August is typically an odd month at the box office. While many just write the month off as an end-of-summer crapfest where studios throw out their films that don’t have much hype, to avoid the prestige dramas that begin rolling out in the fall, there have been some big winners in recent years. “Suicide Squad,” “Crazy Rich Asians,” “Straight Outta Compton,” “Annabelle 2,” and others have proven that if you market your film right and have a decent product, you can still attract a blockbuster crowd.
All that to say — Gerard Butler’s ‘Has Fallen’ franchise is still very much alive and well, capitalizing on a weak weekend in August to score a pretty respectable debut at the box office. With a #1 showing, “Angel Has Fallen” (the third in the franchise), only dropped approximately -3% from the previous entry (“London Has Fallen”) and scored a $21.25 million opening. With fairly terrible reviews (only 39% on Rotten tomatoes, but what do you honestly expect?), ‘Angel’ was still enjoyed by those people that paid money to see it, earning an ‘A-’ CinemaScore. Sometimes people just enjoy mindless action right before the fall comes and school gets back in session.
As we move into the coming weeks, for “Angel Has Fallen” to really succeed, it needs to match the box office legs that the previous entries have shown. Both ‘London’ and ‘Olympus’ both earned 3x their debuts domestically, which is great for a film of this caliber. So, if you’re Lionsgate, you’d be pretty happy with a $60+ million domestic total and something close to the $206 million worldwide that ‘London’ was able to amass.
As far as the other newcomers this weekend, there’s really not much to write home about. The Sony faith-based film “Overcomer” debuted with a decent $8.15 million. Sure, the cost of these films is pretty low and the studio will almost certainly turn a decent profit, but when you compare the film to 2015’s “War Room” (the previous film from director Alex Kendrick), there has to be a tinge of disappointment. That 2015 film debuted with $11.3 million and went on to gross $68 million domestically. For “Overcomer” to match those numbers, it’s going to need some incredible box office legs.
The other major debut this weekend is “Ready or Not,” the horror-comedy from the filmmakers known as Radio Silence. Though the film only carries a reported $6.5 million production cost, you have to believe that Fox Searchlight was hoping for a bit more than only $10.6 million five-day cume (the film opened on Wednesday). Despite the low box office total, the film is earning great reviews (87% on Rotten Tomatoes) and a respectable grade from audiences (‘B+’ CinemaScore). Fox Searchlight is banking on strong word of mouth to carry this film, but with “It: Chapter Two” only a couple of weeks away, perhaps horror fans have Pennywise on their minds?
READ MORE: Jillian Bell Carries ‘Brittany Runs A Marathon’ Across The Finish Line [Sundance Review]
With this weekend being fairly quiet, we can take a moment to revisit some of the films that are still sticking in the Top 10 domestically. However, what we find is a mixture of good and bad news. The good news is led by Quentin Tarantino’s “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood,” which became the filmmaker’s second-highest-grossing film of all time with a $123 million domestic total (trailing only “Django Unchained’s” $163 million) after 5 weekends. Last weekend’s champ, “Good Boys” definitely saw some positive word of mouth, helped by a slow three-days, dropping only -45% and earning another $11.75 million in its second frame. On the opposite side of the spectrum, you have the animated film, “Angry Birds 2,” which is almost out of the Top 10 already in its second weekend, with a 10-day cume of only $27 million. August can giveth, but also taketh away.
On the limited release side of things, the biggest debut comes from the Jillian Bell-led comedy, “Brittany Runs a Marathon,” which opened in only 5 locations and earned a Per-Theater-Average of $35,194. Not a terrible start at all for a film that has the potential to become a crossover hit for Amazon Studios as it expands in the coming weeks.
Next weekend is the final pre-“It: Chapter Two” frame and studios aren’t even really bothering to open much. Blumhouse thriller “Don’t Let Go” is hoping to take advantage of the clear runway for a weekend and score a decent opening. However, all eyes are really on September 6 and the debut of ‘Chapter Two,’ which is expected to earn well over $100 million in its opening.
Here’s the entire Top 10 for August 23 to August 25:
1. Angel Has Fallen – $21.25M (Debut)
2. Good Boys – $11.75M ($42M Overall)
3. Overcomer – $8.2M (Debut)
4. The Lion King – $8.15M ($511M)
5. Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw – $8.14M ($148M)
6. Ready or Not – $7.6M ($10.6M)
7. The Angry Birds Movie 2 – $6.4M ($27M)
8. Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark – $6M ($50M)
9. Dora and the Lost City of Gold – $5.2M ($43)
10. Once Upon a Time in Hollywood – $5M ($123M)
