‘Rogue One: A Star Wars Story’ Wins Photo Finish Weekend
In a photo finish, the Force continues to be strong for Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. For the fourth consecutive weekend, audiences continues to flock to the near-suicide mission to steal the Death Star plans. Over the weekend, Rogue One pulled in another estimated $22 million at the box office.
This weekend could have gone one of three ways – Rogue One, Hidden Figures or Sing. With the holidays clearly over, first place was any of these three films for the taking. But, Rogue One managed to pull through once more. Despite a hefty 55.7% drop from last weekend, demand is still fair high for the Star Wars spin-off. There’s no doubt in anyone’s minds that Rogue One will become the biggest movie of 2016 within days. Currently at 477.3 million, it’s only $10 million shy of Finding Dory’s entire run. In fact, Rogue One is now the highest-grossing film in the franchise behind The Force Awakens. With a little bit more left in the tank, a finish around $520-530 million is still possible.
In a very close second place was the biographical drama, Hidden Figures. While Fox’s uplifting film has been in theaters for a few weeks, the studio expanded it right after the new year. A crowd-pleaser, Hidden Figures grossed $21.8 million over the weekend. It’s very reminiscent of 2011’s The Help. That film opened in the same ballpark around $26 million with a leggy $170 million cume. Garnered the rare A+ Cinemascore grade plus universal acclaim by critics will see a similar run. And if it can snag some Oscar nominations in the next few weeks, the more power to it.
Down one spot from last week is Illumination’s breakout animated film, Sing. Despite no new competition in the family demographic, Sing fell over half of last weekend. Granted we’re back into the normal season when legs aren’t as powerful. Still, at its current pace, the animated comedy is nipping at the tails of Disney’s Moana as both films charge towards $250 million. The upcoming Martin Luther King Jr. extended holiday weekend will certainly help its cause.
Let’s face it. Underworld: Blood Wars was dead on arrival this weekend. The fifth installment from Sony opened to a franchise-low $13.1 million. Between the negative reviews, the five-year wait and positioned in the first weekend of January hurt the sequel. For a franchise that’s accustomed to openings between $20-26 million, this is a disappointment. Like many January openings, Blood Wars will be a fast burn at the box office.
Doubling its theater count in the middle of awards season, La La Land finally cracked the Top 5 this weekend. The Ryan Gosling, Emma Stone musical added another $10 million to its award-winning routine. Now up to over $51 million domestically, La La Land continues to track for a run over $100 million. Next weekend, La La Land is expected to expand even more with IMAX engagements.
Hidden Figures performed much better than my $19 million prediction. However, my optimistic $18 million prediction for Underworld: Blood Wars was much higher that the actual turnout.
Note: These #’s are based on Sunday’s projections and can change with Monday’s actual #’s.
#1 – Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (1)
$22.0 million / $477.3 million total
#2 – Hidden Figures (17)
$21.8 million / $24.8 million total
#3 – Sing (2)
$19.6 million / $213.4 million total
#4 – Underworld: Blood Wars (NR)
$13.1 million / $13.1 million total
#5 – La La Land (7)
$10.0 million / $51.7 million total
Opening Next Week: The Bye Bye Man, Monster Trucks, Sleepless, Patriot’s Day, Silence, Live By Night
Source: Box Office Mojo
