Weekend Box Office: Boss Baby Repeats as Champ While Smurfs, Going in Style Have Average Openings

By Chris Kavan - 04/09/17 at 08:11 PM CT

While the audiences (well, action fans anyway) wait with baited breath for the opening of the next Fast films, this weekend was a bit of a yawner. None of the new films had exciting openings with the biggest news being the continued success of Boss Baby and Beauty and the Beast. It was a rough second weekend for Ghost in the Shell, which saw a big 60% drop compared to its already disappointing opening. Otherwise, the biggest story may be that Beauty and the Beast is fast approaching the $1 billion mark worldwide (which it should hit in the coming week) cementing its place this early in the year as one of the biggest films of 2017.

1) THE BOSS BABY

The Boss Baby once again reigned supreme at the top of the box office. The Alec Baldwin animated family comedy took a 47.6% drop in its second weekend, adding $26.3 million to its total, which now stands at $89.37 million. That drop is right along the lines of fellow animated films Home (48% drop), Kung Fu Panda 3 (48% drop) and How to Train Your Dragon 2 (50% drop). If it performs in line with those other films, it's still looking at a total around the $150-$160 million in the domestic range alone. With $110.3 million foreign, its worldwide total is nearly at $200 million. With Smurfs failing to take advantage of the family crowd, I think Boss Baby will have a fine run ahead of it and Dreamworks looks to make a tidy profit off this baby.

2) BEAUTY AND THE BEAST

Also repeating its second-place performance from last weekend, Disney's live-action Beauty and the Beast also saw a modest 45% over last weekend, adding another $25 million to its current $432.3 million total. Its worldwide total already stands at $975 million and, although it will have no new foreign openings until Japan on April 21st, it will have no problem topping the $1 billion mark well before then - in fact, it should do so before next weekend. We'll see where it ultimately winds up on the all-time lists, but there is no doubt it will be one of the highest-grossing films of 2017 when the dust settles. Even with the Fate of the Furious looking to open with huge numbers, this should continue to play well through April.

3) SMURFS: THE LOST VILLAGE

With Boss Baby and Beauty and the Beast already cornering the market on the family audience, the fully-animated Smurfs film faced an uphill battle to distinguish itself. With a mere $14 million opening, it doesn't look like the third time was the charm for this series. While it did open to expectations, and did score an "A+" Cinemascore for those 18 and under (and a solid "A" from audiences in general) that may not be enough for this one to warrant a fourth Smurfs film in the future. It was a lower opening than the $35 million of the original Smurfs and even below the $17 million weekend of the second Smurfs film. The saving grace may be that this Smurfs only cost $60 million as opposed the $100 million the first two films cost. If it can leg it to $50 million domestic and can get to $175 million foreign - it is looking at $225 million total. That would be right in line with how Smurfs 2 performed (albeit on a lower average), but I don't think it will be enough to continue this franchise, but I've been wrong before (yes, even me!).

4) GOING IN STYLE

While Going in Style may not have beaten Smurfs at the box office, it did open with $12.5 million - well above the $8 million most industry experts were predicting. Even better for the film, it drew an audience that was 90% over 35, and 72% over 50, and they awarded the film a "B+" Cinemascore. Older audiences tend to support films over time rather than piling things on over one big weekend. That means the film is should have no problem topping its $25 million budget, though it won't be a home run. Still, with $4.3 million worldwide, a total of around $50 million domestic and hopefully double that worldwide.

5) GHOST IN THE SHELL

Rounding out the top five, Ghost in the Shell dipped a massive 60% in its second weekend and, with a rough opening weekend, added just $7.35 million to its total now standing at $31.5 million. It's now looking like this film is going to be lucky to equal the $43.8 million debut of Lucy, let alone approach anywhere near that film's total. With just under $125 million worldwide thus far, the $110 million film, including a huge marketing budget, looks like it is going to suffer a big loss for the studio. I guess the cards were just not right for this adaptation and, whether the whitewashing aspect hurt it more or not, this is just not drawing the audience it should have expected.

Outside the top five: Opening in 10th place with $3.9 million, The Case for Christ. That is a decent openings, but also suffered from being incredibly front-loaded, although it may get a boost from the Palm Sunday crowd and with Easter around the bend, it may still manage to wind up with $10 million overall.

In milestone news, Kong: Skull Island added $5.82 million domestic with a $156.5 million total, pushing its worldwide total to $534 million, officially topping Godzilla ($529 million) and settings its sites on Peter Jackson's Kong ($550 million) next.

Logan should be able to top $600 million worldwide if not by the weekend, certainly in the next few days as its $218 million gives it the edge over X2: X-Men United ($214 million) as it climbs to 4th on the X-Men domestic total.

Next week most eyes will be on The Fate of the Furious as we'll see how audiences react to the next entry after the Fast 7 bid a farewell to Paul Walker. Gifted also expands nationwide after its limited debut.

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