Universal’s Fate of the Furious had its $100 million domestic opening downgraded to $98.8 million, and its second weekend decline is marginally worse than that of its predecessor (61% vs. 59.5%), though Furious 7 opened with nearly $50 million more than Fate ($147.2 million versus $98.8). So it is clear that the long-in-the-tooth franchise (like many other Hollywood staples) is losing steam here in North America, though earning $163.6 million in ten days is still a stellar performance.
Fans of the street racing Fast and Furious franchise, which has morphed into an effects-heavy demolition derby, shouldn’t sweat the series gradual domestic decline, since the Fate of the Furious is absolutely crushing it overseas where it has earned $744.8 million—with a whopping $318 million of that coming from China. Fate will pass a billion dollars sometime later this week, though that number can be deceiving when judging the financial fate of film. For example, Universal has actually earned more so far off The Fate of the Furious here in North America where the studio gets up to 60% of first-run ticket sales than it has in China, where the studio’s actual share is more like 25%.
Second place went once again to Dreamworks Animation The Boss Baby, which dipped just 20.4% as it earned $12.7 million to bring its North American total to $136.9 million. Evidently actor Alec Baldwin’s continuing impersonation of President Donald Trump on Saturday Night Live is not hurting the actor’s box office pull (he voices the eponymous autocratic infant).
Disney took the next two spots with the first going to the live-action Beauty and the Beast, which dropped just 27.2% in its sixth weekend as it earned nearly $10 million to bring its 2017-leading domestic total to $471.1 million. Beauty and the Beast also leads all 2017 films so far with its global total of $1.1 billion, though Fate of the Furious could well surpass Beauty and the Beast’s worldwide earnings, the eighth Fast and Furious film has no chance of catching Beauty here in North America.
Pandas are ridiculously cute, but few analysts expected that the Disney Nature film Born in China, which debuted in only 1508 theaters, would be the top new film of the weekend, but that’s how it turned out with the documentary earning an estimated $5.15 million as well as an “A” CinemaScore from opening weekend audiences. While its $5.15 million bow is a far cry from the opening of the first of this modern wave of Disney nature films, Chimpanzee, which debuted with $10.7 million in 2012, Born in China’s performed better than the two most recent Disney nature documentaries, Monkey Kingdom ($4.6 million) and Bears ($4.8 million).
The fifth and sixth spots went to two films that posted small declines from previously modest totals, the geezer heist movie Going in Style earned $5 million to bring its domestic total after 17 days to $31.8 million, and Smurfs: The Lost Village added $4.8 million to bring its North American tally to $33.4 million.
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Weekend Box Office (Studio Estimates): April 21-23, 2017 |
||||||
|
Film |
Weekend Gross |
Screens |
Avg./Screen |
Total Gross |
Wk# |
|
|
1 |
The Fate of the Furious |
$38,682,095 |
4,329 |
$8,936 |
$163,578,315 |
2 |
|
2 |
The Boss Baby |
$12,750,000 |
3,697 |
$3,449 |
$136,991,870 |
4 |
|
3 |
Beauty and the Beast |
$9,973,000 |
3,315 |
$3,008 |
$471,097,384 |
6 |
|
4 |
Born in China |
$5,147,000 |
1,508 |
$3,413 |
$5,147,000 |
1 |
|
5 |
Going in Style |
$5,005,000 |
3,038 |
$1,647 |
$31,765,843 |
3 |
|
6 |
Smurfs: The Lost Village |
$4,850,000 |
2,737 |
$1,772 |
$33,387,985 |
3 |
|
7 |
Unforgettable |
$4,805,000 |
2,417 |
$1,988 |
$4,805,000 |
1 |
|
8 |
Gifted |
$4,500,000 |
1,986 |
$2,266 |
$10,714,792 |
3 |
|
9 |
The Promise |
$4,064,860 |
2,251 |
$1,806 |
$4,064,860 |
1 |
|
10 |
The Lost City of Z |
$2,147,379 |
614 |
$3,497 |
$2,296,792 |
2 |
The last four spots in the top ten belong to two new films that bombed and two movies that opened in limited release and appear to have at least modest promise. Warner Bros.’ Unforgettable, a thriller that stars Katherine Heigl and Rosario Dawson could manage only $4.8 million from over 2,400 theaters for a poor $1,988 per screen average. The movie only cost $12 million to make, so Warner Bros. is unlikely to lose much on this effort, but Unforgettable’s opening is the lowest so far in Heigl’s career.
Fox Searchlight’s family drama Gifted added 840 theaters while earning $4.5 million to bring its total to $10.7 million. A few more weekends like this and Gifted might turn into an “art house” hit.
The historical drama The Promise, which stars Christian Bale and Oscar Isaac, and reportedly cost $100 million to make, debuted at #9 with an estimated $4 million. Set during the Armenian genocide The Promise was financed entirely by Kirk Kerkorian, who is of Armenian descent—and it appears that the production of this film was not about making money, but rather about raising international consciousness about the mass killings of Armenians during World War I (a genocide that has been denied by the Turkish government, though there is ample historical evidence to support it). If the film can raise awareness of a gruesome historical evident that has been unjustly denied, then The Promise may be that rare Hollywood bomb, whose box office failure didn’t preclude a measure of success.
The final spot in the top ten went to the Amazon-financed adventure film The Lost City of Z, which expanded from 4 theaters to 614 while earning $1.5 million. Note however that this modest total breaks down to $3,497 per screen, the second best average in the top ten trailing only Fate of the Furious ($8,936).
Opening outside the top ten were the micro-budgeted ($2.8 million) sci-fi horror film Phoenix Forgotten, which earned an estimated $2 million from almost 1,600 theaters, and the Ben Wheatley-directed action movie parody Free Fire, which could muster only $1 million from 1,070 theaters.
Finally falling out of the top ten were Jordan Peele’s socially conscious horror film Get Out, which has earned $170.3 million over 9 weekends, and Kong: Skull Island, which has amassed $163.9 million after seven weekends.
Be sure to check back here next week to see if the adaptation of David Eggers 2013 novel about a powerful Internet company, The Circle, which stars Tom Hanks and Emma Watson, or the comedy How to Be a Latin Lover, or the new science fiction saga Sleight from the red hot Blumhouse (which has produced Split and Get Out so far in 2017), can revitalize the box office.
