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Over the past decade or so, studios have consistently prioritized rebooting or extending once popular franchises rather than greenlighting movies based around original characters. The thought process has been that audiences would be more likely to support things with prior name recognition. Well, one weekend never tells the complete story, but as evidence goes, let’s just say there was quite a bit this weekend to contest that conventional wisdom.
Ford V Ferrari cruised to not only an easy victory at the box office but also a really impressive A+ CinemaScore, while Charlie’s Angels couldn’t even break nine million dollars and looks like it will probably finish in third place, a huge disappointment for a movie rumored to have a production budget of almost $50M.
You can check out estimated numbers for the Top 10 below, courtesy of Box Office Mojo…
| 1. |
Ford V Ferrari
 |
$31,037,000 | Total: $31,037,000 |
LW: N THTRS: 3,528 |
| 2. |
Midway
|
$8,750,000 | Total: $35,140,773 |
LW: 1 THTRS: 3,242 |
| 3. |
Charlie’s Angels
|
$8,600,000 | Total: $8,600,000 |
LW: N THTRS: 3,452 |
| 4. |
Playing With Fire
|
$8,550,000 | Total: $25,497,824 |
LW: 3 THTRS: 3,185 |
| 5. |
Last Christmas
|
$6,700,000 | Total: $22,575,765 |
LW: 4 THTRS: 3,454 |
| 6. |
Doctor Sleep
|
$6,181,000 | Total: $25,039,159 |
LW: 2 THTRS: 3,855 |
| 7. |
The Good Liar
|
$5,656,000 | Total: $5,656,000 |
LW: N THTRS: 2,439 |
| 8. |
Joker
|
$5,635,000 | Total: $322,599,593 |
LW: 6 THTRS: 2,337 |
| 9. |
Maleficent 2
|
$5,247,000 | Total: $106,040,384 |
LW: 7 THTRS: 2,549 |
| 10. |
Harriet
|
$4,780,000 | Total: $31,882,990 |
LW: 8 THTRS: 2,011 |
I’m not sure that Ford V Ferrari number was the best case scenario for those involved, but it’s hard to be bothered by solidly winning the weekend, having phenomenal word of mouth and producing a lot of awards season-related chatter. If nothing else, the film it setting itself up to have a nice extended run of solid business at the box office. Many people who saw the film this weekend will say positive things to their friends, and if the movie can propel itself into the nomination conversation, some filmgoers who aren’t predisposed to seeing something like this will make the effort. And they should. The movie is very solid. Nine of us here at CinemaBlend have seen it so far, and according to our internal doc, it has an average rating of 3.75/5.
As for the rest of the field, it’s really hard to get excited about anyone else’s numbers. A lot more was expected from Charlie’s Angels. The marketing budget seemed to be pretty hefty, and I’m sure there was hope the movie would be able to launch a franchise. At one point, estimates even had it making around thirty million its opening weekend. Now the hope will shift to getting as close as possible to breaking even (Fingers crossed on foreign returns!). It was also disappointing news for fellow newcomer The Good Liar this week, which finished a frustrating seventh. Adult dramas like that tend to need some awards buzz to do any real damage, but unfortunately, with only pretty decent reviews, that doesn’t seem likely to happen.
Expect much heavier competition at the box office next week as Frozen 2 makes its long-awaited debut and assumedly, puts up a far bigger number than we saw from any of the films this weekend.
