Kingsman: The Golden Circle

Weekend Box Office: And All the King’s Men…

The future isn’t looking as bright as it once did for the Lego movie franchise. Had it maintained its potential following the first big-screen adventure, this week’s release might have dominated the box office. Instead, Matthew Vaughn’s second ‘Kingman’ film dethroned ‘It’ to win the weekend.

While ‘Kingsman: The Golden Circle‘ didn’t repeat the warm reviews that the first movie received, its $39 million domestic debut was nearly $3 million higher that of the series’ first installment. It also pulled in $61.2 million overseas, which is more than double the international opening of the first film. Worldwide, the $104 million super-stylized spy flick brought in $100.2 million. ‘Kingsman: The Secret Service’ went on to have long legs both domestically and internationally. The question now is whether ‘The Golden Circle’ can stay golden.

Thanks to ‘Kingsman’ (and not to this weekend’s new R-rated horror movie), ‘It‘ finally suffered its significant drop at the box office. Over its third week, the Stephen King adaptation dropped 50%. However, it still added another $30 million to its domestic run, which now sits at $266.3 million. With a total of $211.7 million, foreign moviegoers continue to choose ‘It’ as well. To date, the movie has grossed $478 million worldwide.

I’m on-board with Lego’s cinematic franchise. While ‘Lego Batman’ didn’t deserve the box office drop it suffered, ‘The Lego Ninjago Movie‘ certainly didn’t work very hard to improve the state of the franchise. ‘The Lego Movie’ opened to $69 million in 2014. ‘The Lego Batman Movie’ opened to $53 million in February this year. But ‘Ninjago’ could only muster a $21.2 million third-place opening. Overseas, it also debuted sub-par, claiming $10.5 million from 37 markets. With a price tag of $70 million, ‘Ninjago’ cost $10 million more than the first Lego movie, but $10 million less than ‘Lego Batman’. Fortunately, ‘Ninjago’ gets the big screen to itself for two weeks, which is when the next notable kids’ movie (‘My Little Pony’) hits.

When it comes to R-rated spy thrillers, North American audiences opted for that of the playful variety over last week’s straight-faced ‘American Assassin‘, which fell from second to fourth place with a 58% drop in attendance. A $6.2 million second week makes its ten-day total just $26.1 million. Overseas, it’s at to $6.1 million, giving the $33 million picture a $32.2 million worldwide total.

Despite horribly negative reviews, Reese Witherspoon’s ‘Home Again‘ only suffered a light drop in attendance. Falling just 36%, it rounded out the Top 5 with $3.3 million. After three weeks, the $12 million coming-of-middle-age rom-com has made $22.3 million.

The weekend’s new horror release ‘Friend Request‘ underperformed by all standards. Playing on 2,573 screens, it finished in seventh place with $2.4 million. That means the $9 million R-rated (supposedly) scary movie only averaged $933 per screen. Pennywise nearly ate that thing whole.

Although it scored great reviews at TIFF, Jake Gyllenhaal’s Boston Marathon bombing drama ‘Stronger‘ saw light returns from its 574-screen opening. Finishing at #9, the film made $1.7 million. Despite the underwhelming $3,045 per-screen average, ‘Stronger’ will expand a little farther next week as it attempts to make an early awards push.

Debuting at #16 from 21 locations, Fox Searchlight’s limited release of ‘Battle of the Sexes‘ grossed $525,000, for a per-screen average of $25,000. Fox is playing safe and will continue the film’s slow expansion over the coming weeks.

Top 10:

1. ‘Kingsman: The Golden Circle’ (Fox) – $39,000,000

2. ‘It’ (Warner Bros.) – $30,000,000

3. ‘The Lego Ninjago Movie’ (Warner Bros.) – $21,245,000

4. ‘American Assassin’ (Lionsgate) – $6,250,000

5. ‘Home Again’ (Open Road) – $3,311,821

6. ‘mother!’ (Paramount) – $3,260,000

7. ‘Friend Request’ (Entertainment Studios) – $2,400,000

8. ‘The Hitman’s Bodyguard’ (Lionsgate) – $1,850,000

9. ‘Stronger’ (Roadside Attractions) – $1,747,910

10. ‘Wind River’ (Weinstein) – $1,265,285

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