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‘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

Jordan Peele’s ‘Us’ Dominates Weekend Box Office

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Us, Jordan Peele’s follow-up to his breakout hit Get Out, dominated the weekend box office, raking in an estimated $70 million in ticket sales.  Peele’s sophomore effort took in more than twice as much as Get Out (which debuted with a 33 million dollar haul) and with such a healthy start, Us should be able to come close to what Peele’s original foray into the horror genre generated back in 2017.

While Us’s box office is certainly impressive, as it is one of the highest grossing original horror films of all time after only one weekend, it may have a hard time sustaining the momentum and word-of-mouth that Get Out capitalized on.  Us has been an unabashed hit in the eyes of critics (with a 94% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes), but audiences seem to like, but not love the picture.  When examining the metrics associated with audience reactions,  ticket buyers gave Us a 70% rating on Rotten Tomatoes and a lukewarm CinemaScore of B. read more

‘Happy Death Day 2U’ Finishes Fifth at Weekend Box Office

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While many predicted a better showing for Happy Death Day 2U, the film ended up in fifth place at the weekend box office with roughly $10 million in ticket sales ($13.5 since it was released on Wednesday).  This total is $16 million less than the original film made in its opening 3-day weekend frame back in 2017.

Every movie studio ended up being disappointed this weekend, as it was the worst three-day President’s Day weekend for ticket sales since 2004.  Chief among the underachievers was Alita: Battle Angel, whose lofty expectations never materialized (in first place with $36.5 million since Thursday), falling victim to the same inflated tracking numbers that sank The Lego Movie 2 last week (which finished second at the box office with $21.2 million).  While the turnout for all films this weekend was low, there may need to be less emphasis put on tracking and social media awareness for upcoming films, as both measures have proven to be wildly inaccurate in 2019 and have so far created unrealistic expectations for new releases this year. read more

‘The Prodigy’ Turns Out To Be Just Average at Weekend Box Office

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Prodigy is a term usually reserved for a young phenom that “can’t miss” in whatever field their talents take them, such as playing the piano, throwing the football, or even film making.  Unfortunately, for Orion pictures, this week’s “Prodigy” couldn’t cut the mustard at the box office, as the new film finished in sixth place with only an estimated $6 million dollar return.

The Prodigy (not to be confused with the techno-rock kings from the UK, who happen to be launching their first tour in ten years if you can believe it) entered a weak field for horror films (with Escape Room making one of its last appearance in the top 12 this week), but it could still not connect with fans or critics.  The Prodigy’s Rotten Tomatoes score currently clocks in at 45% (which is actually pretty good for a low budget, February horror film, although the sample size of 42 reviews was rather small as Orion did not screen the film early for critics).  Rotten Tomatoes’ user reviews were a little more kind, with a score of 53%.  Cinemascores’ polling has not been revealed as of yet, but a similar low audience rating will most likely be reported based on The Prodigy’s anemic showing at the box office. read more

‘Glass’ Threepeats as Superbowl Weekend Box Office Champ With Worst Totals in Two Years; ‘Escape Room’ Close to $100 Million World-Wide

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If you thought last weekend was a weak showing by the top 12 films at the box office, think again!

Glass stretched its winning streak to three weeks in a row with $9.5 million at the box office, but the victory was certainly no Super Bowl championship (actually more akin to beating the Cleveland Browns in the regular season), as the top 12 films in the country brought in an estimated $57 million dollars in total sales.  To find a total this low, one has to go all the way back to the first weekend in September of 2017. read more

‘Glass’ Wins An Incredibly Weak Weekend Box Office as ‘Serenity’ Bombs

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The good news for M. Night Shyamalan is that Glass finished in first place for the second week in a row, earning an estimated $19 million.  The bad news is that his sequel to Unbreakable dropped 53% since last week, and also came in well under Split’s second weekend.

Shyamalan’s Split opened slightly below Glass last weekend, but whereas Glass is starting to immediately dip, Split only dropped 36% in its second weekend, and will most likely beat Glass‘ overall domestic box office total.  Split was also able to add theaters over the film’s second and third week, capitalizing on “Split-fever” in the winter of 2017.  Glass, even with the weakest competition of the new year so far and two dead-on-arrival new releases, was not able to replicate the success of Shyamalan’s brief comeback. read more

‘Glass’ Proves to Be Breakable at Weekend Box Office

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M. Night Shyamalan’s Glass entered the Martin Luther King weekend with some lofty expectations, as some estimates placed the film’s debut in the $60 to $70 million range.  Unfortunately, that Glass wasn’t shatter-proof, as the latest twist-filled film from Shyamalan generated only $40.5 million over the Thursday to Sunday frame.

Shyamalan (a director with a more than inconsistent track record for both box office and critical successes-anyone remember his adaptation of The Last Air Bender?) faced virtually no new competition over the long weekend, as studios believed the hype and intentionally kept their films away from the sequel to Split and Unbreakable.  The reviews for Glass certainly didn’t help its performance, as the film currently clocks in with a 35% fresh rating (and 24% from top critics) on Rotten Tomatoes. Combine those stats with a lukewarm audience response, with a “B” grade from exit polling company Cinemascore, and you have a recipe for disaster only rivaled by the director’s brief foray into the seedy world of education reform (in 2013, Shyamalan tried to cash in on the trend with his expose entitled I Got Schooled).  Glass should continue to turn a modest profit, as it faces little competition over the next few weeks, but Shyamalan’s performance may serve as a bump in the road for his comeback tour (and no one is asking for sequels to After Earth, The Village, or Lady in the Water). read more

‘Escape Room’ Continues to Impress at Weekend Box Office

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Adam Robitel’s Escape Room continued to defy expectations, finishing fifth at the weekend box office with an additional $8.9 million for a total of $32.5 million so far.

The film picked up where it left off last week, maintaining its theater count in spite of two new wide releases (The Upside and A Dog’s Way Home) and continued competition from Aquaman, Spider-Man: Into the Spider Verse, and Mary Poppins Returns.  Escape Room’s box office only declined 51% this week, which is a better than normal drop for most films. When compared to recent entries from the horror genre such as the Nazi zombie splatfest Overlord (which dropped 63% in its second weekend and finished with only a $41 million gross world-wide) and The Possession of Hannah Grace (with a similar decline, but much less in revenue, ending with only $35 million world-wide), Escape Room seems to be bucking typical trends and surviving in a crowded marketplace. read more