Fifty Shades Freed

Weekend Box Office: I Want to Break Free

Now six weeks in, this was only the second weekend in 2018 with a 2018 movie release winning the box office. Thanks to a lack of strong competition, the final ‘Fifty Shades’ movie came out on top.

In 2015, the first ‘Fifty Shades’ adaptation debuted to $85.1 million, setting an R-rated record that was ultimately upset by ‘Deadpool’. One year ago, the sequel opened to a significantly lower $46.6 million. This weekend, ‘Fifty Shades Freed‘ opened to an even lower $38.8 million, down 54% from the first and 17% from the second. With a sub-$100 million foreign debut ($98.1 million), even the international box office was down. Having said that, Universal is presumably satisfied with this opening. The racy drama cost just $55 million to produce and has already made back its production and marketing expenses. From here on out, it’s money in the bank. Over the course of the trilogy, the franchise has cleared $1 billion at the global box office.

Sony’s hybrid live-action/animated ‘Peter Rabbit‘ had a decent start. The film’s $25 million opening hopped into second place, which it’s likely to hold through next week’s ‘Black Panther’ opening and the unhealthy decline of ‘Fifty Shades’. The $50 million picture will have some ground to make up, but that will likely be easy when it opens internationally.

Clint Eastwood’s ‘The 15:17 to Paris‘ didn’t quite make it to the station. The poorly reviewed true story drama was also poorly received by moviegoers. Its $12.6 million domestic debut landed in at #3. Overseas, it opened in 23 markets and brought in just $5.3 million. The $17.9 million worldwide opening of a $30 million picture isn’t terrible, but it certainly isn’t the reception that Eastwood is used to.

Eight-week-old ‘Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle‘ collected another $9.8 million and dropped to #4. With $365.6 million at the domestic box office and $516.1 million at the foreign box office, the film is Sony’s third-biggest movie of all time behind ‘Spider-Man’ and ‘Spider-Man 2’ (domestically) and ‘Spectre’ and ‘Spider-Man: Homecoming’ (globally).

Fellow eight-week-old ‘The Greatest Showman‘ rounded out the Top 5 with $6.4 million. To date, Hugh Jackman’s $84 million musical has grossed $146.5 million domestically and $167.7 million overseas, giving it a worldwide total of $314.2 million.

Top 10:

1. ‘Fifty Shades Freed’ (Universal) – $38,806,000

2. ‘Peter Rabbit’ (Sony) – $25,000,000

3. ‘The 15:17 to Paris’ (Warner Bros.) – $12,600,000

4. ‘Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle’ (Sony) – $9,825,000

5. ‘The Greatest Showman’ (Fox) – $6,400,000

6. ‘Maze Runner: The Death Cure’ (Fox) – $6,000,000

7. ‘Winchester’ (Lionsgate) – $5,050,000

8. ‘The Post’ (Fox) – $3,500,000

9. ‘The Shape of Water’ (Fox Searchlight) – $3,000,000

10. ‘Den of Thieves’ (STX) – $2,870,000

8 comments

    • theHDphantom

      Yeah, I read about that “controversy”. People sure are scraping the bottom of the barrel now looking for things to get offended by.

        • William Henley

          I had to go read about it. I have food allergies, a couple pretty serious. I am not offended, and am actually pretty surprised it is getting the attention it is. Allergies (not just to food) have been used in comedy for years (The Muppet Movie and Red Dwarf both come to mind, but I am sure there are others).

          It says that Sony Pictures has appologized for it, but I am sure it was just someone in HR or a social media person. I doubt they will make any change to the movie when it is released internationally or on home video, I bet this “boycott” may affect their profits by a few thousand dollars, maybe. I mean, when was the last time a boycott ever been effective? I knew nothing of it before I went to look it up, I am sure most people are the same way (I mean, no one watches or reads the news anymore as no one respects the news anymore), and even if they did know about it, I am willing to bet the vast majority doesn’t care.

          • cardpetree

            Will Smith with an allergic reaction in Hitch and Capt Kirk in Star Trek (the new ones), are two I remember specifically used for comedic effect.

          • cardpetree

            I don’t think those were food allergies in Hitch and Star Trek. Not sure if that makes a difference though.

      • Guy

        When I heard about this, I was fully expecting it to just be some joke in the movie people needed to get over (i.e. the adoption quip in The Avengers), but folks with hurt feelings wasn’t what I picked up on. It does seem unwise to show children a beloved character using a known allergy as a weapon in your movie. Not worth a boycott, but certainly not the most responsible route they could’ve had Peter Rabbit go.

  1. “Sony’s third-biggest movie of all time behind ‘Spider-Man’ and ‘Spider-Man 2’ (domestically) and ‘Spectre’ and ‘Spider-Man: Homecoming’ (globally).”

    That should be ‘Skyfall’, I think. Not ‘Spectre’, right?

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