Weekend Wrap-Up: Endgame Falls Just Short of The Force Awakens

May 7, 2019

Avengers: Endgame

Avengers: Endgame didn’t do quite as well as expected over the The weekend, but it still managed the second best second weekend with $147.38 million. However, the number one film, The Force Awakens, was playing during the holidays, so Endgame has the record for best non-holiday second weekend. This wasn’t the only record Endgame set over the weekend. On the other hand, The Intruder was the only new release to top $10 million over the weekend, which resulted in a massive 50% box office decline from last weekend down to $199 million. A 50% week-over-week decline would be unusual most of the time, but this is what happens when you have a record-destroying weekend followed by a non-holiday weekend without any significant new releases. More importantly, this is still 17% more than the same weekend last year. 2019 is still way behind 2018, but the gap has dropped significantly over the past two weeks and is now 9.8% or $390 million at $3.61 billion to $4.00 billion.

Avengers: Endgame set the record for best non-holiday second weekend with $147.38 million for a two-week total of $621.28 million. This set a new record for fastest to $600 million and it means it still has a chance to top The Force Awakens for first place on the all-time domestic box office chart. In order to do this, the film will have to bounce back significantly next weekend and stick around long enough to get a boost from the Memorial Day long weekend. We will of course be tracking it along the way.

The Intruder was the only new release to top $10 million over the weekend and it barely got there with $10.86 million. I don’t expect long legs, as thrillers tend to be front-loaded, furthermore, its reviews are not going to help. They finally released the CinemaScore and the film only managed a B minus, which is the worst of the three wide releases, so that’s another strike against its legs. That said, the film only cost $5 million to make, so it could still break even early in its home market run, depending on its advertising budget and how well it does internationally.

Long Shot was the biggest disappointment of the weekend, when compared to expectations. It only managed third place with $9.74 million during its opening weekend. The reviews are among the best in the top ten at the box office, but it only managed a B from CinemaScore, which is weak for this type of release. The film won’t have long legs and it won’t recoup its production budget any time soon.

UglyDolls struggled even more with an opening weekend of just $8.60 million. Its reviews likely scared away a lot of potential moviegoers, whiles its B plus from CinemaScore is very weak for a family film. Furthermore, it was the most expensive film to make costing $45 million, so it will have the hardest time breaking even.

Captain Marvel rounded out the top five with $4.28 million, meaning it has spent two full months in the top five. That’s amazing. Its running tally sits at $420.77 million, putting it in 24th place on the all-time chart and it could climb into the top 20, at least momentarily.

- Weekend Box Office Chart

Filed under: Weekend Wrap-up, Captain Marvel, Avengers: Endgame, UglyDolls, Long Shot, The Intruder