The good news is that The Predator is the number one movie in America. The bad news is that the film opened below tracking and its long-term prospects aren’t looking too bright either.
The Predator took the number one spot with an estimated $24 million over the weekend. Debuting in 4,037 theaters, the film’s opening is the worst for a live-action film opening in over 4,000 locations, unseating The Mummy, which previously held the distinction after its $31.6 million opening in 4,035 theaters last summer. The opening also comes in below the opening for the previous film in the franchise, 2010’s Predators, which opened to $24.76 million in just 2,669 locations. That film went on to gross just over $52 million.
Also complicating matters for The Predator, which cost $88 million to make, is that word of mouth has been disappointing with the film receiving a “C+” from CinemaScore. Weekend crowds were 62% male with 66% of the audience coming in 25 years of age or older. These are the exact same demos Alien: Covenant saw last year, and should The Predator deliver a similar 2.05x multiplier we’re looking at a domestic run just shy of $50 million. The film is going to look to international grosses to bail it out and it looks like they will, albeit, barely. The film debuted in 72 foreign markets over the weekend and grossed $30.7 million.
Falling hard to second is The Nun with an estimated $18.2 million. The Nun delivered yet another franchise record but not one that it is happy to claim. After its franchise-best debut last weekend, the film dipped a franchise-worst, 66% this weekend. The bad news ends there for the film as the $22 million production has topped $85 million at the domestic box office and has been a beast overseas as well. The Nun added another $33.1 million from foreign markets, pushing its running international gross to $143.6 million, taking the global tally to $228.7 million. Mexico remains the film’s top international market with $17 million and it will get a nice boost next weekend with releases in France, South Korea, Russia, Italy, and Japan.
Debuting to strong results in third is A Simple Favor with an estimated $16 million. The film was the best reviewed new release of the weekend with a fresh rating of 83% on Rotten Tomatoes and audiences seemed to like what they saw as it earned a “B+” from CinemaScore. The film cost $20 million to make and there is a strong case for word of mouth being solid here which is likely to give Lionsgate a nice little hit which is a plus for the studio as they have struggled a bit lately at the box office.
Landing in fourth is our third newcomer, White Boy Rick, with an estimated $8.8 million. Tracking had it landing between here and $10 million so it pretty much opened as expected. The film was hurt by one major thing and that was reviews. The film has a fresh rating of 63% but that’s on the low end for a film such as this, especially one that was previously viewed as potential Oscar bait. I don’t expect a long life for the film which is a shame because the film’s concept seems pretty interesting.
Rounding out the top five is Crazy Rich Asians with an estimated $8.7 million. The film has grossed just shy of $150 million and seems like a lock to top the $164 million earned by The Proposal in 2009 to be the biggest romantic comedy released in the last 9 years.
Check out the full top ten results below:
| Film | Total | % Change | Gross to Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Onward | $10,601,952 | -72.9% | $60.3 |
| Bloodshot | $9,176,695 | NEW | $9.17 |
| I Still Believe | $9,103,614 | NEW | $9.10 |
| The Invisible Man | $5,890,805 | -61.1% | $64.3 |
| The Hunt | $5,304,455 | NEW | $5.3 |
| Sonic the Hedgehog | $2,522,584 | -67.3% | $145.7 |
| The Way Back | $2,356,115 | -71.2% | $13.3 |
| The Call of the Wild | $2,226,720 | -67.1% | $62 |
| Emma. | $1,295,215 | -73% | $9.9 |
| Bad Boys for Life | $1,102,208 | -63.5% | $204.2 |
