Truth be told, there are some weekends when I sit here and realize that the box office report is going to be a bit…dry. That is to say that there’s just not too much to talk about, or perhaps I’m just sick of talking about another silly record being broken by Disney. It gets boring. This weekend, dear reader, that is not the case as Hollywood has decided to release no less than 6 films in relatively wide release and the Top 10 is drastically different than even 7 days ago.
But of course, as you might have guessed, the weekend’s domestic leader is the ‘Fast & Furious’ spin-off, “Hobbs & Shaw.” The action film opened relatively soft for a ‘Fast’ film and while The Rock and Jason Statham held on for #1 for a second weekend, ‘Hobbs’ is falling a bit quicker than Universal would probably like to hear. In its second frame, ‘Hobbs & Shaw’ earned another $25 million, which means the film dropped -58%. Action films and blockbusters normally drop between -”50% and -60%, but with the already soft open, the studio was hoping that it meant fans were waiting to check out the film and that the second weekend would show a strong hold. Unfortunately, this looks to be just as front-loaded as the rest of the franchise, which means domestically, at least, the film is going to fall far behind the recent ‘Fast’ films.
What it all comes down to is if ‘Hobbs & Shaw’ can truly compete with the mothership franchise that saw a resurgence with “Fast 5.” Since that film, the ‘F&F’ franchise has exploded (especially worldwide), with the latter two films crossing $1 billion. Globally, ‘Hobbs & Shaw’ has earned $332 million through two weekends and will need a lot of help to reach even 2011’s “Fast 5” with a global total of $626 million. With a $200 million production budget and a reported $600 million breakeven, ‘Hobbs & Shaw’ isn’t the world-dominating powerhouse some predicted, which could mean that Universal has to re-evaluate the expectations for these proposed ‘Fast’ spin-off films.
But ‘Hobbs’ is truly last week’s news. Let’s get to the new stuff, shall we?
Leading the newcomers at #2 this weekend is the Guillermo del Toro-produced teen-friendly horror film “Scary Stories to Tell In the Dark.” The PG-13 scare-fest is riding high on positive critical reviews (80% on Rotten Tomatoes, a great number for a horror film, let alone kid-friendly ones) and earned $21 million in its opening three days. This is a great start for the film, which has relied heavily on digital marketing, reaching those coveted teens, and should bode well for perhaps a new horror franchise for Lionsgate, which is in need of a non-”John Wick” hit.
Sadly, the ‘C’ CinemaScore does show that audiences aren’t over the moon with ‘Scary Stories,’ though horror films do tend to score low. The only thing that could prevent this from being a true win for the studio is a big drop next weekend. It’s worth keeping an eye on, for sure.
Coming in at #4 this weekend is the second big debut, “Dora and the Lost City of Gold,” with an estimated $17 million in its first frame. Sure, the film only has a reported $49 million budget, relatively modest for an “action” film. Aimed solely at kids (though not too young, as they aged up the cartoon characters to teenagers), ‘Dora’ debuted with a decent amount, but let’s just say that Paramount isn’t going to rush out and greenlight a sequel just yet. Positive reviews (81% on RT) and good audience surveying (‘A’ CinemaScore) points to a film that people generally enjoy if they actually pay the money to see it, but ‘Dora’ needs strong word-of-mouth if it hopes to turn a profit at the box office.
Just for speculation’s sake (because we all love to do that), there are a couple of alternative ways forward for ‘Dora’ that might keep the franchise alive for Paramount. With a young kid/tween focus, the studio could be looking at a big streaming audience in the future with the franchise. If Paramount can lower the budget a hair and put it on the right platform, ‘Dora’ could have a long life on streaming. In theaters, however? It’s a tough sell, especially if there’s any competition.
Now, if you came into this weekend thinking we’d talk about “The Kitchen,” which has a trio of major actresses leading the way like Melissa McCarthy, Tiffany Haddish, and Elisabeth Moss, I’d have to agree with you. How can you go wrong with the Oscar-nominated writer of “Straight Outta Compton” making her directorial debut and those three ladies in what seemed like a slam dunk for box office gold? Well, you’d have to ask New Line/Warner Brothers about that, as a $5.5 million opening weekend, good for #7 is downright embarrassing and shows that the studio really didn’t do anything right leading up to the film’s release.
Coming into the weekend box office analysts were looking at a modest opening for “The Kitchen,” but nothing really below $9 million. Perhaps, the crime drama would be in the low double-digits? But only $5.5 million? That points to a fundamental flaw somewhere along the way. Reviews (20% on RT) and audience surveys (‘B-’ CinemaScore) point to a film that might not have the quality to be a breakout hit, but those sorts of qualifiers normally don’t truly kick in until the second weekend and beyond. With Haddish, McCarthy, and Moss, people should have checked out “The Kitchen” just on star-power alone.
This leads me to believe that there’s something even more basic at fault here. The easy answer (and most likely, the truth) is that hiring two A-list comedic actors and making them completely humor-less is perhaps the root cause of this film’s problems. People see Haddish and McCarthy and you can’t blame audiences for thinking this is going to be funny. Sure, you can market it with sincerity and drama, but even the smallest hint that there’s humor is enough for people to think they’re going to see a crowd-pleasing, humorous dramedy. But that’s not “The Kitchen,” is it? In my humble opinion, this film was set up for failure the second they put Haddish and McCarthy together. One of them surrounded by serious actors could have worked. Two funny actresses? That’s just setting up the wrong expectations.
As for the rest of the flock of newcomers, there’s not much to write home about. “The Art of Racing in the Rain” (dog movie which probably ends with the dog dying, as these films tend to include) did okay with $8.1 million and a modest budget and marketing push. The real question is if you actually know anyone who paid money to see it. Somehow these films keep working with just a dog on the poster and a couple of cute leads (in this case, Amanda Seyfried and Milo Ventimiglia). The big surprise in the top 10 this weekend has to be “Bring the Soul: The Movie” with its $2.3 million opening and #10 debut. The concert doc following K-pop sensations BTS found an audience with a small under-1000 location launch. That means the other major debut this weekend, the sports/legal drama “Brian Banks,” just didn’t find an audience at all. The film opened with only $2.1 million in 1,240 locations (#12). That puts it behind the 5th weekend of “The Farewell,” which earned $2.2 million as it continues its expansion and keeps racking up solid numbers.
As for limited release, again, nothing special here. “The Peanut Butter Falcon” did the best with a per-theater-average of $12,073 in 17 locations. The other two limited debuts, “After the Wedding” and “One Child Nation,” also did OKAY with PTAs of $11, 425 and $11,122, respectively.
Next weekend, it’s another big weekend for studios, as they rush out the remaining summer fare before fall takes over. The raunchy comedy “Good Boys,” children’s film “Angry Birds 2,” underwater horror film “47 Meters Down: Uncaged,” and WB’s festival pickup “Blinded by the Light” all open wide and who the hell knows what next weekend’s Top 10 will look like.
Here’s the domestic top 10 for August 9 to August 11:
1. Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw – $25.4M ($108.5M Overall)
2. Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark – $21M (Debut)
3. The Lion King – $20M ($473M)
4. Dora and the Lost City of Gold – $17M (Debut)
5. Once Upon a Time in Hollywood – $11.6M ($100M)
6. The Art of Racing in the Rain – $8.1M (Debut)
7. The Kitchen – $5.5M (Debut)
8. Spider-Man: Far From Home – $5.3M ($371M)
9. Toy Story 4 – $4.4M ($420M)
10. Bring the Soul: The Movie – $2.3M ($4.4M)
