“Angel has Fallen” delivers the franchise’s first top spot, as the ‘Fast and Furious’ franchise scored big in China yet again.
Lionsgate’s Gerard Butler led action flick, which reunited the Scotsman with Morgan Freeman’s ‘President Trumbull’ for a third go round on the rollercoaster of action opened to a solid $21.25M, delivering not only the fourth top opening weekend of Butler’s career, but also the franchise’s first number 1 slot, even though it fell just over $8M shy of the original film (‘Olympus Has Fallen’) and its $30M opening. This could extend a possible lifeline to a franchise that could have been set to end if this film had under-performed.
In at two this weekend is the Seth Rogen produced “Good Boys,” entering its second week and continuing to score points for original movies. The R-rated comedy dipped around 45% to add $11.75M to its tally, a tally which now sits at $42M domestically, whilst its $7m international haul should break double figures next weekend.
Speaking of internationally, the big news this week came in the form of the already domestically successful “Hobbs & Shaw”, as the ‘Fast and Furious’ spin-off blew past the largest August opening in China, bowing in the territory with $102M, pushing its international Box-Office to $441M and its overall global number to $558.9M.
Elsewhere, the most surprising news of the week came in the shape of AFFIRM and Sony’s “Overcomer,” as the critically panned (17% Metacritic) Alex Kendrick Movie scored an impressive $8.2M, possibly indicating the continuing existence of the market for sporting films. Add to that Fox Searchlight’s horror/thriller “Ready or Not” which opened Wednesday to a five-day haul of $11M and you can chalk this up as a good week for non-blockbuster cinema.
The weeks notable limited releases included Amazon’s Jillian Bell fronted “Brittany Runs a Marathon” which debuted to $176K from five locations, and the ‘Fiddler on the Roof’ documentary “Fiddler: A Miracle of Miracles” which opened in seven locations to the sound of $35,801.
Next week sees a new entry from Blumhouse and its head Jason Blum, as horror “Don’t Let Go” which heralds a strong cast with Storm Reid, David Oyelowo, and Alfred Molina on board.
1. Angel Has Fallen – $21.25M (Debut)
2. Good Boys – $11.75M ($42M Overall)
3. Overcomer – $8.2M (Debut)
4. The Lion King – $8.15M ($511M)
5. Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw – $8.14M ($148M)
6. Ready or Not – $7.6M ($10.6M)
7. The Angry Birds Movie 2 – $6.4M ($27M)
8. Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark – $6M ($50M)
9. Dora and the Lost City of Gold – $5.2M ($43)
10. Once Upon a Time in Hollywood – $5M ($123M)
The short version: "Woman Unknown" was a compromise. The jury deadlocked over "Possible Love" and "NAZA," not able to com to terms, fell back on their #3, May el-Toukhy's film.