Weekend Box Office: Fate Still Furious, Latin Lover, Baahubali 2 Surprise, The Circle Deflates

By Chris Kavan - 04/30/17 at 08:55 PM CT

While the top movie over the weekend wasn't that big of surprise, just below we find two films targeting specific demographics that had huge openings while The Circle, a more star-driven film, failed to drum up much interest. The box office this weekend may be a look in to the near future where less mainstream films find bigger support with audiences that support them - though I don't think it spells disaster for the blockbuster model we're all used to by now. It was a pretty exciting weekend overall and with Guardians of the Galaxy 2 heating up the international markets, it should stay hot in the coming weeks.

1) THE FATE OF THE FURIOUS

Once again the eighth entry in the Fast and Furious saga cruised to a box office victory with $19.38 million (off 49.5%) in its third weekend out. It is fast approaching the $200 million domestic mark as its total stands at $192.7 million. Though it will be crushed by the Guardians of the Galaxy, it will have no problem reaching that milestone. The bigger news is that the film officially crossed the $1 billion mark worldwide, becoming Universal's fifth film to do so (joining Jurassic World at $1.67 billion, Furious 7 at $1.52 billion, Minions at $1.16 billion and Jurassic Park at $1.04 billion). It's current foreign total sits at $867.6 million. With 81% of its total, it has set a new record for foreign grosses for any film earning over $400 million (Warcraft was the previous title holder). It just goes to show how important it is for Hollywood to not just appeal to American audiences, but those outside the U.S. Once again, China is the most important, contributing a whopping $361 million from that country alone. It will be hard for any film (even Star Wars) to match that foreign total, as it already stands 10th on the list and will move up. It may stall in the U.S. at around the $225 million mark but it could approach $1 billion alone in foreign markets before it ends its run.

2) HOW TO BE A LATIN LOVER

Maybe it's time for the star of How to Be a Latin Lover, Eugenio Derbez, to go full time Hollywood. After the success of Instructions Not Included back in 2013, Derbez scored an even better opening with Latin Lover with a $12 million second-place opening. That is the biggest opening yet for any Pantelion film (topping the previous best of $11.5 million set by No Manches Frida). The film also scored an excellent "A" Cinemascore. The audience was a little more female (55%), 75% over 25 and made up of 89% Hispanic audiences. This was targeting that specific audience and they showed up in force and if they continue to support it, we're looking at a $40 million or so domestic total. While it's not likely to quite have the legs of Instructions Not Included, this is still a big win for the studio and Derbez in particular as he extends his winning streak. We'll see if it leads to bigger and even better roles.

3) BAAHUBALI 2: THE CONCLUSION

A film that I didn't even include in the weekend preview because it didn't qualify for a wide release, the Indian film Baahubali 2 crushed the record for a domestic opening for any Indian film with a $10.5 million opening. That represents an impressive $23,855 per-theater average (it played in 425 theaters) and tripled the opening of the first Baahubali film. This is a Tollywood (as opposed to the more well-known Bollywood) film and follows the story of Shiva, the son of the legendary warrior Bahubali (Prabhas) and is split between his present day learning about his heritage and the past between warring clans in the Mahishmati Kingdom. The film has an even more impressive $40,000 per-theater IMAX average and was the third-best debut for any foreign language film behind only Jet Li's Fearless ($10.6 million back in 2006) and Jet Li's Hero ($18 million in 2004). If actuals come in a bit higher, it may unseat Fearless yet. Most Bollywood/Tollywood films tend to open limited, get one strong week, and quickly fade away (and are often overlooked, I'm among the guilty party), but even if it follows a similar pattern, Baahubali 2 should wind up with $15-$20 million - a fantastic domestic performance, especially considering the $40 million budget.

4) THE CIRCLE

The film most had pegged to give Fate of the Furious the biggest competition turned out to be the biggest disappointment instead. Despite the star power of Emma Watson and Tom Hanks (among others), The Circle could only muster up a $9.32 million opening. The techno-based thriller didn't impress critics and audiences certainly agreed. It earned a frankly terrible "D+" Cinemascore. The audience was mostly female (62%) and 44% were between 18-34 years of age. It had a decent 3x weekend multiplier, but that's about the only good news for the $18 million film. At this point, it's going to barely top that number and will be lucky to hit $25 million total. STX has a three-year deal with EuropaCorp, let's hope their next collaboration turns out better than this under-cooked turkey.

5) THE BOSS BABY

Rounding out the top five, the animated Boss Baby held on to the family crowd with a light 28.8% drop from last weekend, taking in $9 million and nearly reaching that $150 million milestone with a new $148.4 million total. It's worldwide total now stands at $396 million, becoming Dreamwork's biggest non-sequel since The Croods wound up with $587 million back in 2013. Boss Baby will cross $150 million within a day or two, we'll see if it has enough left to hit $175 but, as it stands, this is still going to be a success story for the studio.

Outside the top five: Sleight, the inner-city street magician drama/fantasy only opened to $1.7 million (14th place) though it also only opened in 565 theaters. The good news is that the film only had a $250,000 price tag, so it's going to make money, even if it flies far under the radar. Hopefully it can pick up some steam, but, more than likely, this one will exit as quickly and quietly as it debuted.

Get Out actually added 598 theaters and beat Sleight with $1.71 million in 13th place. It rose 2.9% in its 10th weekend and stands at $172.5 million, edging ever closer to the $175 million sweet spot.

Next week brings us the highly-anticipated Marvel sequel Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 - not other film dares challenge the super-sized superheroes.

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