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‘Crawl’ Swims Away With Third Place at Weekend Box Office

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Alexandre Aja’s creature feature Crawl latched onto third place at the box office this weekend with an estimated total of $12 million, becoming one of the many horror films this summer to snag a high spot on the countdown despite underwhelming returns.

Paramount’s Crawl entered a crowded swimming pool this weekend with Annabelle Comes Home and Midsommar (both continuing to make decent, but not great money at the box office), and further divided the amount spent on individual horror films.  Many industry insiders predicted a bigger debut from Aja’s alligator rampage, but the top heavy summer box office of 2019 struck again, siphoning the majority of the funds into only two releases (Spider-Man: Far From Home and Toy Story 4).  While super-hero stories and family-friendly films are not direct competition for horror films, it appears that they are limiting the amount spent on them, with parents and baby-sitters deciding to bring children to “sure things” rather than finding entertainment for themselves at the cineplex. read more

‘Annabelle Comes Home’ Takes Fourth, ‘Midsommar’ Shines Bright in Sixth Place at Weekend Box Office

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With a glut of horror releases (let alone all of the releases) this summer, it has been hard for any film to sustain momentum at the box office.  This weekend was no different with a film predicted to dominate the box office (Annabelle Comes Homes) falling short of expectations and a new entry (Midsommar) further adding to the logjam at your local cinema.

WB’s Annabelle Comes Home dropped into fourth place with an estimated $9.8 million, dipping  an expected 52% in its second weekend. The film’s domestic total now stands at $50 million, which is certainly good for any horror film, but the figure is below Conjuringverse expectations.  Annabelle Comes Home currently ranks third in the Annabelle series, $34 million out of second place. Internationally, the film is performing better and added over $20 million overseas for a total of $85 million, which equates to a worldwide total of $135 million.  Again, these numbers are admirable for a horror film, but with increased horror competition next week, expect Annabelle Comes Home to remain in 3rd place in what has become the most profitable series of horror films of all time (and be sure to check out our review right here). read more

‘Annabelle Comes Home’ Takes Second Place at Weekend Box Office

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Another week, another second place finish for a horror film at the weekend box office.  Just like last week’s Child Play, Annabelle Comes Home nabbed second place with an estimated $20.3 million.

Annabelle Comes Home opened on Tuesday night with shows starting at 5:00 p.m., and then opened wide on Wednesday, so the box office take is somewhat deceiving, although it did perform worse than either of the two previous Annabelle films.  The latest addition to the Conjuringverse currently sits at $31.2 million (with an additional $21.1 from foreign markets). read more

‘Child’s Play’ Finishes in Second Place at Weekend Box Office

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Child’s Play (2019) finished second at the box office this weekend, making an estimated total of $14 million.  While finishing in second is never a bad thing at the summer box office, it’s not terrific when your opening total is $104 million less than the top spot (which was Toy Story 4, a much kinder and gentler breed of toy).

Many in the industry predicted a slightly higher opening for Child’s Play, especially with the film currently sitting at a healthy 60% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes.  Viewers were less impressed with the return of Chucky, as the film only scored a C+ from ticket buyers surveyed by opening night polling service, Cinemascore.  read more

‘Ma’ Continues to Impress at Box Office; ‘Godzilla: King of The Monsters’ Flames Out

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While Universal’s Ma won’t reach the financial heights of Godzilla: King of Monsters, when all is said and done this summer, the Octavia Spencer lead thriller may be the more profitable of the two films.

Godzilla: King of the Monsters fell into fourth place, dropping the entire length of a skyscraper (a -67.5% drop from last week) for an estimated $15.5 million in its second weekend.  For comparison’s sake, 2014’s relaunch dropped a similar amount, but it also made over $30 million during its second weekend of release.  This fact could hinder the sequel’s chance for $100 million in the domestic market which currently stands at $78.6 million. read more

‘Godzilla: King of the Monsters’ Can’t Ignite Box Office; ‘Ma’ Exceeds Expectations

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Every Toho fan worth their salt knows that Godzilla has atomic breath, but even the King of Monsters couldn’t ignite the box office this week, finishing with a disappointing $49 million.

A first place finish at the box office is usually cause for celebration, but when you enter the battle with expectations as tall as a skyscraper, you had better deliver on the hype.  Unfortunately, the results look even worse when compared to 2014’s Godzilla which delivered almost double the amount of the sequel during its first weekend with over $93 million.  As a set up for 2020’s Godzilla vs. Kong showdown, the underwhelming return must have some studio executives more than a little worried at this point. read more

‘Brightburn’ Can’t Light Up Box Office with Fifth Place Finish

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The highly-anticipated horror take on the Superman origin story, Brightburn, had trouble finding its footing at a crowded box office, finishing in fifth place with an estimated $7.5 million this weekend.

The James Gunn produced film (by director David Yarovesky) had a difficult time contending with a plethora of big budget studio hits such as Avengers: Endgame, Detective Pikachu, and this week’s Aladdin.  Although those films are certainly not the intended audience for Brightburn, they do take up the majority of the screens at any given location. read more

‘The Curse of La Llorona’ Weeps All the Way to Number One at Weekend Box Office

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The Curse of La Llorona didn’t have any problem scaring the competition away at this weekend’s box office, finishing first with a estimated $26.5 million.

La Llorona acted as perfect counter-programming to the new family and religious based films that entered theaters this weekend such as Disney’s Penguins (which couldn’t even crack the top ten) and Breakthrough (which finished in third place with an estimated $10 million).  The debut performance for “The Weeping Woman” is somewhat similar to Pet Sematary’s opening frame earlier in the month (which also brought in close to $25 million), although the film wasn’t as well-liked by critics, with a Rotten Tomatoes score of 32% (vs Sematary’s 58%).  On the other hand, when compared to Sematary’s C+ grade from Cinemascore, audiences seemed to prefer La Llorona slighlty better (director Michael Chaves’ Curse received a grade B- from the same polling service). read more

‘Hellboy’ Burned at Weekend Box Office

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Much to the chagrin of Hellboy fans, Neil Marshall, David Harbour, and Mike Mignola (to say nothing about the financial stake holders at Lionsgate and Summit Entertainment), the much-hyped Hellboy reboot failed to deliver at the box office, or in the eyes of critics and fans.

Expectations were gauged as cautiously optimistic for the latest adventures of Dark Horse Comics “Big Red” (especially when it was clear that Hellboy would be entering a crowded scene with the continued success of Shazam, Us, Captain Marvel, and last week’s Pet Sematary remake), but no one involved could have prepared for the anemic box office returns, as the film earned only an estimated $12 million in its first weekend of release. read more

‘Pet Sematary’ Climbs into Second Place at Weekend Box Office, ‘Us’ Passes $150 Million Mark

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The pulse for Pet Sematary has been running high over the past few months (and the film delivered a second place finish at the weekend box office to the tune of $25 million), but  just like the optimism of Dr. Louis Creed, the end result may not be what Paramount expected.

Pet Sematary’s debut is a healthy one for a horror remake, but all of the analytics associated with the film point to a sharp decline in ticket sales next week.  Sematary’s Rotten Tomatoes score has steadily fallen from the mid-80s to a current score of 61% fresh.  While this is an admirable number for any horror film, the fan metrics are more disturbing.  Only 49% of fans on Rotten Tomatoes liked the film (according to their Audience Score) and film-goers polled by Cinemascore gave the remake an ultra low C+.  With Hellboy opening next week, followed quickly by The Curse of La Llorona weeping into theaters two weeks later, Pet Sematary could easily drop 65% at next week’s box office, signaling an early exit from theaters. read more