Weekend Wrap-Up: Death Day Made the Box Office Happy with $26.04 million
October 17, 2017
Happy Death Day led the weekend, as expected, but did so with a surprisingly strong $26.04 million. The only other truly wide release of the week was The Foreigner, which also beat expectations, albeit by a smaller margin. The overall box office still fell from last weekend, down 4.2% to $100 million. This is 1.4% higher than the same weekend last year. On the one hand, this is not enough to compensate for inflation. On the other hand, at this point, any win is worth celebrating. Year-to-date, 2017 is still behind 2016 by a large margin, but at least it was able to close the gap by a little bit at $410 million / 4.7% at $8.34 billion to $8.75 billion.
Happy Death Day debuted in first place with $26.04 million during its opening weekend. The film only cost $5 million to make and likely less than $20 million to advertise, so it has likely made more than its combined budget. As long as it makes this much during the rest of its run, it will break even just with its domestic box office. It should do better than that, as it earned 65% positive reviews and a solid B from CinemaScore, plus Halloween is two weeks away. In fact, it should be able to cross $100 million worldwide and I’m sure there’s somebody at the studio looking to make a sequel.
Blade Runner 2049 matched expectations perfectly with $15.49 million over the weekend for a two-week total of $60.97 million. It is doing better internationally and if it can cross $200 million worldwide, it will at least save face. It will need more than $300 million to have a chance at breaking even any time soon.
The Foreigner opened in third place with $13.11 million over the weekend. The film has made enough in China to cover almost all of its production budget in that market alone, so it doesn’t need to be a big hit here to break even. Its reviews are mixed, while its CinemaScore is better at an A minus, so is legs should be fine. Anything over $30 million should make the studio happy.
It remained in the top five for another week with $6.06 million over the weekend for a six-week total of $314.94 million. It is the fifth-biggest domestic hit of 2017. It has a small shot at overtaking Spider-Man: Homecoming before it is done. Even if it doesn’t, it will still be one of the most profitable movies of all time.
The Mountain Between Us fell from second place to fifth with $5.75 million over the weekend for a two-week total of $20.60 million. It will finish with over $30 million domestically, which is close to its reported $35 million production budget. If it can do as well internationally, relative to the size of the market, then it will break even early in its home market run.
Marshall just missed the top ten with $3.04 million. Granted, it was playing in only 821 theaters, so its average isn’t so low that it will start losing theaters immediately and its reviews are good enough that it could have long legs.
On the other hand, Professor Marston & The Wonder Women bombed hard, earning just $737,000 in 1,229 theaters. Its average was just $600, so it doesn’t matter how good its reviews are, as theater owners will be looking to drop this one as soon as they are contractually able to.
My Little Pony: The Movie was the only sophomore film not in the top five. It placed ninth with $4.11 million over the weekend for a total of $15.63 million. It should finish with close to $25 million, which is fine for this type of release. It is destined to find a larger audience on the home market.
- Happy Death Day Comparisons
- The Foreigner Comparisons
- Professor Marston and The Wonder Women Comparisons
- Marshall Comparisons
Filed under: Weekend Wrap-up, The Mountain Between Us, Blade Runner 2049, My Little Pony: The Movie, Marshall, It, Happy Death Day, The Foreigner, Professor Marston & The Wonder Women