The summer movie season quickly cools off with sequels and re-releases holding onto most of the top spots.
Note: All numbers in this piece are for the three-day weekend.
Summer 2019 closed on a subdued note over this meek Labor Day weekend, which Angel Has Fallen had no trouble topping at the box office. Dropping 46%, a better second-weekend hold than either of its predecessors, Angel took in another $11.6 million for a ten-day domestic total of $40.6 million. There’s a lot of competition to face in September, so it’s doubtful Angel has an extremely long life left at the box office, but at the very least it should be able to match the $62.5 million domestic total of London Has Fallen.
Good Boys dipped just 21% this frame for a third-weekend of $9.2 million and a 17-day domestic haul of $56.2 million. Looks like Good Boys will finish its domestic run just over $75 million, a great haul for a $20 million budgeted project. In third place was The Lion King, which dipped just 16% (the second-smallest weekend-to-weekend decline in the top twelve) for a seventh-weekend haul of $6.7 million for a domestic gross $520.9 million. Hobbs & Shaw was right behind those wilds felines with $6.2 million (a 22% dip from last weekend), bringing it up to a $157 million domestic total.
Overcomer dipped 30% this frame, a solid, much bigger than the 16% hold of War Room, and grossed another $5.7 million in the process for a 10-day domestic total of $17.2 million. Ready or Not actually had a great second-weekend box office hold for a horror title as it eased just 30% to gross another $5.6 million for a domestic total of $20 million. Looks like this horror/comedy will become only the 31st Fox Searchlight title ever to crack $30 million domestically. Ready or Not wasn’t the only horror holdover to hold well this weekend. Scary Stories to Tell In The Dark dipped only 14% this frame for a fourth-weekend gross of $5 million and a domestic total of $57.6 million. Looks like Scary Stories will be surpassing the $63.9 million domestic total of Last Vegas to become the biggest CBS Films title ever.
Spider-Man: Far from Home returned to 3,162 locations this weekend with an extended cut and brought in an OK $4.2 million, raising its mammoth domestic cume to $384.7 million. Dipping just 22% this frame was Dora and the Lost City of Gold, which took in another $4.1 million and bringing it up to a $49.5 million domestic total. Rounding out the top ten was The Angry Birds Movie 2, which fell another 33% for a third-weekend haul of $4.1 million and a total domestic gross to date of $33.9 million. Once Upon a Time in Hollywood dipped a minuscule 19% this weekend for a sixth-weekend gross of $4 million and a domestic total to date of $129.6 million. The Peanut Butter Falcon kept on chugging by expanding into 1,249 locations and grossing $2.9 million (a 1% dip from last weekend) for a domestic haul of $7.9 million while 47 Meters Down: Uncaged fell 36% in its third frame to add $2.5 million to a domestic total that now stands at $19.2 million.
Believe it or not, there were two new wide releases this weekend, but you had to squint to find them. The biggest of these newbies was Don’t Let Go, which grossed only $2.44 million over the weekend. Bowing in only 922 locations (one of the lower opening weekend theater counts for a BH Tilt release), this debut isn’t exactly a tragedy, but it’s also far from the kind of breakout hit Blumhouse Productions has released so many times in the past. That’s what happens when you barely market a title that also didn’t generate much in the way of advanced positive buzz.
Each year, PIXAR brings is summertime feature back into over 2,000 locations and Toy Story 4 was no exception as it returned to 2,715 theaters and grossed $2.3 million for a domestic total of $429.6 million. The Art of Racing in the Rain dropped 39% for a fourth-weekend haul of $1.28 million and a domestic gross of $23.8 million while Blinded by the Light fell 39% and crooned another $1.21 million for a domestic gross of $10.1 million. If it’s Labor Day weekend, then it must be time for a new Pantelion comedy. Ever since they struck it big with Instructions Not Included over this holiday frame, Pantelion has used Labor Day weekend as a launchpad for high-profile comedies. Their newest Labor Day feature was Tod@s Caen, which bowed in 371 locations and grossed $1.08 million, a lower than usual haul for a Pantelion comedy, for a per-theater average of $2,911.
No word yet on the domestic box office performance of foreign-language features Saaho and NeZha. The Farewell reached its highest theater count yet by expanding into 891 locations this frame and grossing $829,165 for a per-theater of $931 for a domestic total of $15.7 million. Can this sleeper hit gross another $4.3 million and become only the second limited release of 2019 to crack $20 million domestically? It’s a coin toss at this point. Moving on to another A24 holdover released in July 2019, a director’s cut of Midsommar grossed $650,000 from 676 locations for a per-theater average of $962 and lifting the domestic total of this Ari Aster horror film to $26.6 million. Meanwhile, After the Wedding expanded into 428 locations but only grossed $445,452 for a per-theater average of $1,041 and a domestic total of $862,813.
Bennett’s War was the only other new wide release of the weekend and it grossed a disastrous $445,151 from 970 locations for a dismal per-theater average of $458. That’s the worst wide-release opening of 2019 (exempting the re-release of Cruel Intentions and Fathom Event releases), dethroning the bow of El Chicano for that honor. I had never even heard of this inspirational motocross drama co-starring Trace Adkins until a few days ago so I can imagine it was also not on the radar of general moviegoers who ignored this box office dud.
Brittany Runs a Marathon expanded into 49 locations this weekend and grossed $414,228 for a per-theater average of $8,454 and a domestic total of $637,415. Also expanding its theater count this weekend was Luce, which grossed $277,220 from 235 locations for a per-theater average of $1,180 for a domestic total of $1.26 million. Raise Hell: The Lives and Times of Molly Ivins opened to $93,120 from 18 locations for a per-theater average of $5,173 while Official Secrets opened to $80,046 in 4 locations for a per-theater average of $20,012. The Nightingale expanded into 75 locations and grossed another $57,124 for a per-theater average of $762 and a domestic gross of $333,301 while Honeyland expanded into 42 locations and grossed $52,270 for a per-theater average of $1,245 and a domestic total of $371,791.
In its third weekend of release, Aquarela brought in $42,120 from 35 locations for a per-theater average of $1,203 for a domestic total of $122,583. Miles Davis: Birth of Cool held quite well in its second weekend by expanding into 2 locations and grossing $37,106 for a per-theater average of $18,553 for a domestic total of $67,553 while Before You Know It opened to $27,000 from 3 locations for a per-theater average of $9,000. Oh yeah, and the John Travolta vehicle The Fanatic opened this weekend. It flopped, because of course a title going straight to video-on-demand services with no promotion bombs in a theatrical release.
The top twelve movies this weekend grossed a total of $69.5 million, down 13% from this same weekend last year when Crazy Rich Asians topped the box office for one last time.