A Wrinkle in Time

Weekend Box Office: Wrinkle Wrinkle Little Star

Disney was its own worst enemy this weekend. The studio’s latest family adventure movie failed to reach the top of the box office, losing to another Disney film that’s been around for a month already.

Black Panther‘ led the pack for the fourth week. With a light 38% decline and a strong $41.1 million, the superhero epic’s domestic gross is now up to $562 million, placing it in the #7 spot on the Highest Grossing Domestic Releases of All Time chart. Now playing in every international market, its foreign box office climbed to $516.6 million, making it the fifth title in the Marvel Cinematic Universe to pass the $1 billion milestone. In other news, Disney has officially greenlit a sequel, which spoils the fact that Black Panther has no possibility of dying in the upcoming ‘Avengers: Infinity War’.

The debut of Disney’s ‘A Wrinkle in Time‘ aligned pretty closely with the missed-potential of 2015’s ‘Tomorrowland’. Both movies opened to $33 million. This came as a huge blow for ‘Tomorrowland’, which had a production budget of $190 million. ‘A Wrinkle in Time’ stands a chance of faring better, as it was produced on a more modest $100 million budget. The movie also launched in 14% of the international markets, where it earned $6.3 million. The $39.6 million worldwide opening is not too shabby, but the film will need to go the distance as its foreign expansion continues.

The micro-budgeted sequel to ‘The Strangers’ opened to solid success. From 2,464 screens, the horror flick made $10.4 million for a #3 finish. While that total is only half of what the original ‘Strangers’ debuted to 2008, ‘The Strangers: Prey at Night‘ was also made for half the budget and half the star power. With Christina Hendricks as the sole recognizable name in the cast list, the property, advertising and subject matter had to carry the weight. Already on the brink of reaching profitability with North American returns, it’ll be money in the bank by the time the movie debuts overseas.

Jennifer Lawrence’s smutty spy thriller ‘Red Sparrow‘ took a beating at the box office over its second week. Dropping 52% in attendance to $8.1 million, the film was knocked it into the #4 spot. Its ten-day domestic total stands at $31.1 million, while its international box office is up to $51.8 million. The $69 million picture has made $82.9 million worldwide, which isn’t looking too hot for the trashy movie.

Three-week-old ‘Game Night‘ rounded out the Top 5 thanks to yet another light week-over-week decline. Falling just 24% in attendance, the comedy added another $7.9 million to its domestic gross, which now sits at $45 million. With $24.7 million at the international box office, the $37 million picture has a surprising and well-deserved worldwide total of $69.7 million.

The other half of the weekend’s new releases didn’t fare so well. Despite playing on 2,402 screens, Rob Cohen’s ‘The Hurricane Heist‘ was rained out with a weak $3.1 million debut ($1,311 per screen). The $35 million B-movie has yet to open on foreign soil, but the forecast isn’t looking good.

Unable to break into the Top 10, Nash Edgerton’s ‘Gringo‘ played even worse. Its $2.6 million debut only got as high as #11 and resulted in a $1,094 per-screen average. There’s no word on the film’s production budget, but unless it was made for a couple million dollars, it won’t make it out of this sticky situation.

Top 10:

1. ‘Black Panther’ (Buena Vista) – $41,136,000

2. ‘A Wrinkle in Time’ (Buena Vista) – $33,316,000

3. ‘Strangers: Prey at Night’ (Aviron) – $10,480,000

4. ‘Red Sparrow’ (Fox) – $8,150,000

5. ‘Game Night’ (Warner Bros.) – $7,905,000

6. ‘Peter Rabbit’ (Sony) – $6,800,000

7. ‘Death Wish’ (MGM) – $6,600,000

8. ‘The Hurricane Heist’ (Entertainment Studios) – $3,150,000

9. ‘Annihilation’ (Paramount) – $3,150,000

10. ‘Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle’ (Sony) – $2,755,000

8 comments

      • Luke Hickman
        Author

        I don’t remember anything different about the bathing suit scene; however, when the trailer shows the “Flashdance” water torture scene, she’s covered up with a black top. She’s not wearing a black top during that scene in the movie.

    • Luke Hickman
      Author

      Puritan or not, I’m pretty sure that eroticized rape will always deserve the adjective “smutty.” When you see the non-rapey sexual scenes, you’ll see why even those qualify.

  1. Timcharger

    Disney has officially greenlit a sequel, which spoils the fact that Black Panther has no possibility of dying in the upcoming ‘Avengers: Infinity War’.

    Ha, ha, Luke. Good one. Superhero characters like Black Panther, Superman die? This aint no Game of Thrones.

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