Weekend Wrap-Up: Crazy Rich Asians are $1 million Richer than Estimated
August 21, 2018
Crazy Rich Asians beat the weekend estimates by more than $1 million, which is great news for the film’s future, as it suggests even better word-of-mouth. The rest of the new releases were well back, but their weakness didn’t sink the weekend box office, as it pulled in $129 million. This was still down 12% from last weekend, but more importantly, this was a stunning 35% higher than the same weekend last year, which helped extend 2018’s lead over 2017. 2018’s lead is now 9.6% or $690 million at $7.88 billion to $7.19 billion. I suspect we have likely nearly reached the peak this lead will be throughout the rest of the year, but it would take a major collapse for 2018 to not finish with a healthy victory in the year-over-year comparison.
Crazy Rich Asians was the first major Hollywood-made film to have an all Asian main cast to come out since The Joy Luck Club and clearly there was a pent-up demand, as it dominated the box office. It earned $26.51 million over the weekend for a five-day total of $35.28 million. This is more than the $30 million it cost to make and unless the film has terrible legs, it will earn enough domestically to cover its entire production budget. Short legs are probably not in the film’s future, as its reviews are more than 90% positive and it earned an A from CinemaScore. Furthermore, we’ve already seen its word-of-mouth outperform analysts and studio expectations, so we know its working. We will have a better idea where the film will end up this time next week, but I would be shocked if Warner Bros. don’t earn a healthy profit from this film.
On a side note, Asian Americans obviously watched the movie at a higher rate than they are as a percent of the population, as they are only 5.6% of the population in the United States. However, they were not the majority of the audience, or even the plurality, as Caucasians outnumbered Asians by a 39% to 38%. This shows that audiences in general are looking for diversity in their entertainment, mostly. There’s a certain group that will get angry at any sort of diversity in entertainment, but you don’t want to cater to this group. In fact, doing the opposite of what they want appears to be good for business.
The Meg held up better than expected with $21.15 million over the weekend for a two-week total of $83.76 million. The film will have no trouble getting to $100 million over the upcoming weekend, while it has a shot at matching its $130 million production budget. (It reportedly cost $150 million to make, but $130 million is Warner Bros.’ share after tax rebates.) If the film can get close to $500 million worldwide, then it will break even during its initial push onto the home market.
Mile 22 struggled with just $13.71 million during its opening weekend. I don’t expect its legs will be any better, not with some of the worst reviews of the summer, as well as a mere B minus from CinemaScore. That said, it only cost $35 million to make, so this isn’t a disaster and if it is a hit internationally, it could still break even.
Mission: Impossible—Fallout earned fourth place with $10.77 million over the weekend for a four-week total of $181.01 million. The film should still become the first Paramount movie to reach $200 million in just over four years.
Alpha did manage to earn a spot in the top five with $10.35 million over the weekend. Unfortunately, the film reportedly cost $50 million to make, so unless it has long legs or is a much bigger hit internationally, it won’t break even any time soon. Its reviews are actually very good, but it only managed a B plus from CinemaScore. This is right on the border between helping and hurting a film’s legs.
Moving onto the sophomore class, we find BlacKkKlansman in seventh place with $7.38 million over the weekend for a two-week total of $23.39 million. The film reportedly only cost $15 million to make, so it will cover that just on its domestic numbers. Even if it doesn’t find an audience internationally, it will break even sooner rather than later. Slender Man was right behind in 8th place with $4,80 million over the weekend for a two-week total of $20.58 million. A 58% decline isn’t bad for a horror film. It’s much better than Dog Days managed, as that film plummeted 66% to just $869,000 over the weekend for a two-week total of $5.93 million. Its theater average was just $364, so I will be a little surprised if the film is still playing in more than 1,000 theaters on Friday.
- Crazy Rich Asians Comparisons
- Mile 22 Comparisons
- Alpha Comparisons
Filed under: Weekend Wrap-up, Mile 22, Alpha, Mission: Impossible—Fallout, The Meg, Slender Man, Crazy Rich Asians, BlacKkKlansman, Dog Days