Weekend Wrap-Up: Crazy Rich Asians Continues Box Office Dominance with Nearly $25 million
August 28, 2018
Summer officially ends next weekend with Labor Day, but Crazy Rich Asians is keeping the summer going with a sophomore stint of $24.80 million over the weekend. This is nearly twice as much as the second place film, The Meg. Meanwhile, the only true wide release of the week, The Happytime Murders, missed low end expectations with $9.53 million. The overall box office is down 21% from last weekend to just $103 million. That’s a sharp decline, but not uncommon for this time of year. More importantly, it was 49% more than the same weekend last year. That’s not as impressive as it seems, as this weekend last year one of the worst weekends in the past decade. Year-to-date, 2018 extended its lead to 10.1% or $740 million at $8.05 billion to $7.19 billion. On the down side, it won’t be long before 2017 really starts to eat into that lead.
Had Crazy Rich Asians earned $24.80 million over its five-day opening, it would have been considered a low-key success. It wouldn’t be a monster hit, but it would be a financial success. Earning $24.80 million during its sophomore stint is simply amazing. Its two-week total is $76.61 million, which is likely more than Warner Bros. was expecting to earn in total. It is more than enough to justify a couple of sequels, while other studios will be looking to jump on this bandwagon right away.
The Meg earned $12.81 million over the weekend for a three-week total of $105.08 million. It’s rare for an August release to earn $100 million, but this will be the first of two films from Warner Bros. to do that this year.
The Happytime Murders only managed $9.53 million during its opening weekend. It is not going to last in theaters long, because its reviews are terrible and it only managed a C minus from CinemaScore. It is weird enough to be a cult class, but that’s the only way this film will become a financial success.
Mission: Impossible—Fallout was next with $8.09 million for a total of $193.99 million after a month of release. By this time next week, the film should be at $200 million.
Mile 22 was just able to sneak into the top five with $6.37 million for a two-week total of $25.51 million. It should match its $35 million production budget domestically, but it will need help internationally to break even.
A.X.L. barely managed a spot in the top ten with $2.78 million. It was only playing in 1,710 theaters, but that’s still not enough to avoid the Mendoza Line. Moviegoers liked it a lot more than critics did, but it still only managed a B plus from CinemaScore. This is the latest box office miss for Global Road, and sadly there are reports of layoffs happening at the company this week.
The only film in the sophomore class to not reach the top five was Alpha, which earned $6.00 million over the weekend for a two-week total of $20.56 million. It only fell 42%, which is the good news. However, it reportedly cost $50 million to make, which is the bad news
- The Happytime Murders Comparisons
- A.X.L. Comparisons
Filed under: Weekend Wrap-up, Mile 22, The Happytime Murders, Alpha, Mission: Impossible—Fallout, The Meg, Crazy Rich Asians, A.X.L.