In a much needed and welcome surprise for Paramount, their video game adaptation “Sonic the Hedgehog” got off to a flying start this President’s Day weekend, taking in an estimated $57M off its first three days, not only guaranteeing it lands above estimates but also making it the largest three-day opening ever for a video game adaptation.
Internationally the film also delivered, bringing in $43M from over 40 markets, and that is without the Japanese and Chinese markets where it is likely to hit in March. All in all, this gave the film, and the studio, a debut of over $100M worldwide, a feat that seemed impossible following the much-publicized re-design of Sonic himself and the two lackluster trailers.
Dropping into second is last week’s leader “Birds of Prey”. Bringing in $17.1M domestically, the film dipped 48% in its second weekend, which despite its much-publicized (and slightly exaggerated in my opinion) label as a ‘flop’ is, in fact, less than its spiritual predecessor “Suicide Squad” dropped in its second weekend back in 2016 (68%). Internationally the film delivered a reported $23M this weekend, pushing its global tally to around $143M worldwide, which, due to the film’s less than aggressive marketing, should be enough to see it eventually turn a profit in the next two to three weeks.
The battle for this week came down to two newcomers. First up is Sony’s “Fantasy Island” remake. The horror re-imagining of the famous story made an estimated $12.4M domestic and $7.6M overseas, with the film still to open in five major markets. Following behind (if estimates are to be believed) is Universal’s romantic drama “The Photograph” starring Issa Rae and Lakeith Stanfield, which delivered around $12.27M in its opening weekend.
The final spot in this week’s top five goes to Sony’s uber-successful “Bad Boys for Life”. The Will Smith/Martin Lawrence tandem continued to rack up box-office receipts, taking $11.3M domestically and $11.1M internationally to add to its current global standing of $368M. Universal’s early year smash opens next week in its final market of Italy to complete its run.
This week’s other newcomer, Searchlight’s “Downhill”, just managed to sneak inside the top ten, bringing in around $4.6M, and is under industry estimates.
The big news elsewhere came in the form of Neon’s record-breaking Oscar winner “Parasite”. On the back of a number of historic wins, including becoming the first foreign-language film ever to take the best picture crown, the film expanded into over 2000 locations, believing to have brought in over $6M when actual figures are released tomorrow. Overall that puts the film’s domestic tally at over $44M, as it continues to rise up the list of top foreign-language grossers in the US. This is all without counting its international haul for the weekend which is sure to add even more to the film’s $175M global haul and could possibly push it past the $200m mark.
Two wide releases hit next week, in the form of STX’s sequel “Brahms: The Boy 2” and 20th Century’s Harrison Ford starring “The Call of the Wild”. On a smaller scale, Focus Features will release Jane Austin adaptation “Emma” and Lionsgate will debut Diego Kaplan’s comedy “Las Pildoras De Mi Novio” (“My Boyfriend’s Meds”).
“Sonic the Hedgehog” $57 Million
“Birds of Prey” $17,1 Million
“Fantasy Island” $12,4 Million
“The Photograph” $12,2 Million
“Bad Boys For Life” $11,3 Million
“1917” $8,0 Million
“Jumanji: The Next Level” $5,7 Million
“Parasite” $5,5 Million
“Dolittle” $5,0 Million
“Downhill” $4,6 Million
Danny Boyle tells Vanity Fair that AI was used to animate old photographs—which means Margaret Thatcher and the Kray brothers—and to create mice running around the newsroom.