Box Office: The face huggers still got it!
Sunday, May 21, 2017 at 6:30PM By Nathaniel R
It was a battle for box office dominance in outer space as Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 2 and Aliens Volume 6 (shut up) faced off. The champion was those nasty acid-blooded face huggers rather than the comic bro huggers. Not that Drax and Starlord have anything to worry about having just crossed the $300 million mark domestically.
It's also worth noting that Demian Bichir has both #1 movies -- he has a small role in Alien Covenant and a big one in Lowriders, which logs a second week on top of the limited release chart.
Charts and a few more comments are after the jump...
| Weekend Box Office (May 19-21) | |
| W I D E | L I M I T E D |
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| 1.🔺 ALIEN: COVENANT (6) $36 NEW REVIEW | FRANCHISE |
1. 🔺 LOWRIDERS $1.1 (cum. $4.1) (365 screens) |
| 2. GUARDIANS (2) $35 (cum. $301.7) REVIEW |
2.🔺 NORMAN $620K (cum. $2.3) (373 screens) |
| 3.🔺 EVERYTHING EVERYTHING $12 NEW REVIEW |
3. THE WALL $321k (cum. $1.5) (524 screens) |
| 4. SNATCHED $5.3 (cum. $32.7) REVIEW |
4.🔺 THE LOVERS $300k (cum. $554.8) (105 screens) REVIEW |
| 5.🔺 DIARY OF WIMPY KID (5) $7.2 NEW REVIEW |
5.🔺 PARIS CAN WAIT $203k (cum. $334k | 23 screens) |
| 6. KING ARTHUR $6.8 (cum. $27.2) REVIEW |
6. A QUIET PASSION $202k (cum. $1.0) (130 screens) |
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| 7. FATE OF THE FURIOUS (8) $3.1 (cum. $219.8) SEQUEL RANK |
7.🔺 THE WEDDING PLAN $172k (cum. $218k | 53 screens) |
| 8. THE BOSS BABY $2.8 (cum. $166.1) REVIEW |
8. THEIR FINEST $150k (cum. $3.1) (160 screens) |
| 9. BEAUTY AND THE BEAST $2.4 (cum. $497.7) REVIEW | SCORE |
9.🔺 CHAMPION $87k NEW (31 screens) |
| 10. HOW TO BE A LATIN LOVER $2.2 (cum. $29.4) |
10. SLEIGHT $84k (cum. $3.8) (113 screens) |
| 11. GIFTED $765K (cum. $22.8) |
11. COLOSSAL $78K (cum. $2.8) (105 screens) REVIEW |
| 12. SMURFS: LOST VILLAGE $520K (cum. $43) |
12. THE DINNER $37k (cum. $1.2) (91 screens) |
| 🔺 = new or added screens numbers from box office mojo |
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Though The Boss Baby and Beauty and the Beast have both been holding the family audience well but they're likely to finally fall off the chart next week since they're now taking big theater count hits and two major blockbuster hopefuls hit this next week (Baywatch and Pirates 4).
In other news worth noting, two romantic comedies both had successful mini expansions with The Lovers and the charming Israeli Ophir nominee The Wedding Plan both moving up the chart. I guess this is what you call counter programming since Big Hollywood isn't making romantic comedies anymore.
What did you see this weekend?
Reader Comments (21)
Get Out
Great directing, great screenplay. Too bad the final part is so lame. But I enjoyed the film as whole a lot.
I saw Manifesto with Cate Blanchett. It was tough going at times. I'm a pretty adventurous moviegoer, but it was thunderously pretentious for significant spells, especially in the beginning. Of course, Blanchett gets to show off her range given that she plays a dozen or so characters, but sometimes it felt like just that--showing off. I have never walked out of a film, but I considered walking out several times during the first half hour. Ultimately, I'm glad I did not--the film found its groove and improved as it went along, and it was conceptually interesting. There are some genuinely funny pieces in the back half of the film. A curio, but not one of the ages.
I saw "Alien Covenant" which is no the "Prometheus" sequel I was hoping for.
I saw Their Finest and it was ok I guess.
I watched Alien Covenant last week. Too generic. I am still hoping the next one will be better.
Covenant was half a great sequel to Prometheus and half a generic alien slasher.
