Box Office Weekend – ‘IT’ Happens With 5th-Biggest R-Rated Opening
This weekend at the box office, IT: Chapter Two got the ball rolling on the Autumn movie season with the fifth-biggest R-rated opening weekend ever.
Initial expectations for the weekend put IT: Chapter Two as making above $100M, but it’s likely that the movie’s long runtime (30 minutes longer than the already-long-by-horror-standards IT: Chapter One) ultimately cut down on business by a few million dollars to a still-impressive $91M. Still, audiences seemed to like the movie on a similar level to the first with a B+ CinemaScore, even if other metrics are showing lower scores than its predecessor, so while it might not be quite as leggy, the $79M movie will still make a good profit by the time all is said and done. Internationally, the movie opened larger than its predecessor, so a win is a win for Warner Bros. and New Line. IT: Chapter Two had the fifth-biggest R-rated opening weekend for an R-rated movie, ahead of American Sniper‘s $89M+ opening, but behind the openings of The Matrix Reloaded ($91M+), IT: Chapter One ($123M+), Deadpool 2 ($125M+), and Deadpool ($132M+).
As for holdovers, Spider-Man: Far From Home rerelease fell out of the Top Twelve as it now appears that a $400M-ish domestic finish is off the table. A $390M+ finish is still likely to happen, and unadjusted for inflation is the second-best result for a Spider-Man movie in the United States and Canada. With the international box office, it cleared $1.1B and is the first billion-dollar Spider-Man movie, and it ought to surpass Captain Marvel‘s global box office total sometime in the next week or so. Also on the international front, The Lion King has made over $1.6B (placing it comfortably between The Avengers and Jurassic World in terms of box office gross), Fast and Furious Presents: Hobbs and Shaw is past $700M, Once Upon a Time in… Hollywood has topped $300M globally.
The Top Twelve box office performances for the three-day weekend can be summarized as follows (bolded titles are new releases):
- IT: Chapter Two (Warner Bros./New Line) – $91M Total.
- Angel Has Fallen (Lionsgate Films) – $6M Weekend/$53.46M Total; 49.1% Drop.
- Good Boys (Universal Pictures) – $5.39M Weekend/$66.849M Total; 43.3% Drop.
- The Lion King (Disney) – $4.193M Weekend/$529.106M Total; 39.4% Drop.
- Overcomer (Sony Pictures/Affirm Films) – $3.75M Weekend/$24.706M Total; 33.8% Drop.
- Fast and Furious Presents: Hobbs and Shaw (Universal Pictures) – $3.72M Weekend/$164.252M Total; 42.4% Drop.
- The Peanut Butter Falcon (Roadside Attractions) – $2.276M Weekend/$12.282M Total; 24.6% Drop.
- Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark (CBS Films) – $2.275M Weekend/$62.1M Total; 54.5% Drop.
- Ready or Not (Disney/Fox Searchlight) – $2.229M Weekend/$25.63M Total; 62.3% Drop.
- Dora and the Lost City of Gold (Paramount Pictures) – $2.17M Weekend/$54.159M Total; 47.1% Drop.
- Once Upon a Time in… Hollywood (Sony Pictures) – $2.155M Weekend/$134.357M Total; 47.7% Drop.
- The Angry Birds Movie 2 (Sony Pictures/Sony Pictures Animation) – $1.625M Weekend/$38.002M Total; 61.7% Drop.
The Lion King, Once Upon a Time in… Hollywood, Fast and Furious Presents: Hobbs and Shaw, Angel Has Fallen, and IT: Chapter Two are now playing in theaters.
Grant Davis is a freelance writer who has covered entertainment news for more than seven years. His articles have frequently appeared in Star Wars News Net as well as as other entertainment-related websites. As someone who grew up on Star Wars and comic book movies, he’s completely thrilled with the current era of genre entertainment.
