Weekend Box Office (June 29 - July 1, 2018)
THIS WEEKEND Franchise holdovers continued to rule the North American box office ahead of the Independence Day holiday as the top two titles held their positions from last week upping their combined domestic sales to over $700M.
Moviegoers lined up for dinosaurs again as Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom remained the number one movie in the land, this time grossing an estimated $60M in its sophomore session. Falling 60%, the Universal blockbuster raised its total to $264.8M with the lucrative holiday week still ahead. The previous Jurassic World fell 49% in its second weekend in June 2015 and the larger decline for the sequel is understandable. Reaching north of $400M is certainly possible.
Global grosses for Fallen Kingdom crashed through the $900M mark this weekend on their way to ten-digit territory. Overseas markets kicked in an estimated $56.1M this weekend boosting the offshore sum to $667.6M led by China's massive $237.1M. That puts the worldwide gross at $932.4M.
This month's top-grossing performer Incredibles 2 held in second place with an estimated $45.5M in its third lap dropping a reasonable 43%. Disney and Pixar have now banked $439.7M putting the super hero family at number 17 on the list of all-time domestic blockbusters on its way into the top ten. By this time next week, Disney will have nine of the top 13 domestic hits of all-time.
Overseas markets contributed another $44.3M this weekend with half of the international marketplace not set to open until after the World Cup. Offshore grosses are now up to $207.1M and global stands at $646.8M with plenty to come. Many major markets will open over the months ahead including the U.K. and Korea in mid-July, Japan and Spain in early August, then Italy and Germany in late September. Disney is on course for its third billion-dollar smash of the year with this one.
With a pair of mega-sequels on the calendar for the second half of June, other studios stayed away from opening any giant films this weekend. But the new releases which did choose to program themselves into the final frame of the first half of 2018 came away with respectable results.
Sony's crime thriller Sicario: Day of the Soldado bowed in third to solid results with an estimated $19M from 3,055 sites for a $6,224 average. The R-rated follow-up to the 2015 hit debuted higher than the $12.1M nationwide launch of the first one. Benicio Del Toro and Josh Brolin returned and led the cast. Reviews were so-so.
The basketball comedy Uncle Drew made its debut in fourth place with an estimated $15.5M from 2,742 theaters for a good $5,653 average. Reviews for Lionsgate and Summit were decent and the solid A grade from CinemaScore shows that summer audiences are having fun with this PG-13 vehicle. Studio data showed that the breakdown was 59% male and 58% over 25. The cast featured basketball greats like Kyrie Irving, Shaquille O'Neal, and Reggie Miller plus actors Tiffany Haddish and Nick Kroll.
Two Warner Bros. holdovers followed. The caper pic Ocean's 8 held well with a 30% dip to an estimated $8M for $114.7M overall. Global is now $209.7M. The comedy Tag declined by 32% to an estimated $5.6M giving the R-rated entry $40.9M to date.
Fox's comic book action-comedy Deadpool 2 was next with an estimated $3.5M, off 35%, boosting the domestic cume to $310.4M which is number five all-time among R-rated films. Worldwide haul is up to $719.1M with no China release. The new Bollywood biopic Sanju debuted in eighth place with an estimated $2.6M opening from 356 locations for a $7,163 average for FIP.
The Star Wars film Solo sank to ninth with an estimated $2.3M dropping 49%. Disney has banked $207.3M to date from North America and only $368.9M worldwide. The Mister Rogers documentary Won't You Be My Neighbor rounded out the top ten with an estimated $2.3M, up 26% after another expansion, and a hearty $7.5M to date for Focus.
The top ten films grossed an estimated $164.3M which was up 5% from last year when Despicable Me 3 opened at number one with $72.4M; but down 9% from 2016 when Finding Dory stayed in the top spot for a third time with $41.8M.
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Be sure to check back on Thursday for a complete summary, including projections, for next weekend when Ant-Man and the Wasp and The First Purge both open.
This column is updated three times each week: Thursday (upcoming weekend's summary), Sunday (post-weekend analysis with estimates), and Monday night (actuals). Opinions expressed in this column are those solely of the author.
Last Updated: July 1, 2018 at 1:30PM ET
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