“How to Be a Latin Lover” and “Baahubali 2” Shock with Strong Opening Debuts
0Film | Weekend | Opening Weekend | Current Gross | |
The Fate of the Furious | $19.9m | $98.7m | $193.2m | |
How to Be a Latin Lover | $12.2m | $12.2m | $12.2m | |
Baahubali 2: The Conclusion | $10.3m | $10.3m | $10.3m | |
The Boss Baby | $9.3m | $50.1m | $148.7m | |
The Circle | $9m | $9m | $9m |
The weekend turned out to be just as tepid as expected in terms of numbers (in fact, it was one of the weakest weekends of 2017 to date, as we all desperately await Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 this weekend to breathe new life into the domestic box office), but where movies ended up falling was something else entirely. While it was expected that The Fate of the Furious would top the box office for the third weekend in a row, it being followed by How to Be a Latin Lover and Baahubali 2: The Conclusion, both crossing $10 million, was far less than expected.
Before its inevitable defeat at the hands of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, the eighth installment of the Fast and Furious franchise remained on top at the domestic box office. Pulling in a little less than $20 million for its third weekend, the film is now fast approaching $200 million at the domestic box office. As has been the story since the film first came out, however, its success truly lies with its foreign box office, which is now close to $875 million and, more importantly, Fate has officially become the second film of 2017 to make $1 billion. At $1.066 billion, it is the twentieth highest-grossing film worldwide and with several more weeks to come, even as it faces competition from summer blockbusters, it should be able to climb the ranks (just as Disney’s Beauty and the Beast has, which is now the thirteenth highest film).
Next up are How to Be a Latin Lover and Baahubali 2: The Conclusion, both of which had their premieres this past weekend and were able to outperform predictions in order to top nearly all of their competitors. The former film earned Pantelion its largest opening ever and though critics aren’t responding as well to the film, it’s received an A CinemaScore from audiences and that should also help it going forward, even as it gets drowned up by all the upcoming blockbusters and comedies. The film opened in a little over 1,100 theaters and earned a little over $12 million, more than double our prediction.
Meanwhile, Baahubali 2: The Conclusion, the sequel to 2015’s Baahubali: The Beginning, also made more than double what its predecessor made in its opening weekend. It was certainly helped by the fact that it also opened in double the number of theaters, but more than anything else, the positive reception and press around the films, especially in appealing to their core audience, was the biggest factor in propelling this film into the domestic box office top five, even topping a Tom Hanks and Emma Watson-led film. Furthermore, this is also the biggest opening for an Indian film in North America as it made nearly $24,000 per theater over the weekend.
Next up is The Boss Baby, which was able to hang on for one more week as it brought in a little over $9 million in its fifth weekend out in theaters. It now is just shy of $150 million domestically and $400 million globally as its risen to become the nineteenth highest-grossing film for DreamWorks Animation.
Bringing up the rear, in a surprisingly weak performance at the box office, is the new film The Circle, based on the Dave Eggers book and starring Tom Hanks, Emma Watson, and John Boyega. While it was expected to not perform spectacularly well, especially given the studio’s lack of faith in the film, as shown by how late its press screenings were and the lack of marketing, it pulled in far lower than was expected. Where it was expected to, at the very least, top $10 million, it couldn’t even manage to do that, instead bringing in an opening of around $9 million instead. It has a relatively minimal budget of $18 billion but if it gets washed away too soon by the start of the summer movie season, it will end up being a stain for STX.
(Source: boxoffice.com, boxofficemojo.com. Figures represent numbers at time of writing, and may have changed.)
Anya Crittenton | Associate Editor