Box Office: T'Challa Reigns
Monday, February 19, 2018 at 3:09PM by Nathaniel R
| Holiday Weekend Box Office (Feb 15th-18th) Estimates |
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| W I D E 800+ screens |
L I M I T E D excluding prev. wide |
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| 1.🔺 Black Panther (pictured) $235 NEW PODCAST |
1. 🔺 Detective Chinatown 2 (pictured) $862k on 115 screens NEW |
| 2. Peter Rabbit $23.1 (cum. $54) | 2. The Oscar Nominated Short Films $780k on 272 screens (cum. $1.8) |
| 3. Fifty Shades Freed $19.4 (cum. $78.6) REVIEW |
3. La Boda de Valentina $642k on 331 screens (cum. $2.1) |
| 4. Jumanji $10 (cum. $379.6) |
4. Pad Man $435k on 152 screens (cum. $1.4) |
| 5. The 15:17 to Paris $9.1 (cum. $26.8) REVIEW |
5. 🔺 Monster Hunt 2 $401k on 69 screens NEW |
Black Panther just had a record-smashing holiday weekend. It's the biggest President's Day Weekend haul of all time and the 5th biggest opening ever. And in a single weekend (even if you don't count the holiday) it became 2018's biggest hit. That's thus far of course. Three dependably behemoth franchises that, like Black Panther, will have no trouble whatsoever raking up their first 1/2 billion globally (even if people don't love them) are still to come. We're talking Solo: A Star Wars Story, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, and Avengers: Infinity War which could threaten King T'Challa for #1 of the year dominance.
But at least until the summer movie season begins "Wakanda Forever!" is the rallying cry for moviegoers, so there wasn't much talk of anything else...
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| 6. The Greatest Showman $6.2 (cum. $155.6) REVIEW | ANOTHER HIT MUSICAL | 6. 🔺 Film Stars Don't Die $124k* (cum. ) INTERVIEW |
| 7. Early Man (pictured) $4.2 NEW | 7. The Insult $104k on 43 screens (cum. $584k) OSCAR NOM |
| 8. Maze Runner The Death Cure $3.1 (cum. $54.6) |
8. 🔺 A Fantastic Woman $86k* on 29 screens (cum. $360k) REVIEW | OSCAR NOM |
| 9. Winchester $2.6 (cum. $22.2) | 9. 🔺 Double Lover (pictured) $75k* on 48 screens NEW INTERVIEW |
| 10. The Post $2.4 (cum. $77) REVIEW | BEST PICTURE | 10. 🔺 The Party $36k* on 3 screens NEW |
| 🔺 = new or expanding its theater count * numbers are from the 3 day weekend - will be more numbers (in millions unless otherwise noted) from box office mojo |
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So at the box office it was essentially more of the same with Jumanji and The Greatest Showman refusing to give up theaters week after week still dropping only 20% a week when the norm is closer to 50% weekly (they're now the 5th and 20th biggest domestic grossers of 2017 and still earning millions every week). All the Oscar films continue to fall inbetween the top ten and the limited releases but they all lost a lot of screens this weekend with Black Panther needing 4,000+ of them; they'll be running on fumes by Oscar night.
Two new wide releases were brave enough to play opposite Black Panther but they suffered for it. The Biblical action film Samson didn't hit the top ten with just under $2 million. And with Early Man, the beloved Aardman team experienced their weakest opening ever.
At the arthouses François Ozon's erotic thriller Double Lover and the Russian Oscar nominee Loveless (just outside the limited release top ten) failed to really cause a stir in their debut weekends but we'll see what word of mouth will do for them next week as both films are quite discussable.
What did you see during the holiday weekend? (I mean, besides Black Panther)
Reader Comments (24)
I saw Phantom Thread 22 questions - where was Kripes's buzz,I thought she was best in show then Manville who should be sweeping but it's a rewatch film and performance.
I saw Mudbound and Filmstars Don't Die in Liverpool. Both are ok, but nothing more. I really don't understand how Mary J. Blige got a nomination. She's not bad, just totally forgettable. And as much as I'd like to get on the Annette Bening bandwagon, her performance here is better than competent, but nowhere near award worthy. Vanessa Redgrave is stunning in her one scene, though.
Also saw the Oscar Documentary shorts. Liked all of them except Police Stop. I guess I'd vote for Knife Skills
I streamed The Strange Ones. It was John Waters' #3 movie of last year, so I checked it out. Really mind-blowing and Alex Pettyfer shows he's far more than just a pretty face. He may well be on his way to becoming a major actor. The kid, James Freedson-Jackson, is truly astonishing.
I finally saw Phantom Thread. Really loved it, and had a great post-cinema discussion with a friend about it. I agree with the comment above - Krieps is sublime, and her relative newcomer status allows her performance to build and crescendo without any inbuilt expectations. It’s rare to be surprised like this anymore considering all the hype that these films go through for awards campaigns
IanO exactly with no preconcptions you just accepted her as Alma,I don't think the film would have worked aswell with a known actress no matter how great.
I saw Black Panther, which is everything I anticipated it would be. Danai Gurira needs a supporting actress push, but I know better than to get my hopes up for that.
I'm sadly not on the Black Panther bandwagon. Michael B Jordan was a good villain and the women slayed me. (Lupita bless her and the SISTER. GOLD.)
