By Chris Kavan - 06/10/18 at 08:44 PM CT
It was a good weekend for (most of) the new movies opening over the weekend. Oceans 8 easily took the box office crown as the all-female heist restored faith in the whole gender-swapping updates. Meanwhile, the horror film Hereditary gave A24 a new opening weekend record while the only real loser was Hotel Artemis, which fell well outside the top five. It was also a good international weekend for Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom which opened in a lot of foreign territories to some big numbers.
1) OCEAN'S 8
Women rule - at least when it comes to the Ocean's franchise. With a $41.5 million debut (above the mid-thirties of industry expectations) Ocean's 8 became the highest opening film in Ocean's franchise, topping the $39 million of Ocean's Twelve. It was also on par with the $46 million opening of Ghostbusters, but A) this film cost about half as much ($70 million) and B) hasn't received the overwhelmingly negative feedback of that film. Ocean's 8 earned a nice "B+" Cinemascore (which rises to an "A" for those under 18) and drew mostly female (69%) and a bit older (69% 25 or older). Given that Sandra Bullock films tend to have incredibly strong legs (3.5x weekend multiplier across her entire filmography - with blockbusters tending to be 4x or more) and considering the previous Ocean's films have had a 3.2x multiplier - a total in the $130-$140 million range is likely, but we'll have to wait and see if the upcoming Incredibles 2 and especially the new Jurassic World eat into it audience. No matter, it should have no problem accounting for its budget.
2)
SOLO: A STAR WARS STORY
At least Solo can cross one more milestone off its list at the $15.5 million it took in over the weekend (down 48%) was enough to push it passed the $175 million mark with a new $176.1 million total. That's still not going to to make things any better especially considering its international total of $136.1 million (over three weeks) is less that what Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom brought in in its opening weekend. At $312.2 million worldwide, it has made more than The Lone Ranger ($260 million), John Carter ($284 million) and Green Lantern ($219.8 million) but it will still wind up being the lowest-grossing Star Wars film by far and proves that even a mighty franchise can fail (but I still really enjoyed the movie for what it's worth). We'll see if the film can climb over the $200 million mark, but at this point, it's up in the air.
3)
DEADPOOL 2
In happier holdover news, Deadpool 2 had a 41% drop and took in another $13.65 million for a new total of $278.66 million, crossing the $275 million mark in the process. It will pass Meet the Fockers ($279 million) this week to officially become the highest-grossing comedy sequel of all time. It is still on tap to top the $300 million mark as well. It added another $18.5 million overseas for a $376.6 million international total and a $655 million global total - which is the top comedic sequel worldwide and also the fifth-best total for an R-rated movie - with a good chance to move up on that list as it should be able to catch up to It ($700 million) at least, which would be 7x its budget - not bad for a sequel, superhero film or R-rated film.
4)
HEREDITARY
The horror film that has received a ton of good buzz set a record for A24 with a stellar $13.03 million opening. Tracking had this opening in the high single digits, but thanks to word-of-mouth, this one topped the $8.8 million opening of The Witch - but it was also the largest opening in terms of theaters for A24 as well. About the only worrying aspect is that the film had a pretty terrible "D+" Cinemascore (horror films tend to be low, but for such a highly-regarded horror, it is a bit surprising). My guess is that despite plenty of reviews and such, people just didn't know what they were getting into, and it was the type of horror film they were expecting. I don't care, I'm seeing this on Wednesday and am pumped. It certainly opened better than mother! (and did slightly better among audiences). If Hereditary performs like A24's It Comes at Night - it will score at least $30 million but a performance like The Witch gets it to around $35 million. Whatever - the film is likely to become A24's highest-grossing film regardless and well-deserved as far as I'm concerned.
5)
AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR
The superhero film that just won't quit - even after seven weeks the film is clinging to that top five position, dipping 35% and adding another $6.83 million to its total of $654.7 million, crossing that $650 million mark in the process. The film fell barely short of the $2 billion total mark with a $1.998 billion - but will cross that mark in the next few days. It will be the second-fasted film to hit that mark (behind only Avatar) and well as only the fourth film in history to earn that distinction. It is also the fifth-biggest domestic earner of all time (passing Jurassic World's $652 million). Good thing the Disney blockbuster is finally winding down - because they need to make room for The Incredibles 2.
Outside the top five: In not-so-good news, the action-heavy Hotel Artemis may have reminded me of John Wick, but it certainly didn't perform like it, earning a weak $3.15 million. Sure, it's better than the weak opening for Action Point... but not by much and the "C-" Cinemascore means it didn't leave audiences that showed up too riveted. Despite a pretty solid cast - Jodie Foster, Dave Bautista, Sterling K. Brown, Sofia Boutella, Jeff Goldblum, Jenny Slate, Zachary Quinto, Charlie Day and Kenneth Choi - it's probably going to wind up with $10 million at best. Oh well, there's always streaming.
In milestone news, Melissa McCarthy's comedy about college - Life of the Party, crossed the $50 million mark with a $2.1 million (10th place) weekend and new $50.26 million total.
Next week brings us the animated sequel, The Incredibles 2 along with comedy Tag, action remake SuperFly and Hindi film Race 3.
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