t have bad legs, but not so good it will last long enough to match its $58 million production budget. Worse still, this is Sony’s first big release of the year and they really can’t afford any bombs. It was just five years ago that they led the domestic box office. So far this year, they are barely considered a major studio. Spider-Man: Homecoming could be a $1 billion hit, on the other hand, so the year isn’t completely lost.
Logan rounded out the top five with $10.33 million over the weekend for a total of $201.64 million after four weeks of release. It became the fifth film in the X-Men franchise to reach that milestone.
CHiPs only managed seventh place with $7.72 million during its opening weekend. Combine its weak start with its awful reviews and it likely won’t stick around in theaters long enough to match its $25 million production budget. Furthermore, since the film is a comedy based on an American TV show, it likely won’t have much appeal internationally.
Finally we get to the sophomore class, which consists of The Belko Experiment. The film fell to tenth place with $1.88 million over the weekend for a running tally of $7.65 million. Granted, the film only cost $5 million to make, so this isn’t a disaster. In fact, it could become a cult hit on the home market and eventually break even.
- Power Rangers Comparisons
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- Life Comparisons
- CHiPs Comparisons
Filed under: Weekend Wrap-up, CHiPS, Logan, The Boss Baby, Kong: Skull Island, Power Rangers, Beauty and the Beast, The Belko Experiment, Life, X-Men