The final weekend of September saw families returning to North American multiplexes with the release of Universal’s Abominable, the first animated film to hit theaters since the debut of Warner Bros.’ Angry Birds 2 in mid-August. Though the Dreamworks Animation and Pearl Studio co-production opened to a relatively modest estimated $20.8 million – a few million short of last September’s Smallfoot ($23 milllion) — it was enough to lift it to No. 1 over holdovers including Downton Abbey, Hustlers and Ad Astra.
Debuting on an ultra-wide 4,242 screens, Abominable opened at the higher end of expectations thanks to a mixture of generally positive reviews (80% “Fresh” on Rotten Tomatoes), a relatively enthusiastic audience response (“A” Cinemascore) and the aforementioned fact of its being the first animated release to hit theaters in over a month. While its opening number is on the low end for a Dreamworks Animation title, it’s a reasonably healthy debut for a film with a budget reported to be $75 million — and with the China-based Pearl Studio on board as a production partner and a plot that sees its teenage character traversing the Asian nation to return a young Yeti to his family, it could well make up for any shortfalls on the domestic front overseas.
It should be noted that the weekend box office was rather less robust than it otherwise might have been, as Universal’s horror-satire The Hunt was previously slated to open on Friday before being pulled by the studio following mass shootings in Dayton and El Paso back in August.
Last weekend’s champion Downton Abbey fell to second place in its sophomore frame with an estimated $14.5 million, a drop of 53% from its Focus Features-record $31 million debut. The continuation of the hit TV series now boasts a strong $58.5 million through Sunday, already making it the fifth highest-grossing release in the studio’s history.
STX’s Hustlers rose from fifth place last weekend to third this weekend with an estimated $11.4 million, bringing the total for the Jennifer Lopez-Constance Wu crime drama to a fantastic $80.6 million in just 17 days. That puts the critically acclaimed title in third place all-time among the studio’s releases, behind only Bad Moms ($113.2 million) and this year’s The Upside ($108.2 million).
IT Chapter Two finished in fourth place with an estimated $10.4 million, putting the horror sequel in striking distance of $200 million with a total of $193.9 million to date.
In fifth, last weekend’s sci-fi newcomer Ad Astra dipped 47% to an estimated $10.1 million in its sophomore frame, putting the Brad Pitt vehicle at $35.5 million through Sunday. That’s a similar drop to last year’s First Man, which started slightly lower at $16 million and finished its domestic run with a disappointing $44.9 million total.
Another newcomer last weekend – Lionsgate’s Rambo: Last Blood – fell to sixth in its second weekend with an estimated $8.5 million, a rather steep drop of 56% from its $18.8 million debut. That puts the Sylvester Stallone sequel at $33.1 million after ten days, pacing it about 9% ahead of 2008’s Rambo at the same point in its run not adjusting for inflation.
Aside from Abominable, the only other major opener this weekend was Roadside Attractions’ Judy, starring Renee Zellweger as legendary entertainer Judy Garland. Debuting with a pretty good $2.9 million on 461 locations – giving it a per-screen average $6,362 – the film no doubt received a boost via Oscar talk for its leading lady, whose lead performance has made up the bulk of the critical praise for the biopic. Look for this one to debut wider in the coming weeks as it moves into the thick of fall prestige season.
The resilient Good Boys finished in eighth place after dipping just 21% to an estimated $2 million in its seventh weekend, bringing the total for the Universal comedy to a superb $80.3 million to date.
A surprise entrant in the Top 10 was Fathom Events’ release of Friends 25th: The One With the Anniversary, a special anniversary celebration of the iconic TV series slated to play in theaters three separate times this fall. Each showing includes newly de-archived bonus content and four episodes hand-picked by Friends producers, and this weekend – representing the second in the series – it brought in an estimated $1.8 million in ninth place from 1,600 screens, bringing the running total to $2.7 million including a previous showing this past Monday.
Rounding out the Top 10 was Disney’s The Lion King, which brought in an estimated $1.6 million for a total of $540 million to date.
Overseas Update:
Ad Astra brought in an estimated $18 million this weekend from 50 territories, including such major new markets as Italy, Russia and Brazil. The international total for the Disney-released Fox title now stands at an estimated $53.5 million, while the global tally is at $89 million to date.
The international total for Warner Bros.’ IT Chapter Two rose to $223.5 million with an estimated $11 million this weekend, bringing the global cume for the Stephen King adaptation to $417.4 million to date.
The post Studio Weekend Estimates: <em>Abominable</em> Ascends to No. 1 w/ $20.8M; <em>Downton Abbey</em> Dips to 2nd w/ $14.5M appeared first on Boxoffice.
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