Four new wide releases hit theaters this weekend, but all the winners had modest success at best. Warner Bros.’ “The LEGO Movie 2: The Second Part” topped at the box office, but failed to light up in the same way its predecessor did in 2014. A phenomenon at the time, “The LEGO Movie” grossed nearly $70 million five years ago at this same time, but ‘The Second Part’ couldn’t crack $35 million in its opening debut and in fact, fell $20 million below its expectations.
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Warner Bros. has tried to turn the LEGO-verse into a big cinematic universe, but so far “LEGO Batman,” and “LEGO Ninjago Movie” haven’t been able to match the original film. “The LEGO Movie” grossed $469 million worldwide in 2014 and the closest film so far has been “LEGO Batman” with which hit $312 globally (which is still pretty damn good), but ‘Ninajago’ was a bit of a bomb.
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Even “Lego Batman” debuted to $53 million in North America in 2017, so this opening, the lowest of the series so far, even beneath ‘Ninajgo’ doesn’t bode well for the overall health of the series. The upside? Animated movies for kids like this tend to have great holds and can play for weeks on end so while it may not have achieved a major lift off, ‘The Second Part’ could still make a tidy sum, but if it can’t crack $100 million domestic, it’s fair to say this franchise is in trouble and waning with audiences.
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Opening on nearly 3,000 screens Paramount’s “What Men Want,” did substantial business with a $19 million opening off a $20 million budget. Presumably, this one will play for weeks, have legs and make itself a nice little profit.
It’s unclear if Liam Neeson’s “Cold Pursuit” revenge film was ever going to light up the box office, but his “I power walked for days to expunge my racist murder fantasy against black people” confession—one of the greatest unforced errors in modern day entertainment controversies—probably didn’t help. “Cold Pursuit” opened to $10 million, one of the lowest openings of Neeson’s career as a leading action star. Orion’s “The Prodigy” could only hit $6 million, but as a cheapo horror aimed to turn a profit (that only cost $6 million), this is certainly enough, and it’ll probably play in theaters for a few weeks and make its money back.
Elsewhere at the box office, perhaps the big surprise is STX’s “The Upside” which has slowly crawled up to $85 million domestically. Its hold, -16.8% is phenomenal, so clearly it’s found its intended audience, and that audience loves it and is recommending it (presumably it’ll crack $100 million). Similarly, the hold on M. Night Shylaman’s “Glass” (-32.7%) is terrific for a film that’s been in theaters for four weeks. Critics lambasted it, but audiences are sold, and it’s just a few days shy of hitting $100 million at home. Worldwide, “Glass” is at $221.4 million and maybe, just maybe $300 million is in reach if a similar hold takes place internationally.
Meanwhile, superheroes are still in the top 10. “Aquaman” which has hit $1.1 billion worldwide has made an incredible $328 million domestically and “Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse” hasn’t hit $200 million domestic yet (the mark Sony really wants to cross before it leaves theaters), but it’s still in the top 10 and at $352 million globally.
Sony’s “Miss Bala” was killed this weekend, dropping 60% in week two and will be gone from the top 10 by next weekend. It’s not the highest grossing Oscar-nominated film (that’s “A Star Is Born”), but “Green Book” looking more and more like a Best Picture front runner is the only major Oscar picture in the top 10 (minus the animated ‘Spider-Verse’) and has hit $61 million domestic.
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In limited release “Everybody Knows,” “Lords of Chaos,” “To Dust” and the Peppa Pig film “Peppa Celebrates Chinese New Year” all opened, but only the Focus Feature film starring Javier Bardem and Penelope Cruz was able to make a dent ($18,750 per screen average from 4 screens). Considering how much of a global phenomenon Peppa Pig is, it seems STX really dropped the ball on this release.
1. The LEGO Movie 2: The Second Part — $34,400,000
2. What Men Want — $19,000,000
3. Cold Pursuit — $10,800,000
4. The Upside — $7,220,000($85,800,366)
5. Glass — $6,422,000 ($98,476,580)
6. The Prodigy— $6,004,403
7. Green Book— $3,567,000 ($61,501,776)
8. Aquaman— $3,300,000 ($328,547,042)
9. Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse— $3,040,000 ($179,821,627)
10. Miss Bala— $2,725,000 ($11,865,096)