Articles

February 2, 2019
 

EARLY FRIDAY BOX OFFICE: “Miss Bala” Drops The Ball, “Glass” & “The Upside” Top Dim Super Bowl Weekend

 

MISS BALA (Columbia/Sony) is the only new opening this Super Bowl weekend, but it’s failing to take advantage of its status.  Deadline‘s preliminary numbers have Miss Bala‘s opening day at $2.7M ($650K of that from Thursday night), and with Sunday’s box office due to crash for everyone, it may not reach $7M for the weekend.  Miss Bala was relatively inexpensive to produce and had limited marketing, but it will need a strong showing overseas–which it may find, especially in Spanish-language territories–to have any hope of finding a profit.

That leaves the way clear for GLASS (Blinding Edge/Blumhouse/Universal) and THE UPSIDE (Lantern/STX) to fight it out for the weekend win.  Glass dropped 46% from last Friday to $2.7M, and should have a $8.5M weekend, on its way to $110M in the US (down about 20% from Split).  The Upside is holding much better, with a Friday drop of just 19% to $2.5M, and it should also get to $8-8.5M for the weekend.  It now seems like it will find its way to $90M+ in the US.

After that, a quartet of films are all looking at $1-1.2M Fridays that will lead to $4-4.5M weekends.  For AQUAMAN (DC/Warners) that’s a 26% Friday-to-Friday drop that will put it on a path to $335M in the US, behind only Wonder Woman among this DC Universe’s entries.  SPIDER-MAN: INTO THE SPIDER-VERSE (Sony Animation/Columbia/Sony) has a 18% Friday drop and with an awards-fueled second wind, should get to $185M in the US.  THE KID WHO WOULD BE KING (20th) dropped 38% from last Friday, and will struggle to get past $25M in the US.  GREEN BOOK (Participant/DreamWorks/Reliance/Universal) had the best Friday-to-Friday hold, dipping just 11%, and it should be at $65M by Oscar night, when it may or may not get a third wind.

A DOG’S WAY HOME (Columbia/Sony) dropped 22% from last Friday to $860K, and a $3.5M weekend will bring it in hailing distance of $40M in the US.  ESCAPE ROOM (Columbia/Sony) was similarly placed, down 23% from last Friday to $830K for a $3M weekend, on the way to $55M in the US.

After several limited runs that began in 2018, THEY SHALL NOT GROW OLD (Warners) opened a regular engagement in 735 theatres with $800K on Friday for a $2.5M weekend.  A $3500 per-theatre weekend average would be impressive for that number of theatres, considering that the film is a documentary composed of restored World War I footage.  A $15M US total wouldn’t be far from the $22.8M earned by Won’t You Be My Neighbor, 2018’s highest-grossing documentary, and better than RBG‘s $14M.



About the Author

Mitch Salem
MITCH SALEM has worked on the business side of the entertainment industry for 20 years, as a senior business affairs executive and attorney for such companies as NBC, ABC, USA, Syfy, Bravo, and BermanBraun Productions, and before that, at the NY law firm of Weil, Gotshal & Manges. During all that, he has more or less constantly been going to the movies and watching TV, and writing about both since the 1980s. His film reviews also currently appear on screened.com and the-burg.com. In addition, he is co-writer of an episode of the television series "Felicity."