Weekend Wrap-Up: Summer Vacation Boosts Transylvania’s Debut
July 17, 2018
The weekend wasn’t nearly as close as expected. Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation ran away at the box office, while fellow new release, Skyscraper, only managed third place. This did allow Ant-Man and the Wasp to earn second place during its second weekend of release. Overall, the box office fell 12% compared to last weekend, but it was 1.6% higher than the same weekend last year. Granted, this is not a high enough margin of victory to compensate for ticket price inflation, but 2018 has such a large lead that even a small victory like this is more than enough to feel good about the overall box office. Speaking of large leads, 2018’s lead over 2017 remains impressive at $550 million or 8.9% at $6.72 billion to $6.17 billion.
Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation opened in first place with $44.08 million over the weekend, and $45.35 million including its special preview screenings on the 30th. Because it had this strange preview, it is a little hard to compare, but calling it on par with the rest of the franchise seems fair. Likewise, its reviews and its A minus from CinemaScore are both on par with the rest of the franchise. It is the first film in the franchise to be a summer release, so we will have to wait to see what that does to its legs. Even if it is more front-loaded than the rest, it will still cover its entire production budget just on its domestic numbers, as well as a sizable portion of its advertising budget.
Ant-Man and the Wasp fell a little faster than expected, down 62% to $29.10 million over the weekend for a two-week total of $133.08 million. It will top $190 million domestically, which is more than the first Ant-Man managed, but it will need long tailing legs or help from Disney to get to $200 million.
Skyscraper missed expectations by a huge margin with $24.91 million. That’s a third lower than predictions. I can’t explain this result. The film stars Dwayne Johnson, who is a big box office draw. Its reviews are fine for a action film, while it managed a barely acceptable B plus from CinemaScore. Granted, the film isn’t a classic, but it should have performed much better than this. Fortunately, it is doing better internationally, but more on that later in the week.
Incredibles 2 was next with $16.26 million over the weekend for a month-long total of $535.86 million. It is now in ninth place on the all-time domestic chart. It will continue to earn millions at the box office, but it is about $85 million behind The Last Jedi, so it won’t climb any higher on that chart.
Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom was right behind with $16.20 million over the weekend for a four-week total of $363.98 million. It is going to lose theaters at an accelerating rate, but it is already a financial success, so Universal should be happy.
The only true sophomore class film was The First Purge, which landed in sixth place with $9.31 million over the weekend for a two-week total of $49.69 million. This is better than expected and it could match the franchise average. The film only cost $13 million to make and as far as I can tell, the advertising budget was very low (for example, it never hit the top five on the weekly TV ads list.) so it could break even just on its domestic theatrical numbers.
Sorry to Bother You was also in its second weekend of release, but it opened in limited release, so it is not a true sophomore stint film. That said, it earned seventh place with $4.21 million over the weekend for a two-week total of $5.27 million. Its theater average is $5,228, fourth best in the top ten, so it should continue to expand in the coming weeks, albeit more modestly.
- Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation Comparisons
- Skyscraper Comparisons
Filed under: Weekend Wrap-up, Incredibles 2, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, Ant-Man and the Wasp, Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation, The First Purge, Skyscraper, Sorry to Bother You, The Purge, Hotel Transylvania, Dwayne Johnson