Weekend Box Office (February 15 - 17, 2019)

by Gitesh Pandya

THIS WEEKEND The 2019 box office slump continued as the Presidents Day holiday frame plunged to its worst gross in 15 years. Moviegoers only had so much excitement for the menu of titles that studios have offered with many consumers holding onto their dollars waiting for bigger event movies to arrive.

Opening at number one was the big-budget sci-fi vehicle Alita: Battle Angel which grossed an estimated $27.8M over the Friday-to-Sunday portion of the long holiday frame. Fox's PG-13 entry averaged a good $7,335 from 3,790 locations and has collected $36.5M since its debut on Thursday, Valentine's Day.

Audiences and critics have had differing opinions on Alita. Film reviews were mixed and did not provide too much support, however paying crowds have been reacting very well and the A- CinemaScore shows consumer satisfaction. The solid 55% Friday-to-Saturday jump indicates good word-of-mouth and strong business from older kids on a long weekend off from school.

With Robert Rodriguez directing and James Cameron writing and producing, Alita tapped into the sci-fi and manga crowds and is positioned for a stellar global run. This weekend saw openings in dozens of countries with a hefty $56.2M from 86 markets pushing the overseas cume to $94.4M and the early global take to $130.9M. With muscular launches expected in China and Japan this Friday, the final worldwide haul for Alita should be able to top $500M, and may exceed $600M too.

The LEGO Movie 2 dropped from first to second and grossed an estimated $21.2M from family audiences in its second weekend, down 38%. After ten days, the Warners toon stands at $62.7M which is less than half of what the first LEGO Movie made during this same period five years ago.

Warner Bros. released a new romantic comedy for Valentine's Day with Isn't It Romantic but only saw moderate results with an estimated weekend of $14.2M from 3,444 sites for a $4,126 average. Starting its run on Wednesday ahead of the holiday, the PG-13 film anchored by Rebel Wilson collected $20.5M over five days. Reviews were generally positive and the A- CinemaScore grade meant that moviegoers were satisfied with it. Numerous studio rom-coms launched for this holiday have done better, though.

Another female-driven film followed with the comedy What Men Want dropping a reasonable 40% to an estimated $10.9M in its second weekend. The Paramount release has banked $36.2M to date.

The horror sequel Happy Death Day 2U only attracted a few takers opening in fifth with an estimated $9.8M from 3,207 locations for a mild $3,062 average. That debut was down a disturbing 62% from the $26M launch of Happy Death Day which launched on the Friday the 13th right before Halloween in 2017. Universal has collected $13.5M since the Wednesday start on this PG-13 fright fest.

The rest of the top ten was filled with leftover scraps, each averaging about $2,000 or less. The Liam Neeson actioner Cold Pursuit dropped 46% in its second weekend to an estimated $6M for Lionsgate putting the cume at only $21.1M. The Upside dipped only 22% to an estimated $5.6M raising its impressive total to $94.2M for STX which will soon enter the century club.

Down 39% was Glass with an estimated $3.9M putting Universal at $104.5M. Horror pic The Prodigy fell 46% to an estimated $3.2M with Orion at $11M overall.

Rounding out the top ten was the Oscar contender Green Book with an estimated $2.8M, off just 20%, for $65.8M to date for Universal. Academy Award nominee Mahershala Ali has bookended the top ten this weekend with this one plus Alita.

The top ten films grossed an estimated $105.3M over the Friday-to-Sunday portion of the Presidents Day holiday weekend which was down a steep 61% from last year when Black Panther opened in the number one spot with a record $202M; and off 18% from 2017 when The LEGO Batman Movie stayed on top with $32.7M.


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# Title Feb 15 - 18 Feb 8 - 10 % Chg. Theaters Weeks AVG Cumulative Distributor
1 Alita: Battle Angel $ 33,534,100 3,790 1 $ 8,848 $ 42,250,332 Fox
2 The LEGO Movie 2 27,753,494 34,115,335 -18.6 4,303 2 6,450 69,228,853 Warner Bros.
3 Isn't It Romantic 16,644,815 3,444 1 4,833 22,890,162 Warner Bros.
4 What Men Want 12,210,284 18,232,087 -33.0 2,912 2 4,193 37,440,612 Paramount
5 Happy Death Day 2U 11,006,695 3,207 1 3,432 14,718,195 Universal
6 Cold Pursuit 6,946,112 11,030,233 -37.0 2,630 2 2,641 22,068,444 Lionsgate
7 The Upside 6,513,075 7,082,763 -8.0 2,781 6 2,342 95,120,106 STX
8 Glass 4,624,690 6,279,655 -26.4 2,449 5 1,888 105,255,605 Universal
9 The Prodigy 3,670,160 5,853,061 -37.3 2,530 2 1,451 11,535,634 Orion
10 Green Book 3,511,960 3,443,975 2.0 1,618 14 2,171 66,517,361 Universal
11 Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse 2,714,161 3,043,626 -10.8 1,207 10 2,249 183,470,065 Sony
12 Aquaman 2,264,112 3,201,653 -29.3 1,264 9 1,791 331,750,214 Warner Bros.
13 Ralph Breaks The Internet 1,491,245 341,929 336.1 1,354 13 1,101 198,603,000 Disney
14 They Shall Not Grow Old 1,248,187 1,707,803 -26.9 626 3 1,994 15,519,534 Warner Bros.
15 A Dog's Way Home 1,200,985 1,958,714 -38.7 880 6 1,365 40,341,000 Sony
16 Bohemian Rhapsody 1,168,725 1,301,745 -10.2 562 16 2,080 212,200,434 Fox
17 Miss Bala 1,113,806 2,745,129 -59.4 1,172 3 950 13,861,000 Sony
18 Oscar Nominated Shorts 976,202 938,455 4.0 370 2 2,638 2,320,722 Magnolia
19 A Star Is Born 952,169 545,722 74.5 843 20 1,130 209,963,857 Warner Bros.
20 The Favourite 792,882 814,423 -2.6 324 13 2,447 31,336,167 Fox Searchlight
Top 5 $ 101,149,388 $ 76,740,073 31.8
Top 10 126,415,385 95,027,517 33.0
Top 20 140,337,859 108,174,258 29.7
Top 20 vs. 2018 140,337,859 336,513,315 -58.3

Last Updated: February 17, 2019 at 12:15PM ET

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