Harrison Ford’s Call of the Wild (or Raiders of the Lost Bark) put up respectable numbers this weekend, but like Robert Downey Jr.’s Dolittle, the showing (while impressive) still somehow manages to be disappointing. A $24.8 million opening for a dog movie based on a 1903 novel by Jack London seems like something to celebrate — especially with a decent reviews (63 percent on RT) and a solid Cinemascore (A-). And yet, the film cost $125 million, in large part because 20th Century — before being bought by Disney — sunk a ton of money into turning a human man into a CGI dog. But why? It’s going to need to do very well overseas to turn a profit. It does not look good in that regard, however, as it only mustered $15 million in 60 percent of its territories.
Call of the Wild narrowly lost to last week’s number one film, Sonic the Hedgehog, which repeated at number one, despite falling 56 percent in its second weekend. It still earned $26 million, however, and after 10 days it’s already busted through the $100 million mark ($106 million). That’s significantly more in two weeks than Birds of Prey has earned in three weeks, having added another $7 million to its total to bring its cumulative gross to $72 million domestic. It is faring better overseas, and it should earn back its investment, but there won’t be enough profit here to provoke a sequel.
Brahms: The Boy II a stand-alone sequel to the 2016 film The Boy, came in fourth place, earning $5.9million for STX films, which is probably just fine for a film that only cost $10 million to produce, and which STX films was reportedly only on the hook for $2.5 million. Reviews were not good (8 percent on Rotten Tomatoes), and the C- Cinemascore is nothing to brag about, either, but the film at least opened as expected.
Holdovers filled all the other spots this weekend. In its sixth week, Bad Boys For Life earned $5.8 million and is closing in on $200 million with $191 million. In its ninth week, 1917 crossed $150 million domestic (it’s done about $335 million worldwide). Best picture winner, Parasite, earned another $3.24 million to bring its total to $49 million in its 20th weeek, despite taking heat from President Trump.
Last week’s Valentine’s Day releases, Fantasy Island and The Photograph, both suffered fairly steep falls (65% and 75%, respectively). They have earned $20.3 million and $17 million, respectively, after 10 days. Finally, the longest running movie in the top ten, Jumanji: Next Level, has reached $311 million in its 11th week of release.
Next weekend will see only one new wide release, but I’ve seen it promoted heavily in my areas of the Internet. Invisible Man is written and directed by Leigh Whannell — who writes all those Saw and Insidious movies — and it stars Elizabeth Moss and only cost $7 million to produce. I expect it to do very well relative to its budget.
Source: Deadline, Box Office Mojo
