By Chris Kavan - 06/11/17 at 08:58 PM CT
Wonder Woman continued to show its power at the box office, easily topping Tom Cruise in The Mummy reboot. The so-called kick-off for Universal's Dark Universe monster franchise got off to a rough start in the U.S. but had an impressive world-wide debut, though it looks like it will have more trouble than not ahead and paints a rather dim picture for the future of this would-be franchise. Lauded horror film It Comes at Night may have wowed critics, but audiences weren't nearly as enthused while the true-story Megan Leavey earned positive responses but didn't amount to much box office clout.
1) WONDER WOMAN
For the second weekend in a row, Gal Gadot and director Patty Jenkins had plenty of reason to celebrate. Coming off a spectacular debut, Wonder Woman also had a spectacular follow-up. With $57.1 million in its second weekend, Wonder Woman raced across the $200 million mark with a new $205 million total. That amount may be impressive, but what is more impressive is that Wonder Woman dropped a mere 44.6% in its second weekend. Among superhero films, that is the best second-week hold since The Amazing Spider-Man (dropped 44% in 2012) and Batman Begins (which dropped 43% back in 2005) - and both films opened on a Tuesday and Wednesday respectively. Heck, among the 46 films that have opened over $100 million since Spider-Man back in 2002, Wonder Woman is among the only five films to drop 45% or less in their second weekends. All told, Wonder Woman is a force to be reckoned with and DC must be breathing a huge sigh of relief - all of their films dropped 65% or more in their second weekends. With those kind of numbers, and continued audience support, Wonder Woman is going to have no problem topping $300 million in the U.S. alone - with a good chance to go much higher ($350 million or so isn't out of the question). It already stands at $435 million worldwide - it may not hit a billion, but it's going to get pretty close.
2)
THE MUMMY
Universal's big bid to create their own cinematic universe ala the MCU or new Star Wars films, featuring classic movie monsters, got off to a bumpy start. Despite the star power of Tom Cruise, Russell Crowe, Sofia Boutella, Annabelle Wallis and Jake Johnson - the rebooted Mummy could only scare up $32.2 million in its opening weekend. By comparison, that is lower opening then the 1999 version of The Mummy ($43.3) as well as its sequel ($68.1 million) and its rather tepid third entry ($40.4 million). It couldn't even top The Scorpion King ($36 million). All in all, the $125 million film (not counting the extensive marketing) is facing a steep uphill battle to become relevant - and it's not going to get easier with a "B-" Cinemascore and rather bad word-of-mouth and critical drubbing. But all is not doom and gloom - if you can't impress the home team, go international! The Mummy opened up with $141.8 million overseas - a career best for Tom Cruise, easily topping the $102.5 million for War of the Worlds. Granted, it also opened in pretty much every market - and did score $52.2 million in China alone. But the good times may be short-lived, The Mummy may only have this opening weekend as all signs point to bad word-of-mouth also hindering its long-term success even overseas. We'll see next week, but a sub-$500 million total is not unlikely at this point.
3)
CAPTAIN UNDERPANTS: THE FIRST EPIC MOVIE
The animated superhero film had a 48.4% drop in its second weekend, bringing in $12.3 million and raising its total to $44.56 million. While that total is still pretty low for a Dreamworks picture, the $39 million original budget it also on the low end for their animation films, so despite the middling numbers through this point, Captain Underpants is going to wind up just fine in the long run, though it's not going to be all that impressive, either.
4)
PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: DEAD MEN TELL NO TALES
Finishing fourth in its third weekend, Dead Men Tell No Tales dropped another 51.5%, taking in $10.7 million and giving the (perhaps) last Pirates film a new $135.8 million total. The film might break $150 million domestic, but it's not going to get much better. Still, Dead Men Tell No Tales is looking very robust overseas, where it took in $34.8 million, which was enough for the film to cross the $600 million mark worldwide. The $230 million film will have no problem making money, even if it doesn't make as much of an impression on the domestic front.
5)
GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL. 2
Having a much more successful run on the domestic front, Guardians Vol. 2 dropped just 36.6% in its sixth weekend out, earning $6.24 million, raising its total to $366.3 million. Guardians is trending just ahead of Pirates with $466.8 million worldwide, but its $833 million looks a lot better - and I don't think Pirates is going to have enough steam to catch up, though it will probably top it overseas. The film (along with Wonder Woman) are the two bright spots of the summer thus far, we'll see what films will join them in the new two months.
Outside the top five: The horror film It Comes at Night had earned some great critical reviews ahead of its debut, but audiences were obviously expecting something very different. With a dismal (even for a horror film) "D" Cinemascore, the film opened in sixth place with $6 million. It isn't likely to do better in the long run, though I am still very much interested in checking it out some day. With a mere $5 million budget, the film should turn out quite alright in the long run.
The true-life story Megan Leavey earned much better audience reaction (an "A" Cinemascore) but it could only muster up a $3.76 million opening. That was about what I expected, in any case.
In limited release, the Rachel Weisz drama My Cousin Rachel opened just outside of wide release in 523 theaters, but it didn't make many waves with a $954,000 opening (11th place) and a tepid $1,824 per-theater average. If there were plans for any major expansion, I'm guessing they are going to be put on hold.
In better limited release news, the politically-charged Salma Hayek film Beatriz at Dinner opened in five theaters were it brought in an impressive $150,160 for a nice $30,032 per-theater average. This one may have a better chance to expand given those numbers.
Next week brings us the animated Cars 3, the R-rated comedy Rough Night, the Tupac biography All Eyez on Me and the shark thriller 47 Meters Down.
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