By Chris Kavan - 01/19/20 at 10:35 PM CT
Sure, awards season might be in full swing, but sometimes comfort movies do the best. Why else would Bad Boys for Life come in so hot, bringing in the second best MLK to date? While Bad Boys got off to a red-hot start, the same couldn't be said for Robert Downey Jr.'s Dolittle, which suffered harsh reviews and, while managing to come in second, still was a big disappointment when compared to its budget. Meanwhile, 1917 continued to play well as it continues to benefit from the awards season with Jumanji and Star Wars rounding out the top five as the blockbusters hold strong.
1) BAD BOYS FOR LIFE
It was a good weekend for Will Smith, Martin Lawrence and directors Adil El Arbi, Bilall Fallah (aka Adil and Bilall) as Bad Boys for Life opened with $59.1 million for the weekend with an expected $68.1 million including the MLK holiday. That would make it the second-best MLK film on record, behind just the $89.2 million of American Sniper. It is also the best R-rated opening for Sony, topping previous champ 22 Jump Street ($57 million). The film is pacing ahead of John Wick 3 ($56.8 million) and just behind the likes of Mission: Impossible - Fallout ($62.1 million) and Hobbs & Shaw ($60 million) - all of which grossed over $170 million. The film drew a very strong critical response and audiences were more than happy to agree - giving the film an "A" Cinemascore with a breakdown of 55% male with 61% coming in 25 or older. Given that kind of response, there is no reason why this won't continue to play well through the rest of January with the biggest competition coming in the form of Birds of Prey, which doesn't drop until the first week of February. With the right mix of tapping into audience nostalgia while offering up something familiar yet new, Bad Boys for Life could approach the $200 million mark. It has earned $95 million worldwide thus far - with key overseas markets yet to come, so this will have no problem earning some nice bank in the long run.
2)
DOLITTLE
While Bad Boys for Life certainly tapped into the right audiences, the same couldn't be said for Dolittle, The critically-savaged Robert Downey Jr. film managed to bring in $22.5 million (with about $30 million including Monday's holiday) but that pales in comparison to its $175 million budget. Complaints ranged from its lack of comedy to Downey Jr's random accent (some even accused him of trying to sabotage the film on his own) but no matter the cause(s), Dolittle looks to be a major money pit for Universal. Audiences weren't quite as savage, awarding the film a "B" Cinemascore, but even if it pleased families a bit better, the long-term prospects for this seem middling to poor. 51% of said audience was female with 43% coming in age 25 or older. Best-case scenario has this film earning around $100 million - but it could stall out under $75 million if it really crashes and burns in the next few weeks. No matter, even on the upper end of things, Doliitle is going to lose money and not even its meager overseas take ($27.3 million thus far - with a decent amount of markets yet to come) will likely be able to make up for its poor U.S. showing. This is a case of a movie no one was really calling for, mixed with delays, reshoots and other issues. Not even an impressive cast could elevate this one and it will likely die a fast death.
3)
1917
Well, at least Universal can be much happier about the performance of 1917, which continues to look strong as it continues to pick up awards-season steam. Sam Mendes one-take war epic dipped just over 40%, bringing in $22.1 million for the weekend ($27 million expected for the holiday) which will bring the film close to $82 million, obliterating the $75 million milestone in the process. With an additional $26 million overseas, 1917 now has a $146 million global tally. The drop is on par with Lone Survivor's 41% drop and with an impressive 10 Oscar nominations, looks to continue to play it up as the awards season film of the moment. Granted, farther down the line, both Parasite and Jojo Rabbit also benefited as well, but they didn't just come out. I have a feeling that if 1917 can push through Oscar season, it will near the $150 million mark.
4)
JUMANJI: THE NEXT LEVEL
In the battle of the blockbusters, Jumanji managed to edge Star Wars for the fourth place, falling 31.7% and taking in $9.5 million ($12.5 million expected by Monday) for a new total of $273.4 million. The film is well on its way to hitting the $300 million mark. The film also crossed the $700 million mark worldwide, as it now stands at a hefty $710 million. That is nearing 6x its $120 million budget, so I don't think it's a stretch to say we're going to be party to another Jumanji film in the near future. And I'm just fine with that if the quality remains the same.
5)
STAR WARS: THE RISE OF SKYWALKER
Rounding out the top five, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker dipped about 45% adding $8.3 million ($10.6 by Monday) for a total that will land just under the $500 million mark with $495 million, enough for it to land among the top 15 highest-grossing domestic films of all time. It looks like it will move up at least one more spot on that list as it should top Beauty and the Beast ($504 million) and wind up behind Rogue One ($532 million). I still say calling this movie a disappointment is stretching things (it has also earned $1.026 billion worldwide), but the fact remains the track record for Star Wars - be it Last Jedi's polarizing fans or Solo's failure to attract much attention, leaves the franchise in uncharted territory going forward. Sure, people are super happy with The Mandolorian and Baby Yoda, but that might not translate to the big screen. It will be very interesting to see where things go from here, now that the Skywalkers have been left in the dust. One thing's for certain, they're going to have to change things up in order to restore audience confidence across the board - and it's not certain if they will.
Outside the top five: As mentioned, both Parasite and Jojo Rabbit benefited from the awards season hype. Parasite added nearly 500 theaters to its count and, as a result, jumped nearly 83% compared to last weekend, landing in 13th place with $1.75 million and a $27.7 million total. It looks like it will pass I, Tonya ($30 million) to become Neon's highest-grossing film to date. Likewise, Jojo Rabbit also added 880 theaters to its count, helping it jump 587% with a $1.4 million weekend and new $23.5 million total as it looks to cross $25 million in the next few days.
In limited release, GKIDS studio has a new highest-grossing film with Makoto Shinkai's Weathering With You (Shinkai is best known for directing the 2016 hit Your Name. as well as earlier efforts 5 Centimeters Per Second and The Place Promised in Our Early Days). The animated film added $1.73 million (14th place) for a new total of $4.77 million, and it should double the total of Mary and the Witches Flower ($2.4 million) by Monday.
Next week The Gentlemen looks to up the action quotient while The Turning is yet another January horror looking to break out.
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