Weekend Box Office (June 15 - 17, 2018)

by Gitesh Pandya

THIS WEEKEND Pixar shattered its own record for the biggest opening of all-time for an animated film with the long-awaited debut of its super hero family sequel Incredibles 2. The Disney release crushed all competition with a gargantuan $180M haul over three days, according to estimates, shattering the old record for toons of $135.1M held by Finding Dory from this same weekend two years ago. It actually surged a remarkable 33% past that old record mark.

Incredibles 2 also posted the eighth biggest overall opening weekend ever beating out Captain America: Civil War and Beauty and the Beast, but falling behind The Avengers, Black Panther, and Avengers: Age of Ultron. All were from the Disney empire too. The new PG-rated toon averaged a colossal $40,816 from 4,410 locations.

A combination of factors came together to power this mighty debut. Unlike many recent Hollywood sequels, this is one that millions of fans have actually been asking for. The product was strong, the marketplace was in need of a major tentpole to rally behind, high-profile toons have been absent this year, and appeal was extremely broad to all demos. Reviews from critics were exceptionally positive and audiences agreed as the CinemaScore grade was a glowing A+.

All signs point to a sensational road ahead for Incredibles 2. More and more schools are going on summer vacation with each passing day which is why studios release family films like these in mid-June in the first place. Long-term success is there for quality films. Given how past Pixar films have played after opening in mid-June and taking advantage of the upcoming Independence Day holiday week, I2 has a reasonable chance of becoming the fourth $600M+ domestic smash for Disney in the past seven months which would be unprecedented. The studio continues to dominate the motion picture box office with its Marvel, Pixar, and Lucasfilm divisions which almost always deliver what audiences want.

The heist pic Ocean's 8 fell to second place with an estimated $19.6M dropping 53% in its second weekend. Warner Bros. has taken in $79.2M in ten days and looks set to finish with about $125M.

Studio stablemate Tag opened in third place with an estimated $14.6M from 3,382 theaters for a decent $4,317 average. The R-rated comedy offered starpower from Ed Helms, Hannibal Buress, Jon Hamm, and Jeremy Renner but only generated a moderate amount of interest. Reviews were lackluster and audiences polled by CinemaScore gave a B+. Tag skewed older as 76% of the crowd was over 25, but cross-gender appeal was good as the split was 51/49 female.

The Star Wars disappointment Solo landed in fourth with an estimated $9.1M, off 42%. Disney has collected $192.8M after 24 days which is less than what Rogue One did in its first six days. International sales have been quite sluggish with only $146.7M to date for a gloomy global gross of just $339.5M. The final will most likely fail to reach $400M.

Deadpool 2 took fifth place with an estimated $8.8M dropping 38% which was not bad at all considering the arrival of a juggernaut appealing to all ages. Fox has banked $294.7M domestic and $689.5M worldwide. The thriller Hereditary followed with an estimated $7M for a sophomore slide of 48% which was quite good given the film's opening day D+ grade from CinemaScore. A24 has collected $27.2M.

Sony's stylish drama Superfly debuted in seventh place with $6.3M over the weekend and $8.4M across its five day debut period which started on Wednesday. The R-rated reimagining averaged a soft $2,838 from 2,220 locations over the Friday-to-Sunday span and the CinemaScore was a B+.

Down only 27% in its eighth weekend was the summer box office champ Avengers: Infinity War with an estimated $5.3M raising the cume to $664.2M which now puts the Marvel smash at number four on the list of all-time domestic blockbusters right behind Black Panther's $699.6M. Double features with Incredibles accounted for a portion of the take. The worldwide tally for Thanos climbed up to $2.02 billion with the next Avengers movie just a little more than 10 months away.

Next was the drama Adrift with an estimated $2.1M, down 60%, for a cume of $26.8M for STX. Paramount's Book Club fell 57% to an estimated $1.9M for a solid $62M overall.

The top ten films grossed an estimated $254.6M which was up 42% from last year when Cars 3 opened at number one with $53.7M; and up 14% from 2016 when Finding Dory debuted in the top spot with a then-record $135.1M.

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Be sure to check back on Thursday for a complete summary, including projections, for next weekend when Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom opens as the only Hollywood release.

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Last Updated: June 17, 2018 at 1:00PM ET

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