Weekend Wrap-Up: New Releases Can’t Scale the Great Wall of Batman

February 22, 2017

The Lego Batman Movie

As expected, The Lego Batman Movie easily won the weekend box office race with $32.66 million over the weekend and $42.74 million including Monday. The biggest new release of the week was The Great Wall, which earned $18.47 million / $21.51 million during its opening weekend. Overall, the box office slumped by 21% from last weekend at $145 million. This is still 4.5% higher than the same weekend last year. Unfortunately, due to the misalignment in holidays, 2017 still lost ground over the full week. In fact, it is now a full $100 million behind 2016’s pace at $1.53 billion to $1.63 million. It is still too early to really tell where 2017 will end up, but we could really use some big wins right about now.

The Lego Batman Movie matched expectations nearly perfectly with $32.66 million / $42.74 million over the weekend giving it a total of $107.31 million after two weeks of release. With stellar reviews and an A minus from CinemaScore, the film could last long enough in theaters to pay for its entire production budget just on its domestic numbers. If it can just match that internationally, then it will break even before the home market.

Fifty Shades Darker was next with $20.28 million / $22.68 million over the weekend for a total of $91.38 million after two weeks of release. It will get to $100 million domestically in a little while. It is doing even better internationally, so it may have already broken even.

The Great Wall managed third place with $18.47 million / $21.51 million over the weekend. The reviews are just 36% positive, while its CinemaScore is just a B, so it likely won’t have great legs here. The film needs at least $400 million worldwide to break even any time soon and I just don’t see that happening. That’s too bad, because I would like to see more Chinese films do well here. Diversity in entertainment is a good thing.

John Wick: Chapter Two slipped to fourth place with $16.22 million / $18.98 million over the weekend for a total of $61.17 million after eleven days of release. It is not on pace to hit $100 million domestically, but it should top $90 million. Because of that, it will only need about $60 million internationally to break even during its initial push onto the home market.

Fist Fight rounded out the top five with $12.20 million / $14.12 million over the weekend. I really thought the lack of direct competition would help. Its reviews and a flat B from CinemaScore certainly didn’t. On the plus side, it only cost $25 million to make, so even with a reported $35 million P&A budget, it might still break even, if it finds an audience on the home market.

A Cure for Wellness missed the top ten, depending on if you look at the three-day or four-day weekend. Over the three-day weekend, the film earned 10th place with $4.36 million, but was pushed into 11th place if you include Monday with just $5.00 million. Like the rest of the new releases this weekend, it earned weak reviews (39% positive) and struggled with CinemaScore (straight C plus). It also missed the Mendoza Line, so theater owners will be looking to drop it as soon as they are contractually able to. I doubt it will make significantly more than $10 million in theaters.

- Weekend Box Office Chart

- The Great Wall Comparisons
- Fist Fight Comparisons
- A Cure for Wellness Comparisons

Filed under: Weekend Wrap-up, A Cure for Wellness, The Lego Batman Movie, The Great Wall, Fifty Shades Darker, John Wick: Chapter Two, Fist Fight