NT Live on Thursday night--Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf, with the estimable Imelda Staunton. All were fantastic, but the real surprise was Conleth Hill (whom I'm didn't know) as the glue and an acting wonder.
Arrabal -- for anyone who loves dance, THIS is the show to see if/when it comes to town. A tango-infused story set against the backdrop of Argentina's Dirty War and the family of one of the desaparecidos. An amazing theatrical experiences; can't praise it highly enough. Plus, John Lithgow was in the audience, so fun to see him bound up on stage afterwards to praise the performers.
Southside with You - cuz I freaking miss the Obamas so much.
Well, from my Cannes Film Festival marathon that is ongoing at the moment: Umberto D., Fantastic Planet, The Holy Girl, and The Passionate Friends. I also saw Now You See Me 2 on HBO, ugh.... and a re-watch of Kickboxer which still rules.
Toni Erdmann
It should be 60 minutes shorter. Someone forgot to edit the screenplay or the film. Unbelievable it had all that awards attention. It could be a good film but it is so boring.
Alien: Covenant plays like a standard horror film but more frustrating when you consider that the crew of the Covenant are supposedly the best and brightest hope of humankind. One would think that they would have been trained not to sniff alien plant life and to complete the mission they were sent for instead of making up a whole new one. Prometheus was at least fascinating even if it also frustrated with its obtuse ideas.
I also rewatched Howards End, and it is still glorious. A true classic.
I went and saw The Lovers. In spite of the film not being as light as the trailer suggests, I still loved it. Tracy Letts and Debra Winger were terrific.
I also watched Catfight on streaming. REALLY liked that one.
Watched HBO. Wizard of Lies. Too long for one thing Acting was decent . Best de Niro has done in some time. Pfeiffer was effective in the wife's role.
Also began to watch The Keepers on Netflix. Quite engrossing .
I just watched American Gods. Is anyone around here watchimg too? Its MARVELLOUS!!
I caught Jeanette: The Childhood of Joan of Arc at the Cannes Film Festival as well as Mobile Homes. The former was a very flawed musical of a young Joan's path to martyrdom, while the latter film delved into the hard scrabble lives of a young couple living on the edge -- with mixed results.
I watched two very different Barbara Stanwyck movies: The Furies and Sorry, Wrong Number. Both good, but I can't believe they were made only 3-4 years apart.
Personal Shopper. I was prepared to not like it going in, but I ended up kind of loving it, finding all the reviews that called it out for being unsatisfying/leaving too many things unanswered to be just... well, wrong. It genuinely surprised me how straightforward it was. I was totally transfixed the whole time. Kristen Stewart overdid some of the big scenes a bit, but she was really pretty great, and the thriller elements of it worked like gangbusters (especially considering they were pretty much just shots of phone screens sending/receiving text messages). I would have ended it about ten minutes earlier, but this ending was more conventionally "satisfying", so I'm not too mad at it. Totally worth the hype, and I'm so glad I finally saw it.
I started the weekend with the 1980s triple feature of Jagged Edge, Witness, and The Untouchables on Hulu and ended it with Alien: Covenant last night. I should have stuck with the 80s theme. Is it only my perception, or does the industry simply not make movies like those anymore -- dramatic commercial fare with an eye on a decidedly adult audience?
Been watching more Tyrone Power films. Caught THE RAZOR'S EDGE which I liked, and THE BLACK ROSE which was just OK to me.
@Troy H
They phased out adult fare at the studio level. Hence TV and specialty division independent fare is the go to for that kind of content.
I saw A Quiet Passion - Cynthia Nixon is great, their use of Dickinson's poetry is fantastic and the cinematography is flat-out gorgeous. But there was strange directing, casting and acting choices that didn't quite cohere.
Also saw Mommie Dead and Dearest, a new doc on HBO. It's a fascinating, disturbing and heartbreaking story but I'm not sure the doc works on its own. I already read the longform Buzzfeed article about the story which helps fill in a lot of holes that the doc should have really covered more clearly.
I saw "Norman" and I don't know what all the fuss is about this? I had no interest in seeing this due to the trailer but a friend had told me it was good so i decided to give it a chance. Gere is fine here but I nodded off during the middle..