By Chris Kavan - 02/24/19 at 08:11 PM CT
Finally 2019 truly has a film that not only opened above expectations, but did so in a big way. How to Train Your Dragon 3: The Hidden World may not have had a $100 million opening, but it was big enough to top the first two films in their openings as well as providing 2019 with its first legitimate hit. Alita took a big domestic tumble, but is looking much better overseas thanks to a big debut in China. Fighting with My Family about wrestler Paige couldn't match the limited openings but still managed a top five finish. All in all, February ends on a nice note and hopefully means the box office is back on track.
1) HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON: THE HIDDEN WORLD
It hasn't bee good news for most animated sequels lately with the likes of LEGO Movie 2 and Kung Fu Panda 3 performing well under expectations. But the Dragon series wasn't about to follow suit and instead did just the opposite, The film's $55.5 million opening ($58 million total, including early previews) is actually the best out of the three Train Your Dragon films, topping the $49.4 million opening of the second film and $43 million opening for the first film. It is also the second-best opening for an animated film in February, behind only The LEGO Movie ($69 million). It also represents the best opening of 2019, topping Glass by a hefty $15 million. The film has been a hit with critics (91% on Rotten Tomatoes) as well as audiences - who awarded it an "A" Cinemascore, the same as the previous two films in the series. This one was slightly more male (51%) a change from the first two, which ran more female. If it performs like the first two movies, it should have no problem topping $200 million, with a good chance to go even higher. It pretty much has things on lock until Captain Marvel in March. It also had a good international debut with $216.9 million so far and an worldwide total of nearly $275 million. It still has China to look forward to and, as a note, this film also cost the lowest among the animated series, so it's good news all around.
2)
ALITA: BATTLE ANGEL
After coming in ahead of expectations last weekend, even though the total was still a bit low for the mega-budget blockbuster, Alita took a rather harsh 58% drop, adding $12 million for a new $60.68 million total. It looks like the manga adaptation is going to fall short of the $100 million domestic mark at this point, with $90 million being about the best it can hope for. That puts is squarely in line with the likes of John Carter and Terminator: Genysis. But it's not all doom and gloom as the film enjoyed a $64.8 million opening in China - and compared to other films that opened with around the same number, Alita should wind up with about $150-$180 million in that country alone. Add in another $200 million or so from the rest of the international field and Alita had a good chance of hitting the $450 million global mark - which should be enough for it to avoid losing money, if even by just a slim margin. It's not exactly the best news, but things are looking more and more rosy for a film so many had written off as a 2019 bomb and, while I have yet to watch it, I'm hoping to catch it this week (weather permitting).
3)
THE LEGO MOVIE 2: THE SECOND PART
The animated sequel continues to trail behind the original and the arrival of a much-better received different animated sequel didn't help it out. LEGO Movie 2 dipped 52%, adding $10 million to its total which hit the $83.6 million mark. Sure, it topped $75 million, but it's going to barely crawl to that $100 million milestone. Even more striking compared to Dragon 3, however, is it's anemic international total, which it at a mere $53 million with all major markets (except for Australia) currently counted. That gives LEGO Movie 2 just $136.6 million and it will be lucky to hit the same mark Dragon 3 hit in its opening weekend in its entire run. That spells a pretty bleak future for the franchise which opened to much fanfare but has seen many diminishing returns. It will be interesting to see where this franchise goes (if anywhere) and if they will focus on any more spinoffs or just go the streaming route or just give it a rest.
4)
FIGHTING WITH MY FAMILY
Given its very strong limited release opening, Fighting with My Family was poised to have a decent nationwide launch. But despite earning mostly positive reviews and obviously connecting with the limited audience, its expansion only nabbed an $8 million opening, landing in fourth. That equals just an OK $2,955 per-theater average - behind Alita and Dragon 3. The wrestling biopic about Paige and her family (as well as featuring Dwayne Johnson in his Rock persona) just didn't have wide enough appeal to general audiences. It just looks like it might have been a tough sell outside the core wrestling audience and we'll see where it goes in the coming weeks but my hope this would spur on an influx of interesting biopics has been somewhat tempered. With just an $11 million budget, however, there is a good chance this will wind up in the black. It doesn't have to do so by a wide margin to be successful.
5)
ISN'T IT ROMANTIC
Rounding out the top five is the Rebel Wilson rom-com skewering comedy. The film dipped a bit over 47%, taking in $7.5 million, giving the film a new total of $33.7 million. The $31 million-budgeted film is still looking at a total of around the $50 million mark, which is going to be a perfectly adequate finish for the humorous take on your standard rom-com. This one also looks to be able to cross the $50 million mark, but its time is rather limited so we'll see how it does in the next few weeks. It doesn't have much of an international presence (apparently it went straight-to-streaming in many territories) so domestic is pretty much where it's at.
Outside the top five: Run the Race, which technically had a wide opening in 853 theaters, cracked the top 10 with $2.27 million in 10th place. The Christian-themed film (also produced by Tim Tebow) is going to perform likely in line with other faith-based offerings and thus I think a $8-$10 million total is in order.
Next week Tyler Perry brings us what is supposed to be the final Madea film in a Madea Family Funeral while Greta brings us a cautionary tale about who we choose to let into our lives.
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