Weekend Wrap-Up: Box Office Is Far from Wonderful

June 4, 2018

Solo: A Star Wars Story

The overall weekend went about as well as expected. Unfortunately, that’s not good news. Solo: A Star Wars Story fell about as much as the average sophomore blockbuster film falls during a post-holiday weekend, earning first place with $29.40 million, while Deadpool 2 was the only other film to earn more than $20 million, landing in second with $23.18 million. The biggest new release of the week was Adrift with $11.60 million. The overall box office fell 42% from last weekend to just $106 million. To put this into perspective, this weekend last year, Wonder Woman opened with $103 million. That one movie made almost as much as the entire box office made this year. The year-over-year decline was 43%. Fortunately, 2018 is still ahead of 2017 by a sizable amount at 6.8% or $310 million at $4.94 billion to $4.63 billion and in a couple of weeks, 2018 should start winning again in the year-over-year comparison.

Solo: A Star Wars Story fell 65% to $29.40 million over the weekend for a two-week total of $148.99 million. The film is on pace to reach $200 million domestically, which would have been enough to break even eventually, had the film not needed extensive and expensive reshoots. Disney should still be very happy with the overall franchise, but will hopefully slow down the number of films that come out to one every other year.

Deadpool 2 is continuing to be a massive hit with $23.18 million over the weekend for a total of $254.51 million after three weeks of release. This is already more than enough to cover its entire $110 million production budget, while it has made even more internationally.

Adrift matched expectations, more or less, with $11.60 million during its opening weekend. Its earned 69% positive reviews, but only a B from CinemaScore. Its target audience usually rewards its film with longer legs, but that’s not a sure thing with a B from CinemaScore. We will have a better idea where it will end up after next weekend.

Infinity War was relatively close behind with $10.51 million over the weekend for a total of $643.01 million after six weeks of release. This film has made enough profit to cover the likely production budgets of both Ant-Man and the Wasp and Captain Marvel.

Book Club rounded out the top five with $7.04 million over the weekend for a total of $47.56 million after three weeks of release. The film reportedly only cost $10 million to make and even if it cost twice that to advertise, it will still break even just on its domestic theatrical numbers.

Upgrade just missed the top five with $4.67 million in 1,457 theaters during its opening weekend. This isn’t a great result, but given its opening weekend theater count, it could have been much worse. The film’s reviews are the best in the top ten at 86% positive, but I fear it might not last in theaters long enough for its word-of-mouth to carry it. It could become a cult hit on the home market, on the other hand.

Action Point bombed with just $2.39 million in 2,032. Its theater average is just $1,176, which is the worst average in the top ten. The second worse belongs to Life of the Party, which has been in theaters for four weeks. With terrible reviews and a mere C plus from CinemaScore, there’s little hope this film will stick around for long.

- Weekend Box Office Chart

- Adrift Comparisons
- Action Point Comparisons
- Upgrade Comparisons

Filed under: Weekend Wrap-up, Avengers: Infinity War, Solo: A Star Wars Story, Deadpool 2, Life of the Party, Action Point, Book Club, Upgrade, Adrift, Star Wars