Avengers: Endgame is fighting for some record goals around the world, but can it hit them? The major record holders (The Force Awakens, Titanic, Avatar) all benefited from winter releases where there was no competition for months afterwards. Endgame has left its safety window and now has to deal with major summer releases eating away at its take of the box office. Here’s your recap of this week’s Weekend Box Office.
Weekend Box Office #1 – John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum
John Wick once again proves you don’t mess with a man’s dog. Wick brought in a very hefty $57 million to claim the top spot this past weekend. This total lands between the $43 million and $92 million of John Wicks 1 and 2. The film will have a lot of competition over the next few weeks, but reviews have been largely positive. Crowds are giving it an A- over at Cinemascore, and it is even doing well over at rotten tomatoes with an 88/92% amongst critics and fans.
#2 Avengers: Endgame
For this Weekend Box Office, Endgame drops to the #2 slot in its fourth week. It made $29.4 million which is down another 53% from week 3. Avengers has had a pretty hard slide so far. Most films have drops less than 50% in their latter weeks, but Endgame works against itself by having such huge success early.
As for records, domestically Endgame still has $166 million to go to catch The Force Awakens. This record may sit just out of reach. With all the competition coming from the summer movies, Endgame will continue to drop fast. It has, however, replaced Avatar as the #2 all time domestic leader.
Globally, Endgame only needs $174 million to become the new champion. This goal is much more in reach, but it could still be tight. Keep in mind Endgame is hitting these numbers far faster than any other movie and has not had the benefit of multiple releases like Avatar.
Weekend Box Office #3 Pokemon Detective Pikachu
In a close third place is Detective Pikachu with just shy of $25 million. This is a 54% drop from week 1 to week 2. The world wide phenomenon has done $206.4 million in two weeks.
#4 A Dog’s Journey
A distant fourth place for the Weekend Box Office is the only other new release in the top 5. A Dog’s Journey made $8 million. This film is a sentimental emotion grabber. Who it works on depends on if you are a critic or not. Critics over at Rottentomatoes only score this as 47% positive. Fans on the other hand give it a 94% fresh at RT and a solid A on Cinemascore.
#5 The Hustle
Finally at #5, we have the Anne Hathaway/Rebel Wilson heist film, which managed $6 million n its second week of release. This remains largely the only bit of counter-programming for women on the screens right now. This continues the +50% drop for returning films. Hustle dropped 53.3% in its second week.
NEXT WEEKEND
Next weekend will be huge at the box office and cut all returning films’ intake. The Disney live action Aladdin finally hits screens. The review embargo does not lift until Wednesday, but leaked reactions have been largely positive so far. Will Smith seems to be impressing more than letting down viewers as the genie.
We also have the comedy, Booksmart starring Lisa Kudrow, Will Forte and Jason Sudeikis about two high school girls and a night of chaotic adventure.
Finally, we have Brightburn, starring Elizabeth Banks. This horror begs the question, what if Superman had gone evil as a child? Imagine the killing Superman could have done even as a kid.