Weekend Wrap-Up: Baby and Beast Dominate Box Office with $26.36 million and $23.65 million
April 11, 2017
It was a good weekend at the box office, considering the time of year, but this was almost entirely due to holdovers. The Boss Baby earned $26.36 million, which was within a rounding of our prediction, while Beauty and the Beast was relatively close behind. This meant the best new release, Smurfs: The Lost Village, only managed third place. Furthermore, it wasn’t even close to second place. Overall, the box office fell 30% from last weekend. More importantly, it was 14% higher than the same weekend last year. Year-to-date, 2017 has pulled in $3.15 billion becoming the fastest year to reach $3 billion. It is also 6.4% or $190 million ahead of last year’s pace. It is still early, but 2017 is starting to build up a lead that will act as a cushion when it inevitably hits a soft patch.
The Boss Baby added $26.36 million over the weekend for a ten-day total of $89.44 million. This is within a rounding error of expectations and close enough to be called a victory. The word-of-mouth is solid and Easter weekend is coming up, so it should remain a box office player until the beginning of May. It won’t be a monster hit, but it will do well enough to break even during its initial push into the home market, if not sooner.
Beauty and the Beast landed right on expectations with $23.65 million, giving it a four-week total of $430.95 million. The film will remain in the top five next weekend and could remain in the top ten through the first weekend of May. This long trailing tail to its box office run should be enough to get past $500 million domestically, with a little help from Disney.
Smurfs: The Lost Village only managed $13.21 million during its third place opening. This is the worst opening in the franchise and with its reviews, it is unlikely to have much in the way of legs. Granted, it did earn an A from CinemaScore and it is a family film, but even so, theater owners will likely be dropping it before The Boss Baby or Beauty and the Beast. Its opening theater average is just too low.
Going in Style was close behind with $11.93 million during its opening weekend. Its reviews are mixed and it only managed a B plus from CinemaScore, so it likely won’t have great legs. On the other hand, it is aimed at a much more mature target demographic, so it could turn into a sleeper hit.
Ghost in the Shell fell more than 60% to $7.31 million over the weekend for a total of $31.53 million after two weeks of release. Its theater average is just $2,124, so there will be more than a few theater owners who will drop the film this Friday to replace it with The Fate of the Furious.
The Case for Christ rounded out the top ten with an estimated $3.9 million. Given the popularity of the original book with its target audience, one has to assume the studio was hoping for more. Then again, as a faith-based film, it could have been much, much worse. The reviews are 75% positive, but there are only eight reviews on Rotten Tomatoes at the moment, so it is hard to judge what the word-of-mouth will be.
There were no wide releases in the sophomore class that didn’t earn a spot in the top ten, but The Zookeeper’s Wife opened in tenth place last weekend, so it is close enough. The film fell just 18% to $2.68 million over the weekend for a ten-day total of $7.40 million. Granted, it did see its theater count grow, but most films that open in select theaters don’t do well enough for this to happen. The film will easily get to $10 million, which is better than some wide releases have managed this year. The longer it lasts in theaters, the better its chances on the home market will be.
- Smurfs: The Lost Village Comparisons
- Going in Style Comparisons
- The Case for Christ Comparisons
Filed under: Weekend Wrap-up, Smurfs: The Lost Village, The Boss Baby, Ghost in the Shell, Beauty and the Beast, The Fate of the Furious, The Zookeeper’s Wife, The Case for Christ, The Smurfs