Weekend Box Office (September 20 - 22, 2019)


by Gitesh Pandya

THIS WEEKEND Focus Features scored an all-time company record with the estimated $31M opening weekend for the much-anticipated Downton Abbey which proved how strong the franchise and the brand still are. With 3,079 theaters, the per-location average was a sensational $10,068 per site.

Reviews were very positive, but more importantly, audiences loved what they got. The CinemaScore grade was a strong A and more business should keep coming in over the weeks ahead. Mature women drove the spending as demos showed that the crowd was 74% female and 60% over 35. Films with built-in fan bases like this usually erode quickly, but Abbey has a shot at playing through the fall season on its way to very high numbers.

Two veteran Hollywood actors opened new films to nearly identical grosses with Brad Pitt edging it out for second place with the space drama Ad Astra. The Fox film debuted to an estimated $19.2M from 3,460 sites for a good $5,552 average. Critics and paying audiences had very different opinions on this one as reviews were strong, but audience scores were shaky with a B- grade from CinemaScore. Studio data for the PG-13 pic showed that demos were 54% male and 73% over 25. $26M came in this weekend from overseas markets and a good global run will be needed for Ad Astra which was not cheap to produce.

Lionsgate and Millennium Media followed close behind with their franchise sequel Rambo: Last Blood which opened to an estimated $19M from 3,618 locations for a $5,256 average. The R-rated film from Sylvester Stallone is the fifth in the series which began in 1982 with First Blood and saw its most recent chapter in 2008. Last Blood played to older men, as expected, and the CinemaScore was a decent B.

Former number one It: Chapter Two tumbled 57% in its third scare to an estimated $17.2M. Warner Bros. has now banked $179.2M domestic, $205.9M from overseas, and $385.1M worldwide. Dropping 49% in its second weekend was Hustlers with an estimated $17M and $62.6M cume for STX. The decline was reasonable and audiences are enjoying this star-driven hit which should end up as one of the year's smallest budgeted films to break the $100M mark.

The rest of the films in the top ten were leftovers with under $3M a piece, including three films failing to average $1,000 this weekend. Still in the top ten for a tenth weekend was The Lion King with an estimated $2.6M, dipping only 30%. New totals for Disney are $537.6M from North America, $1.09 billion international, and $1.63 billion global.

Good Boys followed with an estimated $2.5M, down 41%, for $77.3M to date for Universal. Action threequel Angel Has Fallen collected an estimated $2.4M, off 47%, giving Lionsgate $64.7M to date surpassing the $62.5M final of the last installment London Has Fallen.

Sony's Overcomer fell 45% to an estimated $1.5M putting the studio at $31.6M overall. Universal's hit spinoff Hobbs and Shaw grabbed an estimated $1.5M in its eighth weekend pushing the domestic take to $170.6M. Add in $579.5M from overseas and this ninth chapter of the Fast and Furious franchise has risen to a global haul of $750.1M. It also reached $200M in China.

The top ten films grossed an estimated $113.9M which was up a healthy 46% from last year when The House with a Clock in Its Walls opened at number one with $26.6M; and up 5% from 2017 when Kingsman: The Golden Circle debuted on top with $39M.


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# Title Sep 20 - 22 Sep 13 - 15 % Chg. Theaters Weeks AVG Cumulative Distributor
1 Downton Abbey $ 31,033,665 3,079 1 $ 10,079 $ 31,033,665 Focus
2 Ad Astra 19,001,398 3,460 1 5,492 19,001,398 Fox
3 Rambo: Last Blood 18,872,919 3,618 1 5,216 18,872,919 Lionsgate
4 It: Chapter Two 17,006,478 39,606,550 -57.1 4,156 3 4,092 178,927,041 Warner Bros.
5 Hustlers 16,806,587 33,181,361 -49.3 3,525 2 4,768 62,351,800 STX
6 The Lion King 2,677,788 3,649,905 -26.6 1,978 10 1,354 537,698,092 Disney
7 Good Boys 2,590,965 4,223,875 -38.7 2,025 6 1,279 77,386,570 Universal
8 Angel Has Fallen 2,407,363 4,494,056 -46.4 2,505 5 961 64,697,042 Lionsgate
9 Overcomer 1,520,607 2,725,781 -44.2 1,818 5 836 31,587,810 Sony
10 Hobbs and Shaw 1,456,140 2,791,425 -47.8 1,391 8 1,047 170,609,950 Universal
11 Dora and the Lost City of Gold 1,280,248 1,835,864 -30.3 944 7 1,356 58,424,677 Paramount
12 The Peanut Butter Falcon 1,015,473 1,843,310 -44.9 1,128 7 900 16,758,969 Roadside Attr.
13 Brittany Runs a Marathon 960,542 1,471,769 -34.7 1,033 5 930 5,258,763 Amazon
14 Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark 955,498 1,699,783 -43.8 932 7 1,025 65,785,234 CBS/Lionsgate
15 The Goldfinch 760,014 2,679,027 -71.6 2,542 2 299 4,540,117 Warner Bros.
16 The Angry Birds Movie 2 723,715 1,180,754 -38.7 730 6 991 40,564,306 Sony
17 Once Upon A Time in Hollywood 650,189 1,501,323 -56.7 545 9 1,193 138,163,619 Sony
18 Linda Ronstadt 427,069 686,370 -37.8 218 3 1,959 1,641,009 Greenwich
19 Spider-Man: Far From Home 375,753 665,000 -43.5 407 12 923 389,751,771 Sony
20 Toy Stoy 4 289,852 412,524 -29.7 291 14 996 432,752,831 Disney
Top 5 $ 102,721,047 $ 85,155,747 20.6
Top 10 113,373,910 97,031,154 16.8
Top 20 120,812,263 106,990,920 12.9
Top 20 vs. 2018 120,812,263 88,031,712 37.2


Last Updated: September 22, 2019 at 1:00PM ET


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