The Dark Tower

Weekend Box Office: Darkness Falls

This weekend’s box office numbers were not only the lowest of the summer, but some of the lowest of the year. Stephen King’s latest may have topped the reigning champ for the #1 spot, but it certainly wasn’t much of a victory.

Meanwhile, Halle Berry’s thriller barely topped expectations, but when the expectations are so low, that’s not saying much. The expansion of Kathryn Bigelow’s new Oscar bait also yielded subpar results. The only title to play well was Taylor Sheridan’s new drama in limited release.

Stephen King fans have been chomping at the bit for an adaption of ‘The Dark Tower‘, but after finally getting it, the old adage “Be careful what you wish for” is likely running through their heads. The mediocre movie was expected to open in the low-to-mid $20 million range, but couldn’t even generate that much of an audience. From 3,451 screens, it debuted to $19.5 million. It also pulled $8 million from 19 international markets. Initial projections seemed decent enough for the modestly-budgeted ($60 million) picture, but with a $27.5 million worldwide opening, it’s now looking like ‘The Dark Tower’ will fall entirely on its own.

Dropping off just 34%, ‘Dunkirk‘ nearly retained the top position with $17.6 million. Finishing in second, Christopher Nolan’s $100 million war epic has grossed $133.5 million domestically. Internationally, it’s up to $180.6 million, bringing its worldwide total to $314.1 million.

The Emoji Movie‘ dropped 50% over its second week, which has pretty much been the norm for this summer’s animated movies. The $12.3 million sophomore weekend landed in third place and put the movie’s ten-day total at $49.5 million. From 21 international markets, it has also made $12.7 million. From a $50 million budget (which was likely entirely covered by shameless product placement returns), the terribly reviewed kids’ movie has a worldwide total of $62.1 million so far.

Girls Trip‘ continues to play very well. The R-rated comedy dropped a light 42% in its third week, bringing in another $11.4 million. With $85.4 million in domestic returns and $5.4 million from a few international markets, the $19 million picture is a smash hit.

Halle Berry’s aptly-title kidnapping drama ‘Kidnap‘ managed to round out the Top 5 by outgrossing expectations. It absconded with $10.2 million from 2,378 screens. Budgeted at $20 million, the movie will need an international miracle to pay for itself.

Kathryn Bigelow’s true story drama ‘Detroit‘ suffered a weak expansion to 3,000 screens. Pushing a title of this caliber wide after just one week in limited release was a bad move. Finishing at #8, it earned $7.2 million and a low $2,411 per-screen average.

Aside from ‘Dunkirk’, the only other good news of the weekend came from the four-screen release of the Weinstein Company’s excellent acquisition title ‘Wind River‘. Written and directed by Taylor Sheridan, the up-and-comer continues to impress and has shown great results with this weekend’s $164,167 opening and $41,042 per-screen average. Weinstein plans to push it out to a few dozen additional screens this weekend, after which it will start rolling out toward a wide status.

Top 10:

1. ‘The Dark Tower’ (Sony) – $19,500,000

2. ‘Dunkirk’ (Warner Bros.) – $17,600,000

3. ‘The Emoji Movie’ (Sony) – $12,350,000

4. ‘Girls Trip’ (Universal) – $11,418,700

5. ‘Kidnap’ (Aviron) – $10,210,000

6. ‘Spider-Man: Homecoming’ (Sony) – $8,800,000

7. ‘Atomic Blonde’ (Focus) – $8,244,930

8. ‘Detroit’ (Annapurna) – $7,251,000

9. ‘War for the Planet of the Apes’ (Fox) – $6,000,000

10. ‘Despicable Me 3’ (Universal) – $5,288,640

3 comments

  1. NJScorpio

    Having yet to see it, I feel like ‘Kidnap’ will find a decent sized market on home video. It may not be the type of movie that people go out to theaters to see, but I can see it being VERY popular on demand or just $2 at a Redbox.

      • NJScorpio

        I love a movie taps into a good momentum gimmick. I find it fun, and it usually moves you along fast enough to not over think plot issues (Crank, Premium Rush, Hardcore Henry, etc.). I hope Kidnap is along these lines.

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