Weekend Wrap-Up: Dragons Don’t Dominate, as Madea Makes the Most of its Final Debut

March 4, 2019

How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World

2019 has hit its low point, I hope. While Tyler Perry’s A Madea Family Funeral opened faster than anticipated, Greta couldn’t pull its weight and How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World slipped faster than expected. The overall box office fell 9.4% from last weekend to $113 million. Worse still, this is 23% lower than the same weekend last year. Unfortunately, this is actually better than average for the year so far, as 2019 is now 26% or $540 million behind 2018’s pace at $1.51 billion to $2.04 billion. Fortunately, Captain Marvel should help things turn around when the film debuts in a few days.

How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World did remain on top of the box office chart; however, it fell a little faster than expected down 45% to $30.03 million. Its running tally hit $97.68 million, meaning it will hit $100 million on Tuesday. It is performing better internationally, so Universal should be happy with its run so far.

Tyler Perry’s A Madea Family Funeral opened in second place with $27.06 million, making it the fourth fastest opening film in the Madea franchise. The film’s reviews are just 19% positive, but it earned an A minus from CinemaScore, so clearly this one was made for the fans and not the critics.

Alita: Battle Angel beat weekend estimates with $7.22 million giving the film $72.45 million after three weeks of release. Captain Marvel is going to take away a lot of this film’s theaters / screens, so it won’t get much further than this.

The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part made $6.60 million over the weekend for a running tally of $91.66 million. This film will also lose a lot of theaters on Friday, but that won’t stop it from getting to $100 million domestically. Sadly, its international numbers are nowhere near as strong, so it could have trouble breaking even any time soon.

Fighting With My Family remained in the top five with $4.66 million, giving it a running tally of $14.92 million, including its limited release run. This is more than it cost to make, but less than United Artists paid for its worldwide rights. It hasn’t really started its worldwide run yet, so it is too soon to tell if the film will break even any time soon.

Greta only managed eighth place with just $4.48 million. Not only did it open below the Mendoza Line, not only did its reviews fall below the overall positive level, but it only managed a C from CinemaScore. It’s going to have a short run in theaters, but I suspect it will earn a small, but appreciative fanbase on the home market.

- Weekend Box Office Chart

- Tyler Perry’s A Madea Family Funeral Comparisons
- Greta Comparisons

Filed under: Weekend Wrap-up, How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World, Captain Marvel, The LEGO Movie 2: The Second Part, Alita: Battle Angel, Tyler Perry’s A Madea Family Funeral, Fighting With My Family, Greta, Madea