Weekend Box Office: Nothing Here That Wasn’t Here Before

No surprises here, ‘Beauty and the Beast’ sang its way to the top of the box office again this weekend. Of the two TV-to-big-screen adaptations, the one that actually has a fan base had a solid debut, while the needless one flopped.

Beauty and the Beast‘ brought in another whopping $88.3 million in its second week. Although that number represents a 49% drop in attendance week-over-week, it was to be expected given the record-breaking cash the movie brought in last week. After ten days, the film’s through-the-roof domestic draw is up to $316.9 million. The puffed-up live-action musical also made $119.2 million overseas this weekend, pushing its international tally up to $373.3 million. The $160 million behemoth has a worldwide gross of $690.2 million, dethroning ‘Logan’ as the highest-grossing movie of 2017.

The #2 movie in North America was ‘Power Rangers‘, which brought in a nice chunk of change and outgrossed expectations. The movie’s opening weekend resulted in $40.5 million domestically and $18.7 million from 62 international markets. A $59.2 million worldwide debut isn’t too shabby for a $100 million picture, but it’s hard to tell if that will morph into a mighty theatrical run or not. It’s very possible that its theatrical run will be front-heavy due to nostalgic fans feeding the opening weekend frenzy, leaving no one left to fuel the weeks that follow. We’ll have to wait and see how it pans out.

Now in its third week, ‘Kong: Skull Island‘ finished in third place. The great ape fell 48% in attendance and grabbed $14.4 million along the way. At this point, the $185 million picture is only at $133.5 million domestically. (2014’s ‘Godzilla‘ was up to $155.7 million after its first 17 days.) However, thanks to a ginormous opening in China this weekend ($72.1 million), its international business is briskly swinging along. Overseas, ‘Skull Island’ has pulled $258.6 million, giving it a worldwide gross of $392.1 million.

The new Jake Gyllenhaal and Ryan Reynolds sci-fi thriller ‘Life‘ burned up on entry. Most critics were somehow mesmerized by its unoriginal and dim-witted screenplay, but paying moviegoers saw right through it. Coming in well below expectations, the $58 million R-rated movie debuted in fourth place with $12.6 million. Overseas, it launched in 56 markets and drew $16.1 million, bringing a worldwide opening of $28.7 million. What goes up, must come down – but considering how low this one started, it doesn’t have far to fall until it crashes and burns.

Four-week-old ‘Logan‘ rounded out the Top 5 with $10.1 million. That sum pushed the final Wolverine film over the domestic $200 million mark. Foreign numbers have also held strong. The overseas total sits at $364 million, giving ‘Logan’ a worldwide total of $565.4 million. At this point, it’s the second-highest grossing ‘X-Men’ movie (not including ‘Deadpool’) behind ‘Days of Future Past’.

The weekend’s second TV-to-cinema adaptation opened a couple rungs outside the Top 5. The ‘Jump Street’-inspired ‘CHIPS‘ movie sputtered into seventh place with $7.6 million. Its international numbers (where people hopefully know nothing of the original TV series) were even worse. From 31 markets, it drew $1.9 million. Fortunately, the movie only cost $25 million to produce, so Warner Bros. will recoup costs around the time it hits home video. Let’s hope that this is the last time someone hands Dax Shepard a job as writer/director/star.

Top 10:

1. ‘Beauty and the Beast’ (Buena Vista) – $88,347,000

2. ‘Power Rangers’ (Lionsgate) – $40,500,000

3. ‘Kong: Skull Island’ (Warner Bros.) – $14,425,000

4. ‘Life’ (Sony) – $12,600,000

5. ‘Logan’ (Fox) – $10,145,000

6. ‘Get Out’ (Universal) – $8,681,000

7. ‘CHIPS’ (Warner Bros.) – $7,600,000

8. ‘The Shack’ (Lionsgate) – $3,785,000

9. ‘The Lego Batman Movie’ (Warner Bros.) – $1,970,000

10. ‘The Belko Experiment’ (BH Tilt) – $1,807,025

2 comments

  1. Bolo

    ‘Power Rangers’ hasn’t opened in Japan yet. They can expect a good return on that release.

    And also, I am not American and have never heard of ‘Chips’. So I guess I prove your perception that this series was not well-known outside of USA.

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