Shocking exactly no one, ‘Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom’ reigns at #1 for a second weekend at the domestic box office. This weekend’s haul was $60.3 million, down about 60% from last weekend, bringing its grand total to $265M. This summer has been a bit odd, with certain blockbusters bumping up against one another on back-to-back weekends, while in other cases, it seems the rival studios scrambled to avoid these huge popcorn flicks. That was the case a month ago with ‘Solo: A Star Wars Story’, which other studios thought would be a freight train. Now we’re seeing the same thing as no new movies were released that could challenge ‘Jurassic World’.
Meanwhile, ‘The Incredibles 2’ remains the go-to family flick, staying firmly at #2 with an additional $45M. That brings its running total to $439.2M, placing it as Pixar’s second highest-grossing film behind ‘Finding Dory’ which made a total of $486.2M in its theatrical run. It’s unclear whether or not ‘The Incredibles 2’ will take that top spot, but so far, it’s holding strongly.
The two new releases in the Top Five this weekend are almost two sides of the same coin. Both are lower budget films, targeted mainly at an older male audience, but they couldn’t be more different. At #3, ‘Sicario: Day of the Soldado’ is the violent sequel to 2015’s ‘Sicario’, while the #4 movie, ‘Uncle Drew’ is a light comedy starring Kyrie Irving as the character he first introduced in Pepsi commercials (!) along with a bunch of NBA stars.
Some analysts believe that ‘Soldado”s America/Mexico drug war theme reminds people too much of the current debate over immigration and the separation of families at the border, although the movie isn’t actually about that. Even so, analysts believe that more casual moviegoers want to avoid anything even remotely political right now. On the flip side, ‘Uncle Drew’ is an uplifting, escapist comedy which may draw viewers because it is devoid of anything controversial.
‘Uncle Drew’ took in $16.7M and earned an excellent “A” CinemaScore, so word of mouth could really help this film in the long run. ‘Soldado’ made more, $19.4M, but its budget was roughly twice that of ‘Uncle Drew”s, so it will have a harder time turning a profit. Audiences weren’t as impressed with this sequel as they were the first, giving it a “B” CinemaScore, versus the “A” that ‘Sicario’ garnered. Critics were even harsher. Whereas ‘Sicario’ has an excellent 93% “Certified Fresh” ranking on Rotten Tomatoes, its sequel has a pretty rough 63%. ‘Uncle Drew’ didn’t fare much better, with a 66%.
Here is the Top Five:
- Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (Universal) – $60.3M
- The Incredibles 2 (Disney) – $45M
- Sicario: Day of the Soldado (Warner Brothers/Village Roadshow) – $19.4M
- Uncle Drew (Lionsgate) – $16.7M
- Ocean’s 8 (Warner Brothers/Village Roadshow) – $8.1M
Overall, this year’s total to date is +16% from last year. Starting with ‘Avengers: Infinity War’‘s opening on April 27, this summer’s total take is a spectacular $2.5 billion. This weekend alone is +1% from last year.
Next weekend, Marvel will be back to take the top spot. Peyton Reed’s ‘Ant-Man and the Wasp’ is tracking to open in the $75M range. So far the early reviews are largely positive, with it earning an 88% Rotten Tomatoes score. And despite its lighter tone, this sequel is all but certain to connect to next year’s ‘Avengers 4’, so fans of the Marvel franchise as a whole will want to make a point of seeing this installment.
In counter-programming, ‘The First Purge’ is the first horror movie to emerge in a while and it is part of a proven brand. Horror movies appeal mainly to young females and there haven’t been many movies of any genre this summer that cater specifically to them. So provided the core fanbase hasn’t wearied of ‘The Purge’ franchise, this film could do quite well.
Check back next week to see how things pan out!
Source: Deadline