The costumes were also gorgeous. But beyond that, I thought it was thoroughly generic and I was kinda bored. Maybe I would have liked it more a couple years ago, but I'm so over the Marvel template.
Also caught up with Pitch Perfect 3 (trash) and Wonder (basic, but heartfelt. Really enjoyed)
And yes, I'd love to echo the Phantom Thread thoughts. Saw it a second time and it's so great.
Agreed on Black Panther, chasm...
Decent entertainment but otherwise quite formulaic. I have a hard time believing critics weren't kinda sorta pandering with the lavish praise they've heaped upon it.
It's nowhere near the quality of Dark Knight, Spiderman 2 or even Civil War.
I agree,
I'm rooting for Black Panther, I hope they can make all the money in the world, all the actors get better and bigger careers... but let's not pretent the movie is something it's not.
It's a marvel movie, with all its limitations
I saw " The 15:17 to Paris" which would have been better is Director Eastwood had used actors not the real guys. The film has he problem as Eastwood's "Sully" (2016) apart from the exciting scenes on the train when the guys stop the terrorist they had very average lives. But "Sully" had Tom Hanks- a real movie star. I really tired of the over hype "Black Panther: it's just another Marvel superhero movie
I also saw The 15:17 to Paris which was both vulgar and bland. I actually kind of like the flashbacks. They went from surviving a racist, sexist Christian school to educating themselves in a European tour where pthers teach them that the world doesn't revolve around them. Until it does.
I finally saw Call Me By Your Name, which won me over by the end. Timothée has so much promise.
Battlestar Gallactica with Edward James Olmos. Cheese but entertaining
Trixie Mattel and Katya videos - they are a great comedy duo and really make me laugh
Born Yesterday.
Judy Holliday is good (especially the singing to the radio bit) but it was an underwritten part - nothing like Margo Channing or Norma Desmond. Also, the whole thing would obviously work so much better as a play.
Agree on Krieps in Phantom Thread. I thought she was equally as strong as DDL, and the film, though definitely a dual lead situation, leaned towards her viewpoint.
I also saw Phantom Thread. Excellent, with Manville for me being the MVP. Also,’the third act is really something else (in a positive way).
I also saw Lady Bird. Very well made but completely predictable (unlike Phantom Thread). I am still debating between Manville or Metcalf. Although Manville is in the better movie, Lady Bird gives such a rounded character arch to Metcalf.
Besides the President's Day long weekend, Friday was Chinese/Lunar New Year. The impact is apparent as it is quite rare that the first few days of Chinese New Year coincide with this long weekend. As such, 3 Chinese blockbusters hit your limited release top 10 (including Monkey King 3, which has not given Sunday estimates yet but should be right around The Insult/Fantastic Woman). It is great that more studios are aware of this marketing opportunity and releasing the major Chinese movies earlier in the States!
https://www.forbes.com/sites/scottmendelson/2018/02/19/why-black-panther-and-monster-hunt-2-are-both-box-office-game-changers/#33d5de6c7bdb
Good link demonstrating my joy about this development.
Sorry for the triple post. I posted the wrong link earlier. That one was more about the Chinese box office landscape in the mainland.
http://deadline.com/2018/02/the-party-has-lively-bow-detective-chinatown-2-wins-chinese-new-year-debut-race-specialty-box-office-1202293998/
I saw A FANTASTIC WOMAN. It’s fantastic! I hope it finds an audience. The pacing and production values are top rate and all the talk of Daniela Vega being a Star is true!
Black Panther is only "another Marvel movie" for those for whom it wasn't intended.
On Body and Soul - On the whole, it's a quirky, charming, sometimes lovely film with a very good performance by Alexandra Borbely. But it also has things that drive me crazy (the pretty, younger woman who's attracted to the not-very-attractive, unimpressive older man because...they have a connection!).
A Fantastic Woman - A bit meandering and maybe a touch too long; I agree with Nick Davis that sometimes there's a flatness that I'm not sure serves the film well. But Varga eventually becomes a really compelling presence and I hope to see more from her.
Roman J. Israel, Esq. - I wasn't sure what to expect and I'm still not sure how I feel about it. I think my low expectations made me pleasantly surprised in a "Wait, It's not that bad!" kind of way. Not all of it works - character choices aren't fully developed/explained - but it is an interesting character study.
I saw Black Panther at the theater and then saw Wonder Woman on DVD that night for the first time. Talk about too many superheroes!
Anyway, seeing them back to back, I can say, for me, that Black Panther was the superior movie. They were both "just superhero" movies and I'm pretty sick of them, but Black Panther played in a much bigger universe and brought a lot of elements of sci-fi and even James Bond into its world. I think it could have interesting sequels. And I think Chadwick Boseman was very well cast. I was wondering if he got the lead role over Michael B. Jordan because he did a better generic African accent? ;-)
The best thing about Wonder Woman by far was Gal Gadot. The Amazon island was fun and a "makeover" scene is always welcome, but the rest of it played out like a relatively generic superhero movie.
Fun Bag o' Movies this weekend --
Wonder - echo comment above - very earnest but enjoyable;
3 Billboards - entertaining - but I still prefer Hawkins over McDormand;
Happy Death Day :-) -- surprisingly fun;
Shampoo - fun to watch in a retro way (i.e., the fashions, feminism, sex, drugs & rock/n/roll - and the absurd hair of Warren Beatty!)
Troy H you make a very good point