This past weekend saw the wide release of the action-spy flick Kingsman: The Golden Circle, the animated film, The LEGO Ninjago Movie, and the horror film Friend Request. The Boston Marathon bombing drama Stronger also had a limited release to mostly critical praise.
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Coming in at number one was Kingsman: The Golden Circle, with $39.0 million. It’s admittedly a bit of a disappointing performance, especially since earlier predictions had it pegged to hit $50 million or higher. Perhaps it’s the continued strength of IT or the soft reaction to the film itself, but it didn’t hit a lot of expectations. That being said, it still managed to outperform the original film’s $36.2M, though it still doesn’t look too good for the film as a whole. Whereas the original survived on its stellar word of mouth, the general consensus around this one seems to be “ehh…” so we’ll have to see if it has the same staying power as the original, or if those reviews will negatively affect future weeks.
In second place is IT, dropping around 50 percent from its second weekend. The film has also gone down in history as the highest grossing R-rated horror film of all time, and the second highest horror film ever, behind M. Night Shyamalan’s The Sixth Sense. While it’s doubtful it’ll crack that $672.8 million barrier worldwide, it may manage to beat it domestically in the coming weeks.
In third place is LEGO Ninjago with a disappointing $21.2 million. While this performance doesn’t exactly spell doom for the franchise, it is the latest in a downward trend. The first LEGO Movie made a whopping $69 million in its opening weekend, and the LEGO Batman Movie made $53 million. This marks a substantial drop. Parts of it may have to do with the fact that this is also the first LEGO movie to get a rotten score on Rotten Tomatoes, but it also may have to do with the fact that despite the LEGO brand, the “Ninjago” is a bit alienating, and may only appeal to a smaller segment of viewers than originally thought. Regardless, it still came in well under expectations that had it pegged at around $35 million or so.
All in all, not a bad weekend, but not too great either. According to Box Office Mojo, it did undershoot overall expectations, but when you have two sequels underperform, it’s not exactly surprising.
The top 10 domestic weekend box office estimates, listed in descending order, per data collected as of Sunday, September 24, are below.
- Kingsman: The Golden Circle – 20th Century Fox – $39.0M
- It – Warner Bros. – $30.0M
- Lego Ninjago Movie, The – Warner Bros. – $21.2M
- American Assassin – Warner Bros. – $6.3M
- Home Again – Open Road – $3.3M
- mother! – Paramount – $3.3M
- Friend Request – Entertainment Studios Motion Pictures – $2.4M
- Hitman’s Bodyguard, The – Lionsgate – $1.9M
- Stronger – Lionsgate/Roadside Attractions – $1.8M
- Wind River – The Weinstein Company – $1.3M
The top 10 worldwide weekend box office estimates, listed in descending order, per data collected as of Sunday, September 24, are below.
- Kingsman: The Golden Circle – 20th Century Fox – $100.2M
- It – Warner Bros. – $68.3M
- Lego Ninjago Movie, The – Warner Bros. – $31.7M
- War for the Planet of the Apes – 20th Century Fox – $19.6M
- Hitman’s Bodyguard, The – Lionsgate – $17.3M
- American Assassin – Warner Bros. – $9.0M
- mother! – Paramount – $7.9M
- Spider-Man: Homecoming – Disney – $7.1M
- Invisible Guest – Multiple – $6.5M
- American Made – Universal – $6.0M
What do you think of this weekend’s box office haul? Let us know down below!
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SOURCE: Box Office Mojo, comScore