Weekend Box Office: Everything Is Still Pretty Awesome

This weekend’s box office was dominated by a trio of new releases. In addition, this was also the highest-grossing weekend of the year so far. Each of the new movies happened to be a franchise sequel or spinoff, but only one of them managed to outgross its predecessor.

Although the ‘Fifty Shades’ sequel dominated Friday’s box office, ‘The Lego Batman Movie‘ easily took the top spot for the weekend. The $80 million animated film scored $55.6 million from 4,088 screens. While that number may seem great, it pales in comparison to the $69 million debut of ‘The Lego Movie‘ over this same weekend in 2014. ‘The Lego Movie’, which wasn’t yet a huge big-screen brand, went on to earn $257.7 million domestically and $211.4 million overseas. At this rate, ‘Lego Batman’ will be lucky to cross $200 million domestically. This spinoff also debuted in 60 overseas markets, where it made $37 million. It’s too early to estimate where the international numbers will end up.

Even suffering from cinematic E.D., ‘Fifty Shades Darker‘ came second. While ‘Fifty Shades of Grey‘ debuted to $85.1 million from 3,646 screens, the sequel only took $46.7 million from 3,710 screens. That’s 45% below the original. Internationally, it made $100.1 million from 57 markets. ‘Grey’ went on to earn $571 million worldwide, but without the stamina of the first, ‘Darker’ won’t be able to get it up anywhere close to that total.

In October 2014, sleeper hit ‘John Wick‘ opened with $14.4 million. This weekend, ‘John Wick: Chapter 2‘ kicked off to $30 million – more than double the original – and ended in third place. Overseas, it claimed another $10.6 million from 41 markets, only one of which is considered a major market. With a $40.6 million worldwide start, ‘Chapter 2’ should outgross the $86 million worldwide total of the original ‘John Wick’ in no time. Bring on Chapter 3!

Split‘ may have ended its three-week reign atop the charts, but it was hardly affected by the new competition. Dropping just 35% in attendance, M. Night Shyamalan’s thriller finished in fourth place with another $9.3 million. The $9 million micro-budget film has now collected $112.2 million domestically and $57.1 million overseas.

Similarly, in its sixth week playing nationwide, ‘Hidden Figures‘ is still retaining business like gangbusters. Slipping a mere 22% in attendance, it rounded out the Top 5 and earned an additional $8 million. The $25 million drama is up to $131.4 million domestically.

In other news, last weekend’s two big releases were hit hard in their sophomore outings. With a 55% drop, ‘Rings‘ fell from #2 to #7. The $5.8 million weekend put its domestic ten-day total at $21.4 million. Fortunately, the $25 million picture is being saved by international moviegoers who have put $30.5 million into it so far.

STX’s big flop ‘The Space Between Us‘ opened in the #9 spot last weekend and is currently in freefall. With a 53% dip in attendance, it dropped to #10 with just $1.7 million. Playing on 2,758 screens, that puts its per-screen average at $638. With a ten-day total of $6.5 million, STX execs have to be praying that their $30 million picture will be a massive hit when it opens overseas.

Top 10:

1. ‘The Lego Batman Movie’ (Warner Bros.) – $55,635,000

2. ‘Fifty Shades Darker’ (Universal) – $46,797,825

3. ‘John Wick: Chapter Two’ (Summit) – $30,015,000

4. ‘Split’ (Universal) – $9,321,110

5. ‘Hidden Figures’ (Fox) – $8,000,000

6. ‘A Dog’s Purpose’ (Universal) – $7,365,335

7. ‘Rings’ (Paramount) – $5,820,000

8. ‘La La Land’ (Summit) – $5,000,000

9. ‘Lion’ (Weinstein) – $4,083,000

10. ‘The Space Between Us’ (STX) – $1,760,000

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