Universal’s “The Invisible Man” delivers above expectations as FUNimation’s “Me Hero Academia: Heroes Rising” makes history for the studio.
Sneaking into first place atop this week’s box office chart is newcomer “The Invisible Man”. The $7M production from Universal and Blumhouse stormed to $29M domestically, racking up yet another monetary success for Jason Blum. Many are expecting the film to cash in on this good start and the excellent critical reviews (90% Rotten Tomatoes) to reach numbers similar to other Blumhouse releases i.e. “Happy Death Day” and “The Purge: Anarchy” and reach around $60-70M domestically.
Overseas, the Elizabeth Moss led horror/thriller racked up $20.2M for a solid start, giving it a global start of just under $50M. The film will debut in its final batch of international markets next weekend, including Russia and Japan.
Dropping into second but cutting off a slice of history of its own is Paramount’s “Sonic the Hedgehog”, which added another $16M to its domestic total, meaning it is now set to become the second-highest-grossing video game adaptation in history when it passes the $131M of “Lara Croft: Tomb Raider” next week (currently $128M). If it continues at its current dip rate, it should pass “Pokemon: Detective Pikachu” and its tally of $144M in around two more weeks. Internationally, the film added an extremely healthy $26.8M meaning its worldwide tally now sits at a tidy $268.2M.
Landing in third in its second week in theaters is the 20th Century release “The Call of the Wild”. The Harrison Ford led adventure brought in around $13.2M, leaving its domestic total at $49.5M, whilst internationally the film brought in $11M to leave its worldwide total at just under $80M. These figures make it increasingly hard not to label the film a serious flop given its reported $135M budget. It would be surprising to see the film turn a profit even in just its second weekend.
A great story for the fourth place spot as FUNimation landed its second-largest domestic release ever with “My Hero Academia: Heroes Rising”, as its $5.1M weekend lifted its domestic total to over $8.5M.
The week would also would not be complete without mentioning Sony’s monster hit “Bad Boys for Life” which landed the final spot in the top five bringing in around $4.3M. This means the film now sits only $3M short of joining the illustrious list of $200M U.S. grossers. Overseas the film added just under $5M, leaving its global tally at a whopping $406M.
Next weekend sees a potential 2020 juggernaut enter the fray as Disney and Pixar return to the screen with original story “Onward” starring Chris Pratt and Tom Holland. Although the film appears to be tracking for around a $50M start, it has the potential to be going either way and the films mostly positive reviews could also give it a helping hand. Elsewhere, Ben Affleck returns to screens in Warner Bros sporting drama “The Way Back”, which is projected to make around $7M. Yet to be reviewed and with pretty non-existent marketing the film has seemed almost invisible in the lead up to its release.
The Invisible Man – $29M (Debut)
Sonic the Hedgehog – $16M ($128M Overall)
The Call of the Wild – $13M ($46M)
My Hero Academia: Heroes Rising – $5M ($8.4M)
Bad Boys for Life – $4.3M ($197M)
Birds of Prey – $4.1M ($79M)
Impractical Jokers: The Movie – $3.5M ($6.6M)
1917 – $2.67M ($156M)
Brahms: The Boy II – $2.63M ($9.8M)
Fantasy Island – $2.3M ($24M)
Still no distributor for "Bucking Fastard," "Alpha Gang," "The Last Photograph," "Closing Night," and "The Life and Deaths of Wilson Shedd." The issue seems to be quality more than a lack of willingness to buy.