Weekend Wrap-Up: Hitman Tops Chart with $21.38 million as Summer Closes

August 22, 2017

The Hitman’s Bodyguard

The summer is over, but The Hitman’s Bodyguard did well for this time of year earning $21.38 million over the weekend. Logan Lucky was well back opening with just $7.60 million. Overall, the box office fell 18% from last week to just $96 million. This is also 27% lower than the same weekend last year. The top two films this year actually did better than the top two films earned last year, but the depth was just terrible. Year-to-date, 2017 has pulled in $7.21 billion, putting it $430 million or 5.6% lower than last year’s pace.

The Hitman’s Bodyguard opened with $21.38 million, which is surprisingly high for this time of year. The film’s reviews are only 39% positive, while its CinemaScore is a B plus, so its legs likely won’t be long. That said, the competition for the next two weeks is terrible, so it could remain in first place three weeks in a row.

Annabelle: Creation earned second place with $15.61 million over the weekend for a two-week total of $64.16 million. It only fell 55%, which is actually good for a horror film. Lack of competition will keep it in the top five for at least a couple of more weeks, but It comes out on September 8th and Annabelle: Creation will take a serious hit in its theater count.

Logan Lucky only managed third place with $7.60 million. While its reviews are more than 90% positive, moviegoers only gave it a B on CinemaScore, so that could mean weak legs. Fortunately, the competition this weekend is really weak, so perhaps it will have long legs.

Dunkirk added $6.61 million to its running tally, which now sits at $165.42 million after a month of release. The film has about a 50/50 chance of remaining in the top five next weekend, but even if it doesn’t, it has already pulled in enough worldwide to cover its entire production budget, so breaking even is academic at this point.

The Nut Job: Nutty by Nature rounded out the top five with $5.09 million over the weekend for a two-week total of $17.68 million. Its theater average is low enough that a lot of theater owners will be looking to drop the film on Friday, but there are not a lot of new releases coming out to take up those screens.

The Glass Castle was the only sophomore stint film not in the top five. It fell 46% to $2.55 million over the weekend for a ten-day total of $9.71 million. It likely didn’t cost a lot to make and its smaller theater count likely kept the advertising costs lower. That said, it will need serious help on the home market to break even.

One final note, Girls Trip became the 20th film released in 2017 to get to the $100 million mark. We are still way behind the record for most $100 million hits in a year; however, if the fall / winter box office bounces back from a disappointing summer, we should at least come close to the record of 34 $100 million hits.

- Weekend Box Office Chart

- The Hitman’s Bodyguard Comparisons
- Logan Lucky Comparisons

Filed under: Weekend Wrap-up, The Nut Job 2: Nutty by Nature, Dunkirk, The Glass Castle, The Hitman’s Bodyguard, Annabelle: Creation, Girls Trip, Logan Lucky