Weekend Wrap-Up
By Tim Briody
November 5, 2017
BoxOfficeProphets.com
The Marvel Cinematic Universe, which consistently turns even the B- and C-list players into A-list box office performances, released the 17th official film in the series in the form of Thor: Ragnarok. This is the third time around for Thor, four years after The Dark World opened on this weekend and six years after Thor launched in May of 2011.
Generally, the MCU films have not only been blockbuster hits, but also played well with critics, with many scoring in the 80% and 90% at Rotten Tomatoes. The Thor films have been the exception, with the first Thor coming in at 77% and The Dark World being the “worst” reviewed MCU entry at 66%. Ragnarok, on the other hand, came in with rave reviews and scored 93%, just behind the first Iron Man movie. For most of this week, it was the best reviewed Marvel movie of all time until some late naysayers came in. What changed here? Well, for one, they added Hulk to this one, rather than attempt another standalone film with him. And they also embraced the ridiculousness of it all and brought the funny. New Zealand director Taiki Waititi (best known for working with the Flight of the Conchords and the indie comedy What We Do In the Shadows) delivered a film that sets the standard for future MCU entries.
Thor: Ragnarok was easily the top film on the weekend, coming in with an impressive $121 million, good for the fourth best opening weekend of 2017 (and 30th all time, for those still keeping track of that sort of thing). What’s even more impressive here is 2013’s The Dark World opened to $85.7 million (and the 2011 original opened with $65.7 million), meaning they’ve been able to continue to grow the audience as all of the superhero franchises continue to roll along and age. This shouldn’t really be happening, not to this extent at least. Granted, there are a couple of other factors at play here; since The Dark World, Chris Hemsworth’s Thor has appeared in another Avengers movie (and a mid-credits scene in last year’s Doctor Strange), the dearth of quality releases at the box office (which I think also attributed to It’s ridiculous opening back in September), and the rave reviews.
Ragnarok launched Friday with $46.8 million, and $14.5 million of that coming via Thursday night showings, signaling a big weekend was in the works. In what’s definitely shaping up to be a big month, Thor’s got the advantage of coming first, as the DC Extended Universe tries their version of The Avengers in a couple of weeks with Justice League. With the success of Wonder Woman earlier this year, there are now heightened expectations for that one. The MCU itself returns in February with Black Panther, which I also expect to be huge. Not quite Ragnarok huge, but huge for February. The Dark World earned $206.3 million domestically in 2013 and Ragnarok is already over halfway there. It’s far too soon to tell where it will end up, but pushing $300 million certainly isn’t out of the question.
Opening on Wednesday, we have our first salvo of holiday themed movies this year, and this one was a sequel. A Bad Moms Christmas is the follow-up to last year’s successful Bad Moms, which earned $113 million on a reported budget of just $20 million, so you knew it was coming. Bringing back the titular moms in Mila Kunis, Kristen Bell and Kathryn Hahn, this one brings in their own mothers in the form of Cheryl Hines, Christine Baranksi and Susan Sarandon respectively. A Bad Moms Christmas earned $21.5 million in its five day opening, and $17 million on the weekend proper. The bad news here is Bad Moms opened to $23.8 million in July 2016. The good news here is that with a Christmas theme, the sequel has the chance to leg it out over the next several weeks to reach a respectable total. But more bad news, as it might have opened a couple of weekends too early to really take advantage of the holiday box office money train. It might get a bit of a bump around Thanksgiving, but expecting it to hang around until mid-December is not very likely. Perhaps it was better saved as counter programming for Justice League.
Dropping to third place is last weekend’s winner, the Saw revival/sequel Jigsaw. Down 60% from last weekend to $6.7 million, that’s generally been par for the course for the franchise. It’s got $28.8 million after two weekends, which passes 2009’s Saw VI (the one that got kneecapped by Paranormal Activity), but is otherwise looking at being the lowest earner in the franchise after that one, as even the $45.7 million earned by 2010’s Saw 3D seems out of reach already. At least it only cost Lionsgate $10 million.
Tyler Perry’s Boo 2! A Madea Halloween drops another 53% from last weekend to give it $4.6 million and $42.9 million after three weekends. There’s a limited amount of tolerance for Perry’s schtick, as last year’s Halloween Madea movie earned $73.2 million total and by this same point had $64.9 million in the bank. Now that Halloween’s over and done with, it’ll enter freefall here and will settle with a little bit over $50 million. Tyler Perry has yet another profitable film with a $20 million production budget, but this again shows that a little bit of Madea goes a long way.
Geostorm continues to flop in fifth place with $3 million off 49% from last weekend and giving it just $28.7 million in three weekends in theaters. The Gerard Butler film had a laughable $100 million budget (worldwide grosses are saving it), and it’s looking at $35 total domestically.
Continuing our trip through the leftovers, Happy Death Day lands in sixth place with $2.8 million and a respectable $52.9 million in four weekends. The Blumhouse production cost just $5 million, so it’s a big win for all involved as it will finish with about $60 million.
War drama Thank You For Your Service places seventh with $2.2 million, down just 40% from last weekend, and has earned $7.3 million in two weekends. In what’s been a pretty terrible 2017, audiences don’t really want a bummer of a movie so this is kind of what happens. It’s got a bit of a battle to reach its $20 million production budget, and it’s not the sort of movie at all that will play well overseas, if it even opens.
The general disappointment that is Blade Runner 2049 comes in eighth, adding another $2.2 million and giving it $85.4 million after five weekends in theaters. Not the minor exception I mentioned at the start (that’s Kingsman: The Golden Circle, which has a puncher’s chance at $100 million, it’s currently $1.4 million short), the performance is the embodiment of most films in 2017: if you weren’t an out of this world blockbuster, you were a disappointment. It played pretty well overseas, but you know WB was expecting to make back the reported $150 million budget in North America alone. There’s not enough oomph left to get it to $100 million here, about $93-94 million seems to be the final destination.
The based on a true story Only The Brave hangs on in ninth place on the weekend with $1.9 million and $15.2 million in three weekends. A touching story with a tragic ending, I refer you to the blurb on Thank You For Your Service as to why this ended up with the box office it did. Escapism is more important than ever to moviegoers.
The tenth spot goes to Let There Be Light, a faith based entry directed by and starring Kevin Sorbo. It opened last weekend in just 373 theaters and almost crashed the top ten with $1.7 million. This weekend it added 269 theaters and dropped just 5.7% to $1.6 million and manages to sneak in. I got nothing else when it comes to discussing films from this genre, but good for those involved and the fledgling Atlas Distribution Company, as it’s usually Pure Flix that has the market cornered on the faith based movies.
The top twelve films this weekend earned $166 million, well down from the $239.2 million taken in last year, when Doctor Strange not only launched with $109.9 million but Trolls opened to $58.9 million and Hacksaw Ridge was no slouch with $21.4 million. Next week we’ve got a comedy sequel in Daddy’s Home 2 as well as an update of Murder on the Orient Express directed by and starring Kenneth Branagh