Weekend Estimates: Lego Tops Chart, but Fails to Match the Original
February 10, 2019
The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part reportedly cost $99 million to make and it will earn that much domestically, so it will very likely make a profit and Warner Bros. will be fine. That said, it is estimated to only manage $34.4 million over the weekend, which is about 40% lower than expectations and almost exactly 50% lower than the first film opened with. Its reviews are 84% positive, while it managed an A minus from CinemaScore, so it really should have done better than this. This hopefully isn’t a sign that the overall box office is unhealthy, but just a sign that WB has pushed the franchise too much too soon. Internationally, the film started with $18.1 million in 63 markets. This includes a first place, $5.2 million on 1,301 screens in the U.K. It also managed first place in Russia with $1.7 million on 2,493 screens. On the other hand, it only managed fourth place in Brazil with just $707,000 on 854 screens, which is the weakest start in the franchise.
What Men Want is opening with $19.0 million during the weekend, which is lower than expected, but not so much lower that Paramount should panic. Its reviews are mixed, and there is competition starting this Wednesday, so it doesn’t have a lot of time to earn box office dollars. That said, next weekend is a long weekend, so that should help its legs and it should still become a midlevel hit earning a solid profit from its $20 million production budget.
Cold Pursuit is matching expectations with an estimated $10.8 million during its opening weekend. Too many similar Liam Neeson movies is likely the culprit for why this film is underperforming compared to its reviews, but if it can do better internationally, it should break even sooner rather than later.
The Upside is interrupting the streak of new releases with an estimated weekend of $7.22 million, which would push its running tally to $85.80 million after a month of release. It will get to $100 million, probably by the end of February.
It looks like The Prodigy will settle for fifth place with $6.0 million. This is lower than our $7 million prediction, but it matches its $6 million production budget perfectly. Mixed reviews won’t help its legs, but as long as it can find an audience on the home market, then it will break even sooner rather than later.
As for limited releases, we are still waiting on estimates for 2019 Oscar Shorts, which should be the biggest limited release hit of the week. However, it very likely won’t match Everybody Knows’ theater average, which is $18,750, according to estimates.
- The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part Comparisons
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- What Men Want Comparisons
- Cold Pursuit Comparisons
- The Prodigy Comparisons
Filed under: Weekend Estimates, The LEGO Movie 2: The Second Part, The Upside, What Men Want, Todos lo saben, The Prodigy, Cold Pursuit, 2019 Oscar Shorts, Lego, Liam Neeson