1. Predator (review)- $24M
Predator managed to hunt down $24M to win its opening weekend, with Shane Black’s revival of long-running franchise earning $54.7M overall worldwide. That’s not great, especially for a movie budgeted at $88M. The domestic start is less than than either Alien vs. Predator movie, and those are hardly looked upon as favorites among fans of the series. Perhaps more disappointing is that it fails to surpass the opening haul of 2010’s Predators, the last “official” movie in the canon. I don’t know what this means for the future of Predator, but maybe Fox (or Disney? I think the franchise moves to them next year?) will realize, like Blade Runner and other sci-fi properties, only the most die-hard fans are going to turn out for these movies. It’s time to set the budget accordingly.
2. The Nun– $18.2M/$85M
The Nun suffered a heavy 66% drop in its second weekend, but that’s mainly because last week was so huge. Overall The Conjuring Universe horror has $228M worldwide.
3. A Simple Favor (review)- $16M
I was really curious to see how Paul Feig’s stylish dark comedy/mystery A Simple Favor would do, and it did rather well. The Anna Kendrick/Blake Lively combo brought in $16M which is great for a $20M film with a lot of buzz behind it. They really did a great job marketing this one, playing off the contrasts between Kendrick’s quirky Pitch Perfect persona and the glamorous Lively, who has been a consistently big opener in every film she’s been the face of. I think we can put to rest any question about her as a bonafide movie star and box office draw at this point. This is also a successful bounceback for Feig after his disappointing Ghostbusters remake a couple of years ago.
4. White Boy Rick (review)- $8.8M
And it’s another disappointing result for Matthew McConaughey, as crime drama White Boy Rick opened to just $8.8M. The McConaissance is over, folks. I was never quite sure who this movie was for. Set in the 1980s, it tells the true story of a white kid who became caught up in the drug epidemic, but as a user but as a prominent dealer and eventually a government informant. McConaughey plays his father, but it was clear the movie wasn’t really about him, no matter how hard they tried to make it appear so. Along with Free State of Jones, Gold, and The Dark Tower this is multiple high-profile duds for McConaughey.
5. Crazy Rich Asians– $8.7M/$149.5M
6. Peppermint– $6M/$24.2M
7. The Meg– $3.8M/$137M
8. Searching– $3.2M/$19.6M
9. Unbroken: Path to Redemption– $2.35M
10. Mission: Impossible-Fallout- $2.31M/$216.1M
