Weekend Estimates: Hitman’s Bodyguard Tops Chart with Solid $21.6 Million

August 20, 2017

The Hitman’s Bodyguard

We’re at that point in the year when we’ll take what we can get at the box office, and The Hitman’s Bodyguard will deliver according to that lowered metric this weekend with about $21.6 million, according to Lionsgate’s Sunday morning projection. That’s in line with to a little ahead of expectations, but a B+ CinemaScore and mediocre reviews suggest it won’t have substantial legs. For Ryan Reynolds, the opening is ahead of this year’s Life, which debuted with $12.5 million, and well clear of 2015’s Self/Less ($5.4 million). Samuel L. Jackson, meanwhile, appears in such a mess of movies it’s hard to say how this compares to any one of them.

Logan Lucky is having a harder time finding an audience, and is expected to end the weekend with about $8 million from 3,031 theaters. The film starts in the hole to the tune of $20 million in marketing expense, which is quite low by the standard of a 3,000-theater-plus release, and Bleecker Street will be charging a low distribution fee, since Steven Soderbergh raised that money independently. So the film doesn’t need as much as regular studio releases do at the box office to turn a profit. It’s got a big hill to climb though. Hopefully excellent word of mouth, its stellar cast, and an older-skewing demographic will help it at least recover its costs.

Wind River expanded into 694 theaters this weekend, and will take a little over $3 million, according to Weinstein. Its theater average of $4,359 is equal second-best in the top ten, which should allow it to hold on to screens for a while. Annabelle: Creation is earning a similar theater average in its second weekend, while earning a projected $15.5 million for $64 million to date.

In limited release, Gook is the standout new release, with $31,100 from two theaters in Los Angeles. Sundance darling Patti Cake$ is a little slow out the gate with $66,000 expected from 14 theaters. Ingrid Goes West continues to roll out strongly, though, with $265,567 projected from 26 locations, for $438,685 after second weekends.

Notable milestones this weekend include Wonder Woman topping $800 million worldwide, and The Hero hitting $4 million after nearly three months of steady accumulation.

- Weekend estimates

- All-time highest-grossing films worldwide

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Filed under: Weekend Estimates, Wonder Woman, The Hitman’s Bodyguard, Annabelle: Creation, Wind River, Logan Lucky, The Hero, Patti Cake$, Gook, Ingrid Goes West, Samuel L. Jackson, Ryan Reynolds, Steven Soderbergh