It was a quiet weekend at the North America box office as Boss Baby and Beauty and the Beast repeated as the top picks. Sony’s animated Smurfs: The Lost Village got lost in third while Warner’s remake of Going In Style was moderate in fourth. The box office will rev back to life starting this upcoming Thursday when The Fate of the Furious begins its run.
Fox/Dreaworks’ Boss Baby fell a reasonable 48% in its second round to earn an estimated $26.3 million from 3,829 theaters. The ten-day total for the animated hit stands at $89.4 million. With Easter and spring school vacations both on the horizon, Baby should be able to work its way to a winning $150-160 million domestically. Overseas, the tyrannical tyke has amassed $110 million so far.
Disney’s Beauty and the Beast remake danced 45% less this weekend on 3,969 screens but still managed to bring in a great $25 million in its fourth round. The North America total for Beauty currently stands at $432.3 million. Internationally, the Emma Watson smash has grossed $545.1 million. The film will cross the billion-dollar mark within the next several days, becoming the first 2017 release to do so.
One company that would kill to have a billion dollar hit right about now is Sony. The troubled studio suffered its latest box office dud – one has to wonder if they are having a competition with Paramount- in the form of the $60 million animated feature Smurfs: The Lost Village. Opening on 3,610 screens, the third film in the franchise that began six years ago could only muster an estimated $14 million in its first three days, roughly 70% lower than the original’s opening.
Bad reviews and a crowded family marketplace were probably the two biggest factors contributing to Lost Village’s terrible opening numbers. Another could be the law of diminishing returns. While the original brought in a healthy box office the gross for the 2013 sequel was roughly 50% lower, a sure sign that one Smurf film was more than enough.
Foreign numbers for The Lost Village were a bit brighter for the blue folk. After two weeks of overseas play, the family flick has bagged a respectable $42 million.
Warner’s Going In Style opened on 3,061 screens Friday where it made its way to fourth place with a mediocre $12.5 million. The $25 million film was met with mostly negative reviews and played to an older audience. The feature is a remake of the 1979 comedy directed by Martin Brest and starred George Burns, Art Carney and Lee Strasburg. Zach Braff directs the new version with Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman and Alan Arkin in the lead roles.
Rounding out the top five was the Paramount bomb Ghost in the Shell. The sci-fi misfire dropped a sharp 61% in its second weekend on 3,440 screens to earn an anemic $7.3 million. After ten days, the Scarlett Johansson film has only earned $31.4 million and should finish with a weak $40-45 million.
As with the Smurfs sequel, the international market has been kinder for Ghost in the Shell. After two weeks, Ghost has earned a good $92 million. Despite those numbers, Paramount is still expected to lose an estimated $60-80 million on the film, which costs the studio an estimated $250 million for the production and marketing.
- Power Rangers (2017) (Lionsgate) $6.2 million (-56%); $75 million
- Kong: Skull Island (Warner) $5.8 million (-32%); $156.5 million
- Logan (Fox) $4 million (-34%); $218 million
- Get Out (Universal) $4 million (-29%); $163 million
- The Case for Christ (PFR) $3.9 million
Next weekend, it is all about Fate of the Furious. The eighth installment in the 16-year old franchise is looking at an opening north of $100 million in North America and considerably more overseas.
