Weekend Wrap-Up: Us vs. Them Wasn’t Even Close
March 26, 2019
Us topped the weekend chart and expectations with $71.12 million during its debut. This was more than double what Captain Marvel earned during this weekend and it helped the overall box office grow 6.8% from last weekend to $148 million. More importantly, this is 14% higher than the same weekend last year. Granted, 2019 is still way behind 2018, but it is chipping away at the deficit and is now behind by 17% or $450 million at $2.15 billion to $2.60 billion. Furthermore, 2019 is no longer an historically bad year at the box office. It used to be the worst year at box office in terms of dollars in over a decade. Now it’s the worst year since 2013 and if April is as good as March was, it could be in the top five best years in box office dollars by the beginning of May.
Us opened with $71.12 million during the weekend, becoming the fastest opening original horror movie of all time. That’s really impressive, especially considering it is only the second film directed by Jordan Peele. The film’s reviews remain over 90% positive, while it earned an impressive B rating on CinemaScore. To be more more precise, that’s impressive for a horror film. It should have good legs for the genre, but its legs won’t transcend the genre like Get Out managed to do. Furthermore, unless Universal was criminally irresponsible with its advertising budget, the film could have short legs and will still break even before reaching the home market, if not sooner.
Captain Marvel was well back with $34.27 million over the weekend for a three-week total of $320.75 million. This result keeps the film on pace for $400 million domestically, if it gets a boost from Endgame and / or Disney gives it a bit of a push. I think it will get there.
Wonder Park just managed to earn third place with $8.76 million over the weekend for a two-week total of $29.24 million. A 45% drop-off is not good for an animated film, especially one that cost this much to make. That said, it is essentially a pilot for the TV show, so if that can thrive, it should be worth it in the end.
Five Feet Apart actually held on better than expected, down just 35% to $8.55 million over the weekend for a two-week total of $36.36 million. The film cost just $7 million to make and even though it likely cost a whole lot more than that to advertise, it is well on its way to breaking even.
How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World rounded out the top five with $6.52 million over the weekend for a total of $145.74 million after a month of release. The film will hit $150 million, but it will be knocked out of the top five before it gets there.
There were two other films in the sophomore class not in the top five. No Manches Frida 2 fell 54% to $1.77 million over the weekend for a two-week total of $6.62 million. It should reach $10 million domestically. On the other hand, Captive State plummeted 69% to just $959,000 over the weekend for a two-week total of $5.27 million. I will be shocked if the film is in more than a few hundred theaters on Friday.
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Filed under: Weekend Wrap-up, How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World, Captain Marvel, Wonder Park, Captive State, Us, Five Feet Apart, No Manches Frida 2, Jordan Peele