Super Bowl weekend is not typically a big weekend for moviegoing. In fact, the biggest Super Bowl opening weekend ever was Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus concert movie, followed by the 2010 Nicholas Sparks joint, Dear John. The list of films opening on Super Bowl weekend is littered with forgettable horror entries (When a Stranger Calls, The Uninvited) and bad romantic comedies (The Wedding Planner, Bed of Roses), although there has been the occasional break out (Taken, Chronicle, She’s All That).
There will be no break-outs this year, however, as the dreadful Helen Mirren horror flick, Winchester looks as though it will fall below double digits at the box office, good for only third place. Opening in 2,5000 theaters, Winchester racked up only $9.2 million for the weekend after critics decimated it (8 percent on Rotten Tomatoes). There’s a compelling true story underpinning the horror flick, but the Spierig Brothers (Jigsaw) fritter it away on a fairly generic horror entry that wastes the talents of Helen Mirren, Jason Clarke, and Angus Sampson.
There was not a lot of excitement with the rest of the weekend box office, either. Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle took back the number one slot, a position it has held four of the seven weeks of its release. With $11 million, it has now crossed $352 million domestic and $825 million worldwide. It should surpass Furious 7 on Monday as Dwayne Johnson’s biggest domestic hit ever.
Meanwhile, Maze Runner: Death Cure dropped nearly 40 percent in its second weekend, earning $10 million to bring its total to $40 million. The $60 million film, however, is performing well overseas, where it’s already amassed $100 million. In fourth place, The Greatest Showman continues to be a huge sleeper hit for Hugh Jackman, adding nearly $8 million as it approaches the $140 million mark. Again, this is a movie that opened with less than $15 million back in December.
Christian Bale’s Hostiles inched over $20 million in its second weekend of wide release, earning just north of $5 million this weekend. With $5.1 million, The Post is approaching $70 million domestic. 12 Strong is hanging in there, adding $4.7 million to bring its overall total to $37 million, $1 million more than Gerard Butler’s Den of Thieves, which earned $4.6 million in its third weekend.
Finally, rounding out the top 10 were two of the Oscar frontrunners, The Shape of Water ($4.1 million, $44.5 million overall) and Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, which added $3 million to bring its total to $41 million.
There are three new wide releases next weekend, all vying for box-office dollars ahead of Black Panther’s release on the 16th. Fifty Shades Freed will close out the Fifty Shades of Grey trilogy; Domhnall Gleeson and Rose Byrne will try to appeal to kids with Peter Rabbit; and Clint Eastwood’s The 15:17 to Paris is not only a movie based on a true story, but the cast is made up of some of the actual people involved in the event.
(Via Deadline, Box Office Mojo)
