Welcome to Box Office Breakdown, a brand new weekly segment where we analyze the top ten highest grossing films of the past weekend domestically and provide commentary on each film’s financial success or failure.
This past weekend marked a very eventful shift that may have a significant impact on the box office within the next few months. We’re starting to see the affects the Coronavirus outbreak is having on the industry, as studios are postponing releases for anticipated blockbusters and film festivals are being cancelled last minute. Pixar was also affected by the outbreak, as their latest film Onward faced an extremely disappointing debut. Many were predicting the film would open around the $60M mark, due to relatively strong reviews, an A- CinemaScore and an A-list voice cast. While $39M domestically isn’t necessarily terrible, it’s by far Pixar’s weakest opening weekend since 2015’s The Good Dinosaur, which also debuted just shy of $40M. The film absolutely tanked internationally, grossing an estimated $28M from 47 territories. This is concerningly low and it’s unclear whether the film will be able to earn back its hefty budget. That being said, with March break around the corner, it may receive a much needed boost.
The Invisible Man finished in second place with a much better hold than initially expected. Typically, horror films tend to dip 60-70% within their second weekend, which is often difficult to recover from. The Invisible Man only dropped 46%, which indicates that it may have some serious longevity. It’s already approaching $100M worldwide and it doesn’t show and signs of slowing down.
Ben Affleck’s sports drama, The Way Back opened on the lower end of expectations. Despite starring Affleck and receiving relatively strong reviews, the film was just shy of reaching the $10M mark. It has failed to catch on internationally, meaning that Warner Bros. will have to rely on solely on the domestic box office.
Rounding out the top 5 were, Sonic the Hedgehog and The Call of the Wild, which both lost a significant amount of steam. This did not come as a surprise, as they are both competing for the same audience as Onward.
Just outside the top 5 is Focus Features latest film Emma, which finally saw a nationwide expansion this past weekend. All things considering, the film had a relatively solid weekend and is doing very well internationally. It has already cracked $20M worldwide and while it may not have the longevity to stick around in the coming weeks domestically, it will likely continue to do well internationally, especially in Europe.
Bad Boys for Life continues it’s streak, as it became the first 2020 release to surpass $200M domestically. Birds of Prey, on the other hand. continues to free fall, as it struggles to reach the $100M mark. Rounding out the top 10 were Impractical Jokers: The Movie and My Hero Academia, which both stuck around due to passionate support from their respective fanbases.
Looking forward to next weekend, we’ll likely continue to see the affects of the Coronavirus on the box office. Onward has a good shot at holding onto the number one spot, but it needs a significant boost if it is going to make back its $200M budget. Vin Diesel’s Bloodshot, The Hunt, and I Still Believe will all receive wide releases next weekend. While none of them appear to pose a significant challenge to “Onward”, they will be competing for a spot in the top 3.
Follow my blog on Instagram @moviereviews100!
Don’t forget to follow us on Twitter or Instagram or like us on Facebook
