Weekend Box Office (July 7 - 9, 2017)
THIS WEEKEND Peter Parker made a triumphant return to the top of the North American box office as the comic book tentpole Spider-Man: Homecoming opened at number one with a stellar $117M, according to studio estimates. Sony's latest webslinger film averaged a sturdy $26,909 from 4,348 locations and delivered the second highest opening weekend ever for the franchise which covers six films over fifteen years.
While Spider-Man is one of the most popular comic book characters of all-time, the performance was especially impressive since this is the sixth time he has a movie out, and this is the third actor to play the role. Marvel joined in on producing so Homecoming is the first Spider-Man movie to be part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and that helped to build fan excitement. The PG-13 film included Iron Man in a heavily advertised role, plus cameo appearances by another Avenger which was not promoted in advance.
Reviews were fantastic across the board which helped convince skeptics to go out and see the newest Spidey. And audiences were very pleased too as evidenced by the solid A CinemaScore grade. Homecoming scored the third biggest opening weekend of 2017 trailing just Beauty and the Beast and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. It should end up being the first Spider-Man movie in a decade to cross $300M domestic. Iron Man will be 7 for 7 in that club.
Overseas markets rocked too as Homecoming soared to a $140M debut from 56 markets with China not even in the mix yet. South Korea led the way with a five-day launch of $25.8M and the worldwide opening for the new Spider-Man came in at $257M with plenty more to come. Many key markets are still to come like France, Germany, Spain, Japan, and China so climbing past $800M seems inevitable. The film cost $175M to produce which is not huge for this genre.
Falling a notch to second place was the toon sequel Despicable Me 3 which took in an estimated $34M for a 53% drop. After ten days, Universal has collected $149.2M and will break $200M just like all past films from this franchise. International markets are on fire with a massive $139M collected this weekend pushing the offshore cume to $298.4M. DM3 scored the biggest animated opening ever in China this weekend with a $66M launch. Global is now $447.6M on its way to $800M or more for a lucrative summer run despite domestic erosion.
The critically acclaimed action thriller Baby Driver fared quite well in its second weekend grossing an estimated $12.8M in third place for a decline of only 38%. Sony's low cost hit has taken in $56.9M so far and is showing good legs as more audiences hear the good buzz and find this original film. Reaching at least $90M seems likely for the $34M-budgeted hit.
Despite another major super hero film entering the marketplace, audiences still came out strong for Wonder Woman which dipped only 36% to an estimated $10.1M for its sixth weekend in the top five. Warner Bros. has amassed $368.8M putting Diana at number 34 now on the all-time domestic list surpassing many more hits including Deadpool. Wonder Woman has now grossed more than the origin story movies for Captain America and Thor - combined. With $377M from international markets, the global cume is now $745.8M heading to $800M and beyond with Japan still to open.
Tumbling 63% in its third weekend was Transformers: The Last Knight with an estimated $6.3M pushing Paramount's cume to $118.9M. Disney and Pixar followed with Cars 3 which grossed an estimated $5.6M, off 42%, for a new total of $133.7M.
Comedy flop The House dropped a reasonable 45% in its sophomore round to an estimated $4.8M pushing the sum to a weak $18.6M. for Warner Bros. The acclaimed indie comedy The Big Sick expanded in its third weekend and jumped into the top ten with an estimated $3.7M from 326 locations for a strong $11,199 average. Amazon Studios and Lionsgate have collected $6.9M so far with the Sundance hit and will go nationwide next weekend.
The shark thriller 47 Meters Down fell 40% to an estimated $2.7M for a new total of $38.4M for Entertainment Studios. Focus rounded out the top ten with the period film The Beguiled which grossed an estimated $2.1M, down 34%, for $7.4M to date.
The top ten films grossed an estimated $199.1M which was off 2% from last year when The Secret Life of Pets opened at number one with $103.2M; and down 1% from 2015 when Minions debuted in the top spot with $115.7M.
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Watch the trailer for Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle.
Compared to projections, Spider-Man: Homecoming opened ahead of my $102M forecast.
Be sure to check back on Thursday for a complete summary, including projections, for next weekend when War for the Planet of the Apes opens.
This column is updated three times each week: Thursday (upcoming weekend's summary), Sunday (post-weekend analysis with estimates), and Monday night (actuals). Opinions expressed in this column are those solely of the author.
Last Updated: July 9, 2017 at 4:45PM ET
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