Nearly 80 years after he first soared into theaters, Dumbo flew once again.
Disney’s latest live-action remake brought in an estimated $45 million in its opening frame, falling a bit short of some of the more bullish expectations but nonetheless capturing the No. 1 spot for the weekend. As for the other wide newcomers, Pure Flix’s Unplanned bested predictions, while Harmony Korine’s latest gonzo release The Beach Bum failed to catch fire.
While some analysts had Dumbo opening north of $60 million going into the weekend, the beloved baby elephant flew a bit closer to the ground than expected in its debut, placing its opening gross on the lower end of the spectrum of Disney’s recent live-action reimaginings. For comparison’s sake, the studio’s Beauty & the Beast remake debuted on roughly the same number of screens almost exactly two years ago and grossed an astonishing $174.7 million, while Alice in Wonderland (also directed by Tim Burton) brought in $116.1 million in its opening frame in March of 2010. Those comparisons may be a tad unfair given the arguably more-devoted fanbases of those two franchises (particularly Beast‘s), yet the drop-off is still undeniably striking.
Nonetheless, $45 million is by no means a terrible start. That counts as the fourth-highest opening gross of the year so far, behind only Captain Marvel ($153.4 million), Us ($71.1 million), and How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World ($55 million). While critics weren’t crazy about Dumbo (it currently sits at just 50% on Rotten Tomatoes), opening-night audiences awarded it an “A-” Cinemascore, indicating potentially strong legs in the weeks ahead (though the film’s 61% Flixster Audience Score is somewhat less encouraging). It’s worth noting that the film has been characterized as perhaps not appropriate for more sensitive children, particularly by parents who recall the animated version’s darker themes of separation and abuse. That factor no doubt affected its opening numbers to some degree.
After opening to an astonishing $71.1 million last weekend, Jordan Peele’s latest horror opus Us fell to second place with an estimated $33.6 million, a drop of roughly 52% from its debut. While that’s a much sharper drop than Get Out‘s 15%, that film was inevitably less frontloaded, as Peele wasn’t yet a major name when it opened. Us is also a more challenging and less crowd-pleasing film than its predecessor, a fact reflected in its “B” Cinemascore (Get Out received an “A-“) and 70% Flixster Audience Score (vs. Get Out‘s 86%). Nonetheless, with a fantastic $128.2 million after just ten days of release, Us cannot be counted as anything other than an unqualified success for both Peele and Universal.
In third, Captain Marvel continued flying high with an estimated $20.5 million, a drop of 41% from last weekend. The MCU blockbuster now has an incredible $353.8 million in North American grosses, bringing it to No. 8 on the list of all-time grossers among MCU installments, surpassing last year’s Spider-Man: Homecoming ($334.2 million).
Holding steady in fourth place was the YA drama Five Feet Apart, which brought in an estimated $6.2 million in weekend number three, a drop of just 27% from last weekend. The $7 million Lionsgate release now has a healthy $35.8 million in the bank and looks to continue playing strong with its core audience.
In fifth place, newcomer Unplanned brought in an estimated $6.1 million, a better-than-expected debut boosted by a reported $800K in pre-release buyouts prior to its official Thursday night opening. The anti-abortion drama boasted the second-best opening ever for a Pure Flix release, behind only 2016’s God’s Not Dead 2 ($7.6 million).
Paramount’s Wonder Park fell to sixth in its third weekend with an estimated $4.9 million, bringing the total for the animated adventure to a disappointing $37.8 million.
Seventh place went to How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World, which eased just 35% to an estimated $4.2 million in its sixth weekend. The total for the Universal animated threequel now stands at $152.9 million.
Expanding to 924 locations after a release in just four theaters last weekend was the thriller Hotel Mumbai, which made a healthy showing in eighth place with an estimated $3.1 million. Starring Dev Patel and Armie Hammer, the Bleecker Street release has benefitted from reasonably positive reviews (73% on Rotten Tomatoes) and compelling fact-based subject matter. Its total currently stands at $3.2 million.
In ninth place, Tyler Perry’s A Madea Family Funeral brought in an estimated $2.7 million, bringing its total to an excellent $70 million after five weeks in theaters. The alleged final film in Perry’s Madea franchise is now just shy of the $73.2 million final gross for Boo! A Madea Halloween and should surpass it by next weekend.
Making a disappointing showing in tenth was The Beach Bum, which brought in an estimated $1.8 million. Despite featuring bona fide A-lister Matthew Mccounaughey in the lead role, the Neon title couldn’t match the buzz of Korine’s last release Spring Breakers, which grossed $4.8 million on roughly the same number of screens in its wide debut back in 2013. For McCounaughey, Beach Bum is just the latest in a string of disappointments including January’s Serenity ($4.4 million opening, $8.5 million total), last fall’s White Boy Rick ($8.8 million, $24 million), and 2017’s The Dark Tower ($19.1 million, $50.7 million). In fact, the actor hasn’t had a bona fide hit since 2014’s Christopher Nolan sci-fi Interstellar, which grossed $188 million in North American and $677 million worldwide.
Overseas Update:
Dumbo took in $71 million overseas from 53 territories, bringing its global opening weekend to $116 million. That number includes $10.7 million in China, $7.4 million in the UK, and $7.2 million in Mexico. Among Disney live-action remakes, this was roughly in line with Cinderella‘s $62.4 million overseas opening in 2015.
Captain Marvel closed in on the $1 billion worldwide mark this weekend with another $26.4 million overseas, bringing its global total to a super-powered $990.6 million. Look for it to cross the threshold sometime this week.
How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World crossed the $500 million mark worldwide this weekend, with $348.9 million of its $501.8 million total coming from overseas.
The post Studio Weekend Estimates: <em>Dumbo</em> Flies to No. 1 w/ $45M; <em>Us</em> Scares Up $33.6M in Sophomore Frame appeared first on Boxoffice.
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