By Chris Kavan - 06/16/19 at 08:25 PM CT
The summer of disappointing sequels continues. Over the last few weekends, Godzilla: King of the Monsters, Secret Life of Pets 2 and Dark Phoenix have all missed with audiences. This weekend brought nothing different as both Men in Black: International and Shaft failed to connect with audiences. I'm guessing this trend will finally be broken when Toy Story 4 opens next weekend, but, until then, we'll have to live with the continuing disappointment at the box office.
1) MEN IN BLACK: INTERNATIONAL
There was no reprieve from disappointment this weekend, with Men in Black: International topping the box office with a mere $28.5 million. Much like Dark Phoenix, it was by far the lowest opening in its franchise (every other Men in Black hit at least $51 million) as well as coming in well under even the most dire predictions. Chris Hemsworth and Tessa Thompson couldn't capitalize on their Thor fame to bring in audiences. That audience was made up of men (56%) wth 53% coming in 25 or older. It was awarded a "B" Cinemascore - not a score that is likely to elicit much excitement. Even at a reasonable $110 million budget, this is going to struggle to become profitable. It will probably be lucky to hit half that budget domestically. It took in $73.7 million overseas - a bit better, but not by much. The studio was happy to report it is running just 19% behind Men in Black 3 overseas - and that's about the best news they could muster. Much like Dark Phoenix before it, this is going to fall fast and hard and have to hope for a better life on streaming.
2)
THE SECRET LIFE OF PETS 2
After topping the box office last weekend, The Secret Life of Pets 2 took a 49% hit, landing in second with $23.8 million and giving the animated sequel a new $92 million total. That is still under the $104 million opening weekend total for The Secret Life of Pets and, at its current rate, will wind up at around $140 million - or 61% less than the original film's $368 million total. That's a big drop for any sequel, let alone a relatively safe animated venture. In better news, it has hit $155 million global - on a $80 million budget. So as long as it can continue to perform well on the international stage, it will still turn a tidy profit, even if it does fall well short of the first film.
3)
ALADDIN
Landing in third place once again, Aladdin had another excellent hold - dipping just 32.3% - adding $16.7 million to its total, which now stands at $263.44 million. It added another $47.5 million overseas with a global total that has now hit an impressive $725 million. At this rate, the $183 million film should top $300 million domestic with $825 million worldwide a good possibility as well. Outside of Dark Phoenix, Disney should have a solid slate ahead of them and hopefully it will all be good news for the rest of summer (and beyond). We'll see if this live-action remake manages to spawn a sequel or two (or spinoff) - there is material out there after all - Disney could keep it one and done or go further.
4)
DARK PHOENIX
After its disappointing opening, Dark Phoenix followed up with a near-record second week drop. With a 72.6% hit, Dark Phoenix had the biggest drop out of any major superhero film. In fact, the only two that took a bigger hit in their second weekends were Steel (77%) and Dylan Dog: Dead of Night (87%) - neither of which topped $2 million in their debuts. It also ranks as the second-biggest drop out of any film opening in 3500 or more theaters (Fifty Shades of Grey barely topped it with a 73.9% drop) - as well as the 58th biggest drop among all films and 19th among films opening in 2000 or more theaters. With $9 million, Dark Phoenix has made just $51.7 million - less than the opening weekends for The Wolverine ($53), the original X-Men ($54 million) and X-Men: First Class ($55 million). It's looking more and more likely this will fall short of $75 million and, among superhero disappointments, now looks like it will do even worse than the much-maligned Fantastic Four. It's a sad, final chapter in the current X-Men franchise and one hopes that Disney will figure out what do do with the property because you know they have the talent and experience, they just need the right fit.
5)
ROCKETMAN
Rounding out the top five for the second straight week, the Elton John biopic took a mild 36.3% hit, adding $8.8 million and giving the film a new $66.14 million total. The studio may have been hoping for an R-rated home run, but I guess they'll have to settle for a ground-rule double. The $40 million film has topped $133 million worldwide as well - meaning it's still a solid hit and considering the fantasy elements of this non-traditional biopic, I have to say it's going about as well as I would have expected. It was never going to be a film that was going to have super wide appeal, but if it can let it to $75 million domestic (or a bit more) - all the better. Director Dexter Fletcher, star Taron Egerton and everyone else involved should be very happy with how this turned out and it still gives me hope that any other upcoming biopics will be as good.
Outside the top five: Men in Black: International wasn't the only disappointing sequel to open as the relaunch of Shaft stumbled with just $8.3 million in sixth place. That is nearly less than half the $15 million the studio was expecting - and falling well short of the $21.7 million that Shaft opened to in 2000. In fact, this Shaft will be lucky to hit that mark at all. While critics savaged the film, audiences actually awarded this an "A" Cinemascore - which is small comfort to a film that will be lucky to last through the rest of June.
Also opening wide, Late Night didn't connect with audiences, landing in 9th place with $5.13 million and giving the film a new total of $5.44 million. The Mindy Kaling/Emma Thompson comedy had a decent limited showing, but its female-driven message couldn't make much headway with audiences. Amazon paid $13 million for this, but I'm guessing they're more interested in touting it on their Prime lineup rather than a huge theatrical push.
In just under wide release, Jim Jarmusch put his unique stamp on the zombie genre with the star-studded The Dead Don't Die (featuring Bill Murray, Adam Driver, Tilda Swinton, Chloe Sevigny, Steve Buscemi and Danny Glover among others) to the tune of $2.35 million in 613 for a solid $3,834 per-theater average. From the trailers, this looks highly entertaining though I'm sure it will appeal to a rather limited audience.
Next week brings us Toy Story 4 (which should break the curse of recent sequels) along with another reboot in an updated Child's Play and Luc Besson's latest stylish action/thriller Anna.
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