Weekend Box Office: The Space Race

Two movies are battling for the top spot at this weekend’s box office, and it won’t be until the final numbers are tallied that we’ll know which walks away with the title. Unsurprisingly, neither of them were this weekend’s solitary new release.

As of now, four-week-old ‘Rogue One’ is still at the top of the charts with $21.9 million. However, sitting less than $200,000 behind it is ‘Hidden Figures’, which Fox expanded to 2,471 screens this weekend.

Rogue One‘ has now made a very impressive $477.2 million domestically. After this coming week’s grosses, it will officially dethrone ‘Finding Dory’ ($486.2 million) and become the highest-grossing domestic release of 2016. The film’s momentum also continues overseas, where it has earned $437.1 million to date. With a worldwide gross of $914.4 million, the ‘Star Wars’ spinoff is now the fifth-highest grossing movie of 2016 overall.

Fox’s nationwide expansion of ‘Hidden Figures‘ was very profitable, as it drew $21.8 million this weekend in North America. The $25 million historical drama has grossed $24.7 million to date and has yet to launch overseas. When all the numbers are reported and added up, this just might be the #1 movie of the weekend.

Now three weeks into its theatrical run, ‘Sing‘ collected another $19 million, which was more than enough to land in third place. The $75 million animated family flick has brought in more than $213 million nationwide and $143.5 million overseas, giving it a $356.8 million worldwide total. At this rate, Universal will do anything to keep its lucrative partnership with Illumination.

This weekend’s only new release, ‘Underworld: Blood Wars‘, landed in the #4 spot. The $13.1 million debut marks the lowest in the five-movie franchise, including the Beckinsale-free third entry, ‘Rise of the Lycans’, which opened to $20.8 million. Not even inflated 3D ticket prices could boost ‘Blood Wars’ to a decent level – but not all is lost. Internationally, the vampire/werewolf flick got a head start a month ago and has so far made $42.1 million internationally ($55.2 million worldwide), which is pacing well enough for this $35 million picture.

Adding 765 screens (which brings its domestic screen count up to 1,515), ‘La La Land‘ climbed up from the #7 spot and rounded out the Top 5. The movie’s $10 million weekend brings its domestic total up to $51.6 million, with another $34.1 million from overseas, placing this $30 million musical’s worldwide total at $85.7 million.

Both ‘Lion‘ and ‘A Monster Calls‘ expanded to wide release. Despite both scoring great reviews and word-of-mouth, neither was able to reel in much of an audience. With $2 million each, the films landed in the #12 and #13 spots respectively. Since debuting in Los Angeles and New York seven weeks ago, ‘Lion’ has grossed $9.8 million domestically and has yet to launch overseas. ‘A Monster Calls’ opened in Los Angeles and New York three weeks ago and has made $2.1 million domestically. To date, it has earned $34 million overseas (it debuted in some markets back in the fall), for $36.1 million worldwide.

Top 10:

1. ‘Rogue One: A Star Wars Story’ (Buena Vista) – $21,972,000

2. ‘Hidden Figures’ (Fox) – $21,800,000

3. ‘Sing’ (Universal) – $19,573,670

4. ‘Underworld: Blood Wars’ (Screen Gems) – $13,100,000

5. ‘La La Land’ (Lionsgate) – $10,000,000

6. ‘Passengers’ (Sony) – $8,800,000

7. ‘Why Him?’ (Fox) – $6,500,000

8. ‘Moana’ (Buena Vista) – $6,413,000

9. ‘Fences’ (Paramount) – $4,700,000

10. ‘Assassin’s Creed’ (Fox) – $3,800,000

2 comments

  1. Al

    ‘Hidden Figures’ won. It’s actual figure was 22.8 million.

    ‘Rogue One’ could only top the box office for three straight weeks. Pathetic! 😜

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *