erik lundegaard

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Monday September 03, 2018

Box Office: ‘Crazy Rich Asians’ Has Crazy Good Labor Day Weekend

Crazy Rich Asians has crazy rich Labor Day weekend

Most movies stayed afloat this weekend—particularly “Crazy Rich Asians,” which dropped only 10% to pull in another $22 million. Four-day estimates are around $28 mil. A sequel is in the works. 

I’d say movies were buoyed by the holiday, but Labor Day weekend is an historically bad weekend for moviegoing. We have four established three-day holiday weekends in the U.S., and this is the best domestic box office for each:

  • MLK: “American Sniper,” $107 million *
  • President’s Day: “Black Panther,” $242 million
  • Memorial Day: “Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End,” $139 million **
  • Labor Day: “Halloween” (2007), $30 million

*Yes, it’s embarrassing that a movie with this title did so well over MLK weekend.

** This was way back in 2007 and no recent movie has come close. Is Memorial Day not the great movie weekend I thought it was? This decade only four Memorial openers have even crossed the $100 mil mark: “Hangover Part II” in 2011, “Fast & Furious 6” in 2013, “X-Men: Days of Future Past” in 2014, and “Solo: A Star Wars Story." “F&F6” did best, $117, so not even within $20 mil of “POTC3.” Interesting.

That’s quite a drop-off from the other holiday weekends. Even so, this weekend they came out for “Crazy Rich Asians.” If the estimates hold, it’ll be the third-best box office ever during Labor Day weekend—after the aforementioned 2007 reboot of “Halloween” and the fourth weekend of “The Sixth Sense” back in 1999. If it does just a little better than estimates (another $2 mil), it’ll break the record. Stay tuned. (I think only I am excited by this possibility.)

In other news, “The Meg” dropped 17% to gross another $10 for $120 total. “M:I-F” added $7 for $204. “Searching,” starring Jon Cho, came in fourth: $6 mil in only 1207 theaters. 

The two biggest new releases were “Operation Finale,” about extradicting Adolf Eichmann for trial in Israel, which got so-so notices (62%), and earned $6 mil in 1818 theaters; and “KIN,” a supposed “crime thriller with a sci-fi twist,” which got shitty notices (34%), and did shittier box office: $3 mil in 2141 theaters. It finished 12th.

Despite the holidayish weekend, a few movies did drop big. “The HappyTime Murders” fell 53% in its second weekend, earning $4.4, for a total of just $17; and “Mile 22,” the latest Berg/Wahlberg military adventure, fell 43% in its third weekend and has grossed just $31 total.

P and I went to see “Juliet, Naked,” which is a funny, original story for adults. I guess that’s why it’s only playing in 318 theaters. It grossed $804k.

The lowest screen-average for the weekend? Dinesh D’Souza’s idiot right-wing documentary, “Death of a Nation,” which earned just $375 per theater. That's 375 dollars. Couldn’t happen to a nicer fellow.

Posted at 05:10 AM on Monday September 03, 2018 in category Movies - Box Office