By Chris Kavan - 04/22/19 at 12:43 AM CT
With just one week to go before Avengers: Endgame looks to break all kinds of records, this was a nice calm before the storm that saw another Conjuring universe film open to solid numbers. The uplifting Breakthrough managed a top three finish while Penguins had a disappointing debut. Superheroes were on the mind as Captain Marvel broke a major milestone - while also finding a spot in the top five. Shazam! also managed to hold up rather well - we'll have to wait and see what happens when the hammer falls.
1) THE CURSE OF LA LLORONA
The Conjuring franchise continued strong, even if La Llorona isn't considered an "official" franchise film. It didn't seem to matter much, as the film opened to $26.5 million, beating most expectations. It opened the lowest out of any of the Conjuring films and a bit ahead of Lights Out ($21.6 million). Even if it fades out fast, the $9 million production is still going to rake in a lot of money - upwards of $60 million if it follows a similar pattern to the previous Conjuring films. While critics were savage, audiences were a bit more impressed, giving the film a "B-" CInemascore, which, for horror, is pretty high. That audience was split about even between male and female with 60% coming in 25 or older. Internationally the film opened in 71 markets, adding another $30 million to its total. While the coming weeks are going to be dominated by Avengers: Endgame, being the best horror option in town now that Us and Pet Sematary have ran their course, means that La Llorona should have a decent run ahead of it.
2)
SHAZAM!
Zachary Levi's fantastically fun superhero jaunt looked super in its second weekend, dipping a light 29.1% and adding another $17.34 million to its total, which is fast approaching the $125 million mark with a total just under at $121.34 million. It will hit that milestone by next weekend for sure and it actually held better than the third week of Wonder Woman (which dipped 29.5%). In fact, out of all superhero films over the last 30 odd years, it was the seventh-best third week hold of all time. It managed another milestone, however, as it did top $300 million worldwide, at $322 million and counting. Even with the Avengers onslaught coming, Shazam! should be able to top $150 million domestic and should approach $400 million worldwide. That is absolutely fine for a $90 million superhero film and bodes well for the DCEU going forward.
3)
BREAKTHROUGH
The most uplifting film of the week had a pretty divine opening of $11.1 million ($14.6 million including early showings) - and also represents the first Fox film to be released by Disney since they acquired the studio. The film received a solid "A" Cinemascore from an audience that was 65% female and 70% coming in 25 or older. If it plays similar to Miracles from Heaven ($18 million opening, $61.7 million total) Breakthrough should wind up right around the $50 million mark which, for a faith-based film, is a nice total. It also has an overseas total of $5.9 million so far, and, with a reported budget of $14 million, this should wind up with a tidy little profit.
4)
CAPTAIN MARVEL
Showing a heroic surge ahead of Avengers: Endgame, Captain Marvel jumped from 6th to 4th place, and posted a 5.7% increase (even with losing over 300 theaters) from last weekend, with a $9.1 million weekend, which was enough for the film to cross the $400 million mark with a new domestic total just over the limit. It is the 34th film to hit that milestone - the seventh in the MCU - and it also has $1.08 billion worldwide at this point - eighth all time among superhero films. If it follows a similar path that Black Panther did when Avengers: Infinity War dropped, Captain Marvel should top both Wonder Woman ($412.5 million) and Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom ($416 million) on its way to a potential $420 million total. That is an absolute beastly total - which will soon be overshadowed by the next Marvel film that is going to dominate the box office for quite awhile.
5)
LITTLE
The comedy brought in an additional $8.45 million (down 45%) and giving the film a new total of $29.3 million. The $20 million production is still looking a total near the $50 million mark and with a little help overseas should be able to break even, if not eke out a little (pun totally intended) profit. It's not going to break any records, but should be a nice start in Hollywood for young producer (and actress) Marsai Martin.
Outside the top five: Disneynature's Penguins couldn't crack the top 10, settling in 12th place with $2.34 million - the lowest opening for a Disneynature film to date and well under even the most modest expectations. It did receive and "A" Cinemascore, but something tells me Disney may be moving these type of films over to their new streaming service in the future.
In milestone news, Dumbo crossed the $100 million mark with a $6.8 million weekend (6th place) and new $101.25 million total. That would be fine... if the film didn't carry a hefty $170 million price tag. As such, even with $300 million worldwide, this one is going to be a rare miss for Disney and puts a lot of pressure on the upcoming live-action remakes, especially the already-shaky Aladdin.
Next week is the arrival of Avengers: Endgame - and it has no other wide-release challengers as it will have no problem dominating the weekend - we'll see how many records it can break in the process.
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