Weekend Wrap-Up: Fallout Continues its Mission
August 7, 2018
Mission: Impossible—Fallout remained on top of the weekend box office chart thanks in part to a stronger than expected hold and in part to weaker than expected competition. Christopher Robin was the only new release to make any real noise opening in second place with $24.59 million, while The Spy Who Dumped Me opened with less than half of that. Overall, the box office earned $139 million, 11% lower than last weekend. More importantly, this was 14% higher than this weekend last year. 2018 extended its lead over 2017 to just under $600 million or 8.7% at $7.46 billion to $6.86 billion.
Mission: Impossible—Fallout remained in first place with $35.32 million over the weekend for a total of $124.81 million. This is just a 42% sophomore stint decline, which is amazing for a blockbuster, meaning it will have no trouble getting to $200 million domestically. It might even become the biggest hit in the franchise, as long as you don’t take inflation into account.
Christopher Robin opened in second place with $24.59 million, which is fine for a live-action family film, but well below Disney’s average for the year. On the positive side, the film’s reviews were good at 69% and the film earned an A from CinemaScore. Furthermore, it has no direct competition for the rest of the summer and should therefore have longer than average legs. If it matches Pete’s Dragon’s legs, it will finish with $87 million domestically and $150 million worldwide. That should be enough to break even eventually, assuming reports of a $75 million production budget are accurate.
The Spy Who Dumped Me was a distant third place with $12.10 million. Weak reviews and a mere B from CinemaScore won’t help its legs, but at least it has no direct competition for the rest of the month.
Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again! added $9.00 to its running tally, which now sits at $91.25 million. It should get to $100 million, perhaps as early as this time next week. It isn’t going to match the first film, but it should break even nonetheless.
The Equalizer 2 lost nearly 20% of its theaters this past weekend, but it still managed to grab fifth place with $8.76 million for a three-week total of $79.81 million. This strong hold means $100 million domestically is again a reasonable goal to aim for.
The Darkest Minds only managed 8th place with $5.84 million in over 3,000 theaters, meaning it opened below the Mendoza Line, earning less than $2,000 per theater. Its Tomatometer Score is terrible, but its average score is 4.2 out of 10 and it earned a B from CinemaScore, so it is more mediocre rather than bad. That won’t help its legs, as theater owners will drop the film as soon as they are contractually able to. That’s the point of the Mendoza Line.
Death of a Nation missed the top ten with just $2.36 million. Granted, it was only playing in just over 1,000 theaters, so it didn’t miss the Mendoza Line, but “Didn’t miss the Mendoza Line!” is the definition of damning it with faint praise. The film has some of the worst reviews I’ve seen in my time working here, while it should start losing theaters very quickly, further hurting its legs.
The only sophomore stint film not in the top five was Teen Titans Go! To the Movie, which fell 54% to $4.78 million over the weekend for a two-week total of $20.70 million. A 54% drop-off is steep for a family film, but it only cost $10 million to make, so it could still be a financial success, eventually.
One final note, it took a couple of pushes by Disney, but Black Panther made it to $700 million this weekend. It is just the third film to reach that milestone. It also means Disney currently has a $700 million hit, a $600 million hit, and a $500 million hit released this year. Although that $500 million hit will probably hit $600 million before the end of summer. Meanwhile, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom made it to $400 million just before the weekend. Those won’t be the last major milestones of the summer.
- Christopher Robin Comparisons
- The Spy Who Dumped Me Comparisons
- The Darkest Minds Comparisons
- Death of a Nation Comparisons
Filed under: Weekend Wrap-up, The Darkest Minds, Incredibles 2, Christopher Robin, The Equalizer 2, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, Mission: Impossible—Fallout, The Spy Who Dumped Me, Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again!, Teen Titans Go! To The Movies, Death of a Nation, Mission: Impossible