THE FIFTH MOVIE IN THE BOURNE SERIES TAKES THE TOP SPOT AT THE BOX OFFICE. AND IT WASN’T EVEN CLOSE
In a summer of underachieving franchises and disappointing sequels, Jason Bourne mildly bucked the trend, bringing in 59.2 million on its opening weekend. While those numbers may appear mediocre, keep in mind this is the fifth movie in the Bourne franchise and not only is this the second highest debut of the series, but also the second highest debut in star Matt Damon’s career. Jason Bourne’s opening performance mirrors last year’s Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation, also the fifth installment in an action franchise headed by a big star released at the end of July. Rogue Nation opened with 55.5 million and went on to gross 195 million domestically and a total of 682.3 million worldwide. But don’t expect Bourne to replicate that success since it will have to share the Cineplex with Suicide Squad next weekend, a late summer Goliath expected to exceed the century mark on its opening weekend. MI5 faced the atrocious Fantastic Four reboot during its second frame. Enough said.
Star Trek Beyond took a steep nosedive in its second weekend, plummeting over 58% to collect 24.7 million. Beyond has made more than 106 million in its first ten days but it may prove impossible for the latest Trek adventure to match its 185 million dollar production budget. It also looks like it will be the weakest player of the rebooted “Kelvin Timeline” movies. People make a lot of noise about Ghostbusters inevitable failure to match its budget, yet few have said anything about Trek’s likely inability to recoup its huge price tag (though to be fair, Beyond will likely double Ghostbuster’s foreign numbers).
Bad Moms debuted better than most expected, drawing in just over 23.8 million. Moms may not only salvage Mila Kunis and Kristen Bell’s stalled careers, but also offers a necessary lifeline to STX. While Bad Moms isn’t exactly a home run, it is the relatively new studio’s best performer and has already exceeded its 20 million dollar budget.
Secret Life of Pets brought in another 18.9 million and is just shy of 297 million domestically. Universal/Illumination Entertainment’s latest super hit will likely top out at around 350 million domestically with comparable numbers overseas. Going from an animated blockbuster to an animated flop, Ice Age 5: Collision Course attracted another 11 million, bringing its disappointing two-week total to 42.6 million. Toss in the overachieving, super low-budget horror Lights Out, which pulled in another 10.8 million to bring it’s domestic total to 42.8 million (on a 4.9 million dollar budget) and you have films from every extreme forming the middle of this weekend’s box office pack.
Ghostbusters held onto the seventh spot with its 10.1 million dollar weekend take pushing it past the 100 million threshold. At this point it will require a pretty big Hail Mary pass from Sony to deliver on a sequel. While Ghostbusters will probably wind up grossing around 130 million domestically, lukewarm foreign numbers (hampered by China’s decision to ban it) and it’s hefty production budget (144 million plus an estimated 100 million promotional budget) make turning a profit nearly impossible. If Sony had managed to keep Ghostbusters total price tag below 200 million, it probably would have been alright despite the online hate. As it stands, it will have to do virtually unprecedented figures in DVD/Blu-Ray and streaming sales for Sony to justify a sequel. And even then, would Leslie Jones, who was the target of a vicious racist and sexist campaign on Twitter, want to come back? This movie genuinely deserved a better fate.
The Nerve’s first weekend saw it take in a disappointing 9 million, failing to capitalize on advance word of mouth provided by a Wednesday release, while the unstoppable Finding Dory found another 4.3 million in the box office couch cushions. Pixar’s latest juggernaut should wind up grossing around 475 million domestically (it’s current total stands at just under 470) and while it may not hit the billion-dollar mark globally, it should break the 900 million ceiling (a feat managed by only three other films so far this year). The Legend of Tarzan landed in the tenth spot with another 2.4 million. The Warner Brothers action/adventure will probably end up with around 127 million on North American shores, meaning the latest silver screen incarnation of Edgar Rice Burroughs literary classic will need strong overseas box office to balance its 180 million dollar cost. Stay tuned on that front.
The question for next weekend isn’t what movie will occupy the top spot next, but rather how many crumbs Suicide Squad will leave for everyone else. And how much it will break the record for an August opening, currently held by archrival Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy.
Photo: Universal Pictures Entertainment
Leave a Reply