By Chris Kavan - 07/29/18 at 07:30 PM CT
With the summer winding down, we needed one more hit and it looks like Mission: Impossible is the franchise to deliver. Fallout had the best opening for the franchise to date, as well as being star Tom Cruises's second-highest opening to date. While Fallout was a bright spot, the same couldn't be said for Teen Titans Go! to the Movies. Despite a decent fan base and its superhero nature, it just didn't have much of an impact at the box office. Still, at least it looks like it will make money in the long run considering its smaller budget.
1) MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE - FALLOUT
As the last blockbuster of the summer, and with franchise-topping reviews to boot, Fallout was poised to open huge, and open huge it did. With $61.5 million, Fallout topped Mission: Impossible II ($57.8 million) to take the crown as the highest opening for the franchise. It also represented the second-best opening for star Tom Cruise behind just War of the Worlds ($64.8 million) and the best opening for Paramount since Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles ($65.5 million) back in 2014. The film also earned a solid "A" Cinemascore from audiences - an audience that was more evenly split (55% male compared to 62% male for Rogue Nation) as well as receiving the best reviews for the franchise (97% on Rotten Tomatoes). Even better news for Cruise (as well as co-stars Ving Rhames, Rebecca Ferguson, Simon Pegg, Henry Cavill, Angela Bassett, Sean Harris, Michelle Monaghan and Vanessa Kirby) is that Fallout is poised to be the last major film of the summer - and well into fall, meaning it should have excellent legs. If it follows a similar pattern to Rogue Nation (which wound up with $195 million) it should be able to top $200 million easily. It also opened to $92 million in 36 markets, with Paramount reporting a 19% increase over Rogue Nation in said markets, meaning the film should also be able to top the $700 million global mark as well. This one isn't going anywhere for awhile - we'll see just how big it gets.
2)
MAMMA MIA! HERE WE GO AGAIN
Although it had a rather rough, front-loaded opening weekend, the Mamma Mia sequel managed to recover, dipping just over 57% and holding on to its second-place spot with a $15 million weekend and new $70.42 million total. It was still a somewhat larger-than-expected drop considering its catering to an otherwise overlooked audience, but with $97 million overseas (and many major markets - including China to come), it will be easy to top its $75 million budget and wind up well within the black. I still think this one should play well through August at least, topping $100 million domestic in the process.
3)
THE EQUALIZER 2
It was no surprise that, given the direct competition from Mission: Impossible, Denzel Washington's vigilante actioner dipped over 61% to land in third place with $14 million, giving the film a new total of $64.3 million. That is much steeper than the first films 45% second-week drop (against Gone Girl and Annabelle) and is now essentially tied with the first film through the same amount of time. Even if the film continues its free-fall, if it plays like the original film overseas, it will have no problem making back its $62 million budget. It might struggle to $100 million domestic, but it has a chance - it may come down to the wire. No matter the case, Washington is probably looking at an Equalizer 3 somewhere down the road.
4)
HOTEL TRANSYLVANIA 3: SUMMER VACATION
Despite a new animated film debuting over the weekend, Hotel Transylvania 3 still came in ahead (even after dropping 48%) with a $12.3 million weekend and a new $119.2 million total. It's playing right alongside the first two films, with slightly less total and a bit deeper week-to-week drop, but with $284 million worldwide and counting, $400 million total seems like a distinct possibility and another one is probably already coming along nicely considering the light $80 million budget.
5)
TEEN TITANS GO! TO THE MOVIES
It turns out that once again a popular TV series with a fervent fan base does not a popular movie make. The Deadpool for kiddie crowd may have found a killer supporting cast, but couldn't find a willing audience, opening to just $10.5 million. That is just above the $8.8 million opening of My Little Pony: The Movie. But look at the bright side, that $10.5 million comes on a budget of just $10 million for the entire film. Sherlock Gnomes opened to just $10.6 million on a budget that was six times as much. So while this opening is under what was expected, in the long run Teen Titans will probably turn out well enough. It only made $1 million overseas, but it won't have to break out big to win in the end.
Outside the top five: Ant-Man and the Wasp earned $8.4 million (sixth place) raising its total to $183.12 million, moving it up to 16th place among the MCU films, topping the original Ant-Man ($180 million) as well as Thor ($181 million). It looks like it will ultimately be able to top Thor: The Dark World ($206 million) or at least come very close.
Two films expanded, Blindspotting adding 509 theaters and jumping 294%, moving from 22nd to 13th place in the process. Its total now sits at $1.8 million. Just under, Eight Grade expanded from 33 to 158 theaters, earning $1.31 million (rising from 17th to 14th place) and a new total of nearly $3 million. The film expands nationwide next week.
Also opening nationwide next weekend will be the action/comedy The Spy Who Dumped Me, the teen sci-fi film The Darkest Minds, Disney's live-action Christopher Robin and the latest documentary from Dinesh D'Souza, Death of a Nation.
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