Box Office: IT: CHAPTER TWO dominates with $91 million, less than Chapter 1

Box Office: IT: CHAPTER TWO dominates with $91 million, less than Chapter 1

Welcome to the Beat’s weekly Weekend Box Office Recap!

The first weekend of September kicked off the Fall movie season with New Line/Warner Bros’ It: Chapter Two, the sequel to the blockbuster 2017 horror hit that grossed $327.5 million domestically after setting a new horror opening record with $123.4 million. With substantial star power for the sequel in the guise of Jessica Chastain, James McAvoy, Bill Hader and James Ransone, there was a thought that maybe It: Chapter Two could surpass those numbers, but that was not to be.

After making $10.5 million in Thursday previews, less than the $13.5 million in previews by the 2017 movie, Warner Bros’ opened the sequel into 4,570 theaters nationwide where it grossed $37.4 million on Friday (including those previews) and an estimated $91 million for the weekend. That’s an impressive average of around $19,900 per theater, the best per-theater average of the weekend, but well below my own prediction.

It grossed another $94 million overseas with Mexico bringing in $10.2 million, the U.K. grossing slightly less than that, and Russia, Germany, Italy and Brazil adding to the mix.

Gerard Butler‘s own action sequel Angel Has Fallen was true to its title, falling to second place with $6 million, down 49% from the Labor Day weekend with $53.5 million grossed so far. It still looks like it can catch up to the $62 million grossed by the previous movie in the series, London Has Fallen, but it’s going to be tough going.

Universal’s R-rated comedy Good Boys continues to hold well in third place, as it added another $5.4 million (down 43%) this weekend to bring its total to $66.8 million, making it one of the more successful comedies of the summer.

That’s fantastic but still doesn’t hold a candle to Disney’s The Lion King, sitting pretty in fourth place with $4.2 million and $529.1 million domestic, another Disney movie to remain in the top 5 for eight weeks. The last movie to do that was last year’s Marvel hit Black Panther, and Disney has had at least four movies since then that remained in the top 5 for 7 weeks. When you look at all of the impressive box office records Disney has been accumulating, that’s one that can’t be ignored, since it’s so rare for movies to have much longevity at the box office with so many movies being released each week. Disney has proven that, if nothing else, its movies have serious staying power.

The faith-based Overcomer (Sony/Affirm) dropped to fifth place with $3.7 million, followed by the action spin-off Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs and Shaw in sixth with only a $30,000 difference between them. What’s interesting about the latter, besides not delivering quite as well as previous “Fast and Furious” films is that it’s still behind the $171 million made by John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum earlier in the summer. Hobbs and Shaw has grossed $164.2 million, which means that it could eventually surpass it, but it has to be noted that the “John Wick” movie probably cost significantly less than the $200 million production budget for Hobbs and Shaw, which is relying heavily on international money to break even.

The nicest surprise of the weekend was that Roadside Attractions’ SXSW Audience award-winning comedy The Peanut Butter Falcon managed to shift into the top 10 after expanding into 1,310 theaters Friday. Not only did it take seventh place based on its $2.3 million weekend (25% less than its Labor Day gross), but it also pushed a few stronger movies even further down the top 10, including Fox Searchlight’s Ready or Not. Starring Shia Labeouf, Dakota Johnson, Bruce Dern and newcomer Zack Gottsagen, the movie continues to find an audience with its joyful look at the journey of a young man with Downs Syndrome, and it’s grossed $12.3 million so far, making it one of the year’s bigger indie hits. The difference between Peanut Butter Falcon and CBS Films’ Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark is less than $2,000, so there might be a shifting once actuals are reported tomorrow.

The Bollywood film Chhichhore didn’t fare particularly well, making just $575,000 in 195 theaters or less than $3,000 per theater.

The music doc Linda Ronstadt: The Sound of my Voice, about the hugely popular ’70s chart-topper, took in $115,000 in seven theaters or $16,500 per venue, while Justin Chon‘s second feature Ms. Purple grossed $18,650 at L.A.’s Landmark Nuart before expanding to other cities this coming Friday.

This Week’s Top 10: 

Rank	Last Week Rank	Movie	Studio	Weekend Gross	% Change	Total Gross
1	New	It: Chapter Two	New Line/WB	$91 million	N/A	$91 million
2	1	Angel Has Fallen	Lionsgate	$6 million	-49%	$53.5 million
3	2	Good Boys	Universal	$5.4 million	-43%	$66.9 million
4	3	The Lion King	Disney	$4.2 million	-39%	$529.1 million
5	6	Overcomer	Sony/Affirm	$3.8 million	-34%	$24.7 million
6	4	Fast and Furious Presents: Hobbs and Shaw	Universal	$3.7 million	-42%	$164.2 million
7	12	The Peanut Butter Falcon	Roadside Attractions	$2.3 million	-25%	$12.3 million
8	7	Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark	Fox Searchlight	$2.3 million	-55%	$62.1 million
9	5	Ready or Not	Roadside Attractions	$2.2 million	-62%	$25.6 million
10	11	Dora and the Lost City of Gold	Paramount	$2.2 million	-47%	$54.2 million

 

This week last year, New Line’s horror spin-off The Nun was #1 with $53.8 million, followed by Jennifer Garner‘s action-thriller Peppermint in second place with $13.4 million. Considering that It: Chapter Two made more than both of those movies put together, this weekend’s box office was up about $17 million from the same weekend last year.

Check back on Wednesday for my weekly Box Office Preview where I’ll look STXfilms’ Hustlers, starring Jennifer Lopez and Constance Wu, and Warner Bros’ The Goldfinch.