The final stretch of the 2018 summer movie season kicked off Friday as three new films –Disney’s Christopher Robin, The Spy Who Dumped Me and The Darkest Minds– ushered in the Dog Days of summer and were met with indifference from ticket buyers. None were strong enough to unseat last week’s champ, Mission: Impossible – Fallout, which remained the top choice by a wide margin.
Benefitting from great word-of-mouth and no competition to speak of, M:I – Fallout dropped only 43% from its sizable debut one week ago. The acclaimed Tom Cruise action flick scored an estimated $35 million from 4,395 theaters to bring its ten-day domestic total up to a great $124.4 million.
The business decrease was less than the 49% Mission: Impossible –Rogue Nation experienced in its second weekend three summers ago. Currently, Fallout is running roughly 16% ahead of Rogue Nation and should continue to do so throughout August. That would help push the final box office total for Fallout somewhere between $215-220 million.
Overseas, Fallout has earned $205 million so far.
In second place with a $25 million debut from 3,602 screens was the Mouse House’s live-action feature Disney’s Christopher Robin. Starring Ewan McGregor and Directed by Marc Forster (Quantum of Solace), Christopher Robin was met with mixed responses from the critics -68% on Rotten Tomatoes and a 59/100 from Metacritic- but received an “A” from ticket buyers on CinemaScore.
Landing with a thud in third was Lionsgate’s action comedy The Spy Who Dumped Me with a lifeless $12.3 million from 3,111 theaters. Critics, ahem, “dumped” all over the Kate McKinnon/Mila Kunis flick. They gave Spy a 37% approval on Rotten Tomatoes and a 51/100 on Metacritic. The film didn’t score much better with ticket buyers, who gave the film a mediocre “B” on CinemaScore. That latter grade could translate into the film being dumped out of theaters by Labor Day.
Rounding out the top five were two sequels from July. Universal’s Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again landed in fourth, scoring an estimated $9 million from 3,359 theaters. After three weeks of release, Mamma’s domestic total is now $91.3 million. The musical has banked an additional $139 million from international markets.
Rounding out the top five was the Sony’s The Equalizer 2 with $8.8 million from 2,725 screens. Down only 37% from the previous week, the Denzel Washington flick has avenged $80 million after three weeks. A final haul near the $100 million mark is possible.
- Hotel Transylvania 3 (Sony) $8.2 million (-33%); $136.4 million
- Ant-Man and the Wasp (Disney) $6.1 million (-29%); $195.4 million
- The Darkest Minds (Fox) $5.8 million
The latest movie adaptation of a young adult book series was trashed by the critics and ignored by public.
- Incredibles 2 (Disney) $5 million (-31%); $583 million
- Teen Titans Go! To The Movies (Warner) $4.9 million (-53%); $21 million
Finally, in its 25th week of theatrical release, Disney’s Black Panther finally crossed the $700 million mark at the box office. The studio paired the Marvel blockbuster up with 25 venues playing Christopher Robin – an odd choice given that not one, but two Marvel films have been released this summer – , which helped Panther hit the magic milestone today.
Next weekend sees the arrival of Spike Lee’s acclaimed BlacKKKlansman, The Meg and something called Slender Man. While the giant shark flick The Meg has been advertised for what seems like an eternity, Fallout may have what it takes to remain at number one.
