Weekend Wrap-Up: Dunkirk Does in the Competition with $26.61 million

August 1, 2017

Dunkirk

Summer is coming to a close, as the two new releases, The Emoji Movie and Atomic Blonde had okay openings over the weekend. Dunkirk was able to earn first place with $26.61 million, which is great news for that movie, but bad news for the overall box office, as it is the worst result for a number one film since April. Overall, the box office fell 20% from last week to $144 million. This is 24% lower than the same weekend last year. Year-to-date, 2017 is now behind 2016 by 1.7% or $120 million at $6.70 billion to $6.82 billion.

Dunkirk did something very few films have managed to do this summer, it fell less than 50% during its second weekend of release. It dipped 47% to $26.61 million over the weekend for a two-week total of $101.32 million. The summer is ending and there’s no release as big as Dunkirk until October. Its tailing legs could be huge and it is not impossible for the movie to get to $200 million domestically. It will be hard, but not impossible.

The Emoji Movie was close behind with $24.53 million during its opening weekend. On the downside, it was playing in over 4,000 theaters and this is the worst opening ever for a film playing in more than 4,000 theaters. The previous record holder was The Mummy this year at $31.67 million. Add in some of the worst reviews of all time and the film’s legs likely won’t be great. A sharp decline next week will reduce its theater average low enough that some theater owners will be looking to drop the film by the time Nut Job 2 opens in two weeks.

Speaking of $100 million, Girls Trip declined only 37% earning $19.65 million over the weekend for a two-week total of $65.09 million. At this pace, it will have no trouble getting to $100 million domestically. In fact, $125 million is the new goal. Given its reviews and the lack of direct competition for quite a while, I’m optimistic it will get there.

Atomic Blonde landed in fourth place with $18.29 million. This is lower than expected, but the film only cost $30 million to make, so it is not a bad start. Furthermore, the film’s reviews are great, so it could have longer than average legs through the end of August. If the film can come close to $100 million worldwide, it will be a sizable hit.

Spider-Man: Homecoming rounded out the top five with $13.26 million over the weekend for a total of $278.17 million after four weeks of release. It will get to $300 million, but it will fall out of the top five before it does.

Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets was the only film in the sophomore class not in the top five. It fell to eighth place with $6.36 million over the weekend for a total of $30.19 million after ten days of release. It fell 63%, which is about average for this summer.

- Weekend Box Office Chart

- Atomic Blonde Comparisons
- The Emoji Movie Comparisons

Filed under: Weekend Wrap-up, The Mummy, Spider-Man: Homecoming, Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets, Dunkirk, Atomic Blonde, The Emoji Movie, Girls Trip