Weekend Wrap-Up: Black Panther and Wrinkle in Time have Record-Breaking Weekend
March 13, 2018
For the first time ever, the top two films at the weekend box office were both directed by African-American directors. That’s amazing and should be the big story. Unfortunately for A Wrinkle in Time, the big story is Black Panther’s continued box office dominance, as that film earned first place over Wrinkle with $40.82 million to $33.12 million. Disney should be happy with both results. The only other new release that didn’t bomb was The Strangers: Prey at Night, which earned third place with $10.40 million, which is excellent for a low-budget horror movie. The less said about The Hurricane Heist and Gringo, the better. Overall, the box office fell 8.3% from last weekend to $138 million. Compared to this weekend last year, the box office fell 16%. Year-to-date, 2018 has earned $2.27 billion, which is still 8.3% or $170 million ahead of 2017’s pace. That lead could be cut in half by this time next week.
Black Panther continues to earn first place with $40.82 million giving it a total of $561.70 million after four weeks of release. Had the film earned this much worldwide, it would likely break even sometime during the film’s home market run. The film is the second biggest domestic hit in the MCU and the seventh biggest on the all-time domestic chart. It will continue to climb both charts.
A Wrinkle in Time earned $33.13 million during its opening weekend, which isn’t a great start for a film that cost $103 million to make, but it isn’t a bomb either. Even with mixed reviews and a B from CinemaScore, it should still have long enough legs that it could break even sometime during its home market run. Remember, by the end of the year, the “home market” for a Disney film will be their own VOD subscription service competing with Netflix, so they won’t have to share any of the revenue with a middleman.
The Strangers: Prey at Night opened in third place with $10.40 million, which is more than double the $5 million it cost to make. Granted, its advertising budget could be three or four times that, so it isn’t 100% profitable yet, but this is a great start. Its reviews are weak, but not terrible for a horror film, while its rating from CinemaScore was just a C, so it won’t have long legs. That said, it should break even early in its home market run, so the studio will be very happy with this start.
Red Sparrow fell 50% to $8.50 million over the weekend for a two-week total of $31.47 million after two. This isn’t a great run for a film that cost $69 million to make; however, it is performing a lot better internationally, so it should break even sometime during its home market run.
Game Night managed to grab the final spot in the top five with $7.86 million over the weekend for a three-week total of $45.00 million. At this pace, the film will have no trouble getting past $60 million domestically and if it can get to $70 million, then it will have earned enough domestically to pay for its entire $37 million production budget. Its international numbers are not as impressive, but it will still break even early in its home market run.
The Hurricane Heist was well back in ninth place with just $3.02 million. This is such a bad start that it could hurt careers, if anyone remembers the movie existed for more than a month. Its reviews are 35% positive and it only managed a B minus from CinemaScore. Worse still, it opened well below the Mendoza Line ($2,000 / theater), so theater owners will be looking to drop the film as soon as they are contractually allowed to.
Speaking of the Mendoza Line, Gringo only managed an average of $1,132 in 2,404 theaters for a weekend total of $2.72 million. It missed the top ten by less than $20,000, which is just one more insult. Add in weak reviews and its C plus from CinemaScore, and there’s little hope for this film’s future.
The only sophomore film not in the top five was Death Wish, which fell from fourth to seventh with $6.58 million over the weekend for a ten-day total of $$23.86 million. Its theater average is low enough that it will start losing theaters rather quickly.
- A Wrinkle in Time Comparisons
- The Strangers: Prey at Night Comparisons
- The Hurricane Heist Comparisons
- Gringo Comparisons
Filed under: Weekend Wrap-up, Black Panther, A Wrinkle in Time, Red Sparrow, Game Night, Gringo, The Strangers: Prey at Night, The Hurricane Heist, Marvel Cinematic Universe