Weekend Box Office: Scaring Up Some Cash

Although many of 2016’s sequels have suffered from franchise fatigue, this weekend’s horror sequel barely showed any sign of its franchise slowing. Meanwhile, the magical heist sequel didn’t hold up as well, but the videogame movie performed better than expected – especially when you look at its international box office.

Even though the new ‘TMNT’ drastically underperformed in last week’s debut, it had a shot at repeating the #1 spot this weekend. That didn’t come close to being reality.

The top movie in North America by a long shot was ‘The Conjuring 2‘. In 2013, the original ‘Conjuring‘ opened to $41.8 million. The sequel – which is also based on of Ed and Lorraine Warren’s alleged real life demonic confrontations – debuted just $1.5 million behind that with $40.3 million. Overseas, it drew $50 million, giving the $40 million R-rated horror movie a solid $90.3 million worldwide start. Do you think Warner Bros. will wait another three years before making a third? With James Wan slated to direct DC’s ‘Aquaman’ (also for Warner), it might be hard to keep him attached.

Performing ahead of studio estimates, surprisingly, ‘Warcraft‘ finished in second place. Considering its $160 million budget, the film’s $24.3 million opening may come as a giant blow of ‘John Carter’ proportions. However, China is single-handedly ensuring that Universal won’t end up in the red with this one. After five days in China, the game adaptation grossed $156 million. Outside that country, it pulled $105 million in other international markets. While ‘Warcraft’ may be a huge domestic flop (and will continue to be due to the front-loaded nature of its opening weekend), its worldwide total of $286.1 million shows it won’t be long before it’s a hit.

Summit’s hard year continues to get harder. ‘Criminal’, ‘Gods of Egypt’ and ‘Allegiant’ were all duds. ‘Now You See Me 2‘ is looking to join that list. In 2013, the first ‘Now You See Me‘ opened to $29.3 million on its way to earning $117.7 million domestically and $234 million overseas. The sequel slipped 22% domestically from the first. Its $23 million debut hits a little harder when you consider that the first movie was shot for $75 million and the sequel came with a $90 million price tag. Overseas, ‘Now You See Me 2’ made $45.8 million from 30 international markets.

The Turtles not only fell this weekend, they fell hard. ‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows‘ took a 58% drop in attendance. Still playing on more than 4,000 screens, the movie’s $14.8 million second week resulted in a per-screen average of $3,635. After ten days, the $135 million picture has grossed $61 million domestically and $55.3 million overseas.

In the third week of its run, ‘X-Men: Apocalypse‘ rounded out the Top 5. Bringing in just $10 million this weekend, the $178 million comic book movie sits with a less-than-impressive $136.3 million domestic total. While its holdover has been terrible stateside, like ‘Warcraft’, the international turnout has kept Fox from losing money. With $342 million internationally, the movie has a worldwide total of $478.4 million.

The weekend’s notable limited release ‘Genuis‘ showed one of the very worst openings of the year so far. From 16 locations, the Roadside Attractions drama earned just $6,517. That gives it a painful $407 per-screen average. Don’t expect to see ‘Genuis’ expand to your neighborhood any time soon.

Top 10:

1. ‘The Conjuring 2’ (Warner Bros.) – $40,350,000

2. ‘Warcraft’ (Universal) – $24,356,000

3. ‘Now You See Me 2’ (Summit) – $23,025,000

4. ‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows’ (Paramount) – $14,800,000

5. ‘X-Men: Apocalypse’ (Fox) – $10,000,000

6. ‘Me Before You’ (Warner Bros.) – $9,210,000

7. ‘The Angry Birds Movie’ (Sony) – $6,700,000

8. ‘Alice Through the Looking Glass’ (Buena Vista) – $5,544,821

9. ‘Captain America: Civil War’ (Buena Vista) – $4,300,195

10. ‘The Jungle Book’ (Buena Vista) – $2,721,250

1 comment

  1. Luke Hickman
    Author

    Regarding the last paragraph, I just received a note explaining that ‘Genius’ is rolling out in my market this Friday. I wouldn’t be surprised if something changes between now and then.

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