Weekend Estimates: Dark Tower Sneaks Unconvincing Weekend Win

August 6, 2017

The Dark Tower

Suddenly, it feels like the end of Summer at the box office. Last weekend’s modest opening for The Emoji Movie made the top end of the chart look weak, and The Dark Tower’s projected $19.5 million debut this weekend has done nothing to fill the void. There are a few films coming out in the next few weeks that could unexpectedly produce robust numbers (The Hitman’s Bodyguard is probably the best bet for a surprise break-out), but there’s nothing on the schedule until Kingsman: The Golden Circle and The Lego Ninjago Movie come out on September 22 that can be relied on to crack $100 million at the domestic box office.

While the lull in hits may cause a few breathless headlines about a crisis in the industry, it’s not unusual for things to slow down markedly in August. What is a little unusual is that there doesn’t appear to be a film that’s dominating at the box office. This time last year, Suicide Squad opened with $133.7 million. Two years ago, Mission: Impossible—Rogue Nation was marching towards a total of $195 million domestically, and $700 million worldwide. Three years ago, Guardians of the Galaxy opened on August 1 and made $275 million during the month. The Dark Tower was clearly hoping for something similar, and that makes an opening weekend under $20 million especially disappointing. It’s barely ahead of Dunkirk, which will make $17.6 million or so in its third weekend, and has $133.6 million to date.

The two other wide openers this weekend are also looking soft, although there’s some compensating factors in both cases. Kidnap was an inexpensive pick-up for Aviron Pictures, and $10.2 million is a good performance for a studio’s first wide release. A theater average of $4,294 is good enough that the film will stick around for a little while. Similarly, Detroit is the first wide release for Annapurna Pictures, so it’s fair to cut them some slack. A projected $7.251 million for a film that’s an awards hopeful, and that has had very favorable reviews is still a disappointment though, and it’ll be a struggle for it to stick around long enough to build much momentum, commercially, or awards-wise.

In limited release, Wind River is the big winner this weekend with $164,167 projected from four theaters, for an average over $40,000. Columbus is the second film in the $10,000 club, with $28,800 projected from two locations. Wolf Warrior 2 is perhaps the most interesting member of the $10,000 club though, as it lost 20 theaters this weekend but more than doubled its box office, to $460,000 from 32 theaters. The film has already done almost $350 million in China, and US audiences are clearly interested in checking it out.

- Weekend estimates

- All-time highest-grossing films worldwide

- The Dark Tower comparison chart
- Detroit comparison chart
- Kidnap comparison chart
- Dunkirk comparison chart
- The Emoji Movie comparison chart
- Girls Trip comparison chart
- Atomic Blonde comparison chart
- War for the Planet of the Apes comparison chart
- Spider-Man: Homecoming comparison chart
- Despicable Me 3 comparison chart
- Baby Driver comparison chart
- Wonder Woman comparison chart

Filed under: Weekend Estimates, The Dark Tower, Kidnap, Dunkirk, The Emoji Movie, Wind River, Columbus, Detroit, Zhan Lang 2