Weekend Wrap-Up: It Jump Starts Box Office with $123 million
September 11, 2017
Historically, the weekend after the Labor Day long weekend is one of the worst weekends of the year. That is not the case this year. In fact, this year, this weekend was historic in a much more positive sense of the word. It broke tons of records, some of which were more esoteric. It demolished the records for biggest September weekend box office, biggest horror weekend, Biggest R-rated day, biggest opening weekend for a Stephen King, etc. All of this led to the weekend box office more than doubling last weekend’s total earning $163 million. This is also 62% higher than the same weekend last year. A change this severe usually only happens when there is a misalignment in holidays. I’ve been saying that a lot over the past few weeks; however, this has been due to a massive decline, so it is nice to be unabashedly positive for once. Year-to-date, 2017 is still well behind 2016 at $7.63 billion to $8.08 billion. 2017 did close the gap and it is now 5.6% or $450 million behind last year’s pace. If the movie industry can close the gap by this much each week, then it will take till Halloween before it has caught up in terms of dollars and would take until nearly Christmas to catch up in terms of ticket sales.
The hype for It meant it was expected to be a big hit, but almost no one expected this to happen. The film smashed records earning more in its first day, $50.43 million, than any September weekend total. Its weekend haul was $123.40 million, which is not only well over double the previous September record, it is also double the October weekend record, and significantly more than any January weekend. The film’s 86% positive reviews and its B plus CinemaScore should give it good legs, for the genre, meaning it will quickly overtake The Green Mile as the biggest Stephen King and overtake Crocodile Dundee as the biggest September release of all time. The only downside with this result is the expectations for the sequel, which will be sky high.
Home Again was well back with $8.57 million during its opening weekend. The film only managed 35% positive reviews and a B from CinemaScore, while its theater average is just $2,914. All of this suggests rather short legs, as the word of mouth will be poor and theater owners won’t be interested in keeping it around with such a low theater average. On the other hand, the film reportedly only cost $15 million to make, so this isn’t a disaster and it could break even if it becomes a hit on the home market.
The Hitman’s Bodyguard was next with $4.80 million over the weekend for a four-week total of $64.85 million. The film may have already made enough worldwide to cover its combined production and advertising budgets. By the time it hits the home market, the studio will have made a nice profit on its investments.
Annabelle: Creation earned fourth place with $4.00 million over the weekend for a total of $96.27 million after a month of release. The film will top $100 million by this time next week.
Wind River rounded out the top five with $3.13 million over the weekend for a total of $24.92 million after six weeks of release. It will start losing theaters at an accelerated pace, so getting to $30 million might not be a lock.
- It Comparisons
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- Home Again Comparisons
Filed under: Weekend Wrap-up, The Hitman’s Bodyguard, Annabelle: Creation, It, Home Again, Wind River, Stephen King