Friday Box Office Analysis

By Kim Hollis

August 11, 2018

Spoilers: the dog makes it.

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We've said it for years, and our Dan Krovich coined the phrase: Animals eating people = $$$$$.

Yes, The Meg is our top movie for the weekend by an awful lot. An AWFUL lot. It earned an absolutely stupid $16.5 million in North America. Of course, that's peanuts compared to its international take, which was right around $35 million, thanks to a multinational cast and the presence of the popular-all-over-the-world Jason Statham. Now, the budget was pretty lofty here at $150-$170 million, so it's got a ways to go for profitability. Still, given the fits and starts it's had over the many years of its development, there is absolutely nothing wrong with this beginning, and it's obviously going to be massive in China, Japan and all over the rest of the world.

Let's call it $40 million domestic for the weekend. And don't go in the water.




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Also new this weekend was Slender Man, an ill-advised horror film based on the Creepypasta-created meme. It's PG-13 rated and horribly, horribly reviewed, but nonetheless managed $4.9 million, probably from curious teenagers who keep themselves up at night being scared of the "character." It won't hold up well over the remainder of the weekend, so $12 million is probably best-case scenario.

Also performing well was Spike Lee's critically beloved BlacKkKlansman, which earned $3.6 million yesterday from just 1,512 venues. This one is likely to contend for awards when the times comes, and should continue to see some attention in the coming weeks and months. $10 million should be about right here, and Lee and Focus Features should be pretty excited about that result. It definitely speaks to the fact that there's a significant audience that wants to hear the film's timely message.

Dog Days was also in theaters, but no one really noticed. Look, I really do love Ken Marino, but there was almost no studio support for the film, probably because almost no one has heard of LD Entertainment. It earned $770,000 yesterday and has $1.8 million since debuting on Wednesday.


     


 
 

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