Weekend Wrap-Up: Split’s $40.01 million Helps Box Office Soar
January 24, 2017
Split dominated the weekend box office earning $40.01 million, which is nearly double predictions and nearly double its nearest competition, xXx: Return of Xander Cage. The overall box office still shrunk from last weekend, but it was down just 3.2%, which is excellent for a post-holiday weekend. Compared to this weekend last year, 2017 was 27% stronger. Year-to-date, 2017 is still behind 2016, but that gap has closed to 9.4% at $736 million to $812 million.
Split earned M. Night Shyamalan’s biggest opening since The Last Airbender with $40.01 million. This is also the fourth biggest opening in M. Night Shyamalan’s career and the fourth best January opening weekend. Furthermore, its reviews are 76% positive and it earned a B+ from CinemaScore. That’s good for a horror film, so its legs should be good for the genre and I think it will become the first $100 million hit of the year.
xXx: Return of Xander Cage opened with $20.13 million, which is within a rounding error of expectations. It is also fine for a January release, but it is terrible for a film that cost $85 million to make. The 43% positive reviews and A- rating from CinemaScore suggest average legs, so it will have to rely on international numbers to break even any time soon. It is definitely doing better internationally than it is doing domestically, but it is too soon to tell if it is enough.
Hidden Figures held on better than expected with $15.72 million over the weekend for a total of $83.71 million after nearly a month of release. It could get to $100 million as early as this time next week. Even if it doesn’t, getting to the century mark is practically guaranteed at this point.
Sing earned fourth place with $9.00 million over the weekend for a total of $249.33 million after a month of release. It is now the tenth biggest hit of 2016 and it is about to become the tenth film released in 2016 to get to $250 million. That’s impressive.
La La Land fell faster than expected down to fifth place with $8.43 million over the weekend for a total of $89.76 million. It will still get to $100 million, but it will take perhaps a week longer to get there.
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story was next with $7.21 million over the weekend for a total of $512.38 million after six weeks of release.
The best of the rest of the “new” films was The Founder, which only managed 11th place with $3.40 million over the weekend. Its reviews are excellent, but its theater average is barely above $3,000, so theater owners won’t be interested in keeping it any longer than they are contractually obligated to.
20th Century Women struggled even more with $1.39 million in 650 screens for a total of $2.31 million. Perhaps it needed a slow expansion to thrive.
The Resurrection of Gavin Stone missed the Mendoza Line with $1.21 million on 890 screens and will likely disappear very quickly after this start. Its reviews are not as bad as its box office debut, so that is a selling point.
There are a huge number of films in the sophomore class, so let’s race through them. Monster Trucks held on relatively well, down just 35% to $7.07 million over the weekend for a ten-day total of $22.68 million. Clearly it is doing well with families, but not well enough to make up for its $125 million production budget. Patriots Day fell 50% to $5.75 million over the weekend for a total of $23.39 million after a month of release. It will see its theater count take a real hit this weekend. Sleepless performed even worse, down 59% to just $3.45 million over the weekend for a running tally of $14.94 million after two weeks of release. The Bye Bye Man was a complete disaster plummeting 75% to just $3.43 million over the weekend for a ten-day total of $19.99 million. Live by Night failed to open in the top ten and it fell 66% to just $1.72 million during its second weekend of release for a running tally of $9.39 million.
- xXx: Return of Xander Cage Comparisons
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- Split Comparisons
Filed under: Weekend Wrap-up, xXx: Return of Xander Cage, Monster Trucks, Live by Night, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, The Bye Bye Man, The Founder, Sing, Patriots Day, La La Land, 20th Century Women, Split, Hidden Figures, The Resurrection of Gavin Stone, M. Night Shyamalan