After a somewhat disappointing debut (that was in part weather-related), The LEGO Batman Movie rebounded nicely as it earned $34.2 million over the 3-day weekend to bring its domestic total to $98.8 million. By the end of the Presidents’ Day Weekend the square-jawed plastic Dark Knight screen epic will have crossed the $100 million mark. Overseas The LEGO Batman Movie is proving to be a bit of a harder sell, so far it has earned just $72 million. A run in China that starts on March 3 is the film’s last best hope to make a big impression outside North America, though a domestic performance over $200 million still remains a possibility.
Coming in at #2 for the second weekend in a row is the erotic sequel Fifty Shades Darker, which dropped 55% from its opening weekend, but still earned a solid $20.9 over the first 3 days of the Presidents’ Day weekend.
The third spot went to the $150 million, special effects-laden blockbuster The Great Wall, which was made in China and directed by the talented Zhang Zimou (House of Flying Daggers). The Great Wall was produced by Legendary Pictures, which was acquired by the company that owns the most theaters in China in 2016 (see “Things to Come Dept.: Wanda Buys Legendary”). Matt Damon was brought in to star as a European mercenary who helps the Chinese fight off hordes of CGI monsters in order to heighten the picture’s appeal to North American audiences, and a major TV marketing campaign did actually allow the film to open a bit better than many expected.
However with competition heating up in the coming weeks, The Great Wall looks like it will struggle to make much more than $50 million here in North America. Opening weekend audiences, which were 59% male and 50% under 30, gave the film only an “OK” “B” CinemaScore, which doesn’t bode particularly well for its prospects. Caucasians made up 45% of the crowd, with Hispanics accounting for 23%, Asians 15%, and African-Americans 10%.
Ordinarily a $150 million production that debuts here with just $18 million is in real trouble, but like Legendary’s World of Warcraft film, The Great Wall has done very well in China, earning $171 million in the Middle Kingdom, and some $244 million outside of North America so far. So it appears that The Great Wall won’t lose a lot money, though it is unlikely to earn very much either.
Fourth place went to John Wick: Chapter Two, which dropped 45.8% in its second frame as it earned $16.5 million over the 3-day weekend, bringing its domestic total to $58.7 million, which is already way better that the original John Wick’s final North American tally of $43 million.
New Line’s Fist Fight, which stars Ice Cube, opened with $12 million, a bit below expectations, and the opening weekend audience gave the film just a “B” CinemaScore, which doesn’t help the film’s prospects. Males made up 54% of the film’s attendees, and a solid 39% of the crowd was under 25.
The Oscar hopeful Hidden Figures continues to impress. This docudrama about a team of female African-American mathematicians who played a key role in the space race dropped just 11.3% as it earned $7.1 million to bring its domestic total to $142.9 million.
The other big Oscar candidate in the top ten, the musical La La Land slipped just 9% as it earned $4.5 million to bring its domestic total to $133.5 million.
Two other holdovers also posted very strong performances. M. Night Shyamalan’s horror drama Split slipped just 26.1% as added $7 million to bring its North American cumulative to $123.6 million, while A Dog’s Purpose continues to rebound from a barrage of bad publicity and find favor with dog lovers as it declined just 23.5% as it added $5.6 million to bring its total to $50.7 million.
Tenth place went to Gore Verbinski’s gothic horror film A Cure for Wellness, which earned just $4.2 million over the 3-day weekend. In fact, by the time final numbers for the Presidents’ Day frame are released on Tuesday, don’t be surprised if a Cure for Wellness ends up at #11. While I personally applaud the idea of an original R-rated horror produced on a big scale (a $40 million production budget is big for the genre), Fox did the film no favors with an internet campaign that embedded stories about the film in “fake news” sites that were filled with “fake news” stories. Given all the furor over the scurrilous stories that swirled about on the Net during the recent political campaign, someone should have foreseen that this faux news campaign was a disaster in the making.
Next week will provide a bit of a respite in a very busy Q1, though there will be three new films trying their luck at the increasingly crowded box office, including Jordan Peele’s directorial debut, the horror film Get Out, the delayed (by Relativity’s bankruptcy) German/American action film Collide, and Rock Dog, a Chinese/American computer animated anthropomorphic comedy based on Chinese graphic novel Tibetan Rock Dog by Zheng Jun.
