$34M Opening for ‘The Lego Movie 2’ is Not as Awesome in 2019
Everything was partially awesome for The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part over the weekend. The Warner Bros. animated sequel opened lower than expectations with an estimated $34.4 million.
With Spider-Verse, Mary Poppins Returns and Bumblebee wrapping up, The Lego Movie 2 was practically the go-to family film after such a seven-week stretch. Back in 2014, The Lego Movie became an overnight hit. Between a $69 million opening and a $257.8 million finish, everything was awesome. 2017 doubled down with The Lego Batman Movie ($53 million) and The Lego Ninjago Movie ($20.4 million). Neither film recreated the magic of the 2014 original though. It’s alarming that The Lego Movie 2 made less than half of the first film. The question is why. It’s been five years, almost an eternity for an animated sequel. The Lego Movie 2 isn’t the event film like Toy Story 3, Finding Dory or Incredibles 2. Even How to Train Your Dragon 2 and Kung Fu Panda 3 held up after five-year gaps. The Lego Movie 2 remains a success with Rotten Tomatoes critics. However, we’ll have to see if word-of-mouth will carry over with the general audiences. How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World (due out February 22) may factor into overall legs as well.
20 years ago, audiences knew “what women wanted.” The Mel Gibson rom-com broke out over the 2000 holiday season. The gender-flipped remake starring Taraji P. Henson and Tracy Morgan brought in little over half of its $33 million opening. What Men Want claimed second place with $19 million. That seems to be the norm for many February rom-coms from the past decade. 2012’s This Means War ($17.4 million) and 2016’s How to Be Single ($17.9 million) both opened a bit lower. Reviews haven’t exactly been the best either. What Men Want scored a mediocre 45% on Rotten Tomatoes. As long as Isn’t It Romantic doesn’t take away much of the crowd over Valentine’s Day, What Men Want could still see a $50 million run.
Audiences were exactly warm towards Liam Neeson over the weekend. His latest film, Cold Pursuit, debuted in third with $10.8 million. As a remake of 2014 Norwegian film, In Order of Disappearance, Cold Pursuit had the star power and critical approval. 75% of Rotten Tomatoes critics gave the film a positive score. However, it was Neeson’s weakest opener in nearly a decade. That excludes Silence and A Monster Calls, which opened in limited release. Neeson has had success over the years with Taken ($24.7 million) and The Grey ($19.7 million). Even last year’s The Commuter had greater success opening with $13.7 million. It’s hard to how much the recent Liam Neeson controversy played into the film’s interest. If Cold Pursuit plays like many of his other recent films, we could be looking at a $25-30 million run.
The slew of newcomers had little effect on STX’s The Upside. The 2011 Intouchables remake held better than its previous three weekends. Down 16.8%, the Bryan Cranston and Kevin Hart comedy brought in another $7.2 million over the weekend. Even down 200 theaters and two spots, The Upside continues to hang on. After five weeks, The Upside has reached over $85 million. $100 million remains in the cards. However, we’ll have to see if this loaded slate will have any effect. The combination of Alita: Battle Angel, Happy Death Day 2U and Isn’t It Romantic will claim a good number of theaters this weekend. A worst-case scenario still locks in a $94 million finish for The Upside.
After three weekends on top, M. Night Shyamalan’s Glass dropped four spots rounding out the top 5. Universal’s superhero finale eroded another 32.7% for another $6.4 million weekend. While that’s typically a strong holdover, Glass had the second-biggest drop in the top 10. Only Super Bowl disappointment, Miss Bala, performed worse with a 60.3% collapse. A four-week total of $98.5 million guarantees Shyamalan’s sixth trip over the century mark. Glass will now join The Sixth Sense, Signs, The Village, The Last Airbender and Split, ultimately topping $100 million. This will also be a first for 2019 as The Upside and The Lego Movie 2 are both expected to follow suit in the coming weeks.
Note: These #’s are based on Sunday’s projections and can change with Monday’s actual #’s
#1 – The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part (NR)
$34.4 million / $34.4 million total
#2 – What Men Want (NR)
$19.0 million / $19.0 million total
#3 – Cold Pursuit (NR)
$10.8 million / $10.8 million total
#4 – The Upside (2)
$7.2 million / $85.8 million total
#5 – Glass (1)
$6.4 million / $98.5 million total
Opening Next Week: Alita: Battle Angel, Happy Death Day 2U, Isn’t It Romantic,
Source: Box Office Mojo
