It was supposed to be close, but Tom Cruise ended up running away with the win once again. Mission: Impossible - Fallout had a terrific second weekend hold, off just 43% to $35 million. Through its 10th day, the action blockbuster has earned a terrific $124.5 million. In comparison, Rogue Nation was down 49% in its second frame, and had picked up $107 million through the same point. With this kind of hold, Fallout seems very likely to get past $200 million stateside. Word-of-mouth appears to be incredibly strong here (the strong reviews aside). Overseas, the film continues to perform well, with the worldwide tally already at $330 million in just two weeks. Next weekend will bring a little more competition from shark flick The Meg tracking to open decently. But there's a decent chance this could hold onto the top spot again. Paramount and Cruise are definitely reveling in this major win.
And for only the second time this year, Disney didn't take the top spot with a new release. Christopher Robin was tracking to challenge Cruise, but it ended up falling by the wayside. The Winnie the Pooh adaptation earned $25 million in its debut, for a mild $6,941 per-venue average. Disney had projected this to open in the 20's, but other analysts were thinking it would cross $30 million. Perhaps in this day and age, Pooh is a tougher sell than Disney thought it was. That being said, Christopher Robin did do better business than previous Disney films The BFG ($21 million) and Pete's Dragon ($21 million), and it essentially matched the debut of Peter Rabbit from earlier this year ($25 million, but had strong legs to a $115 million finish). Christopher earned generally positive reviews (68% on Rotten Tomatoes), while audiences awarded it an "A" CinemaScore. There is little competition the remainder of the summer for families, so this will likely remain a solid player through Labor Day. On a budget of $70 million, Disney is going to need this to have strong staying power (early overseas numbers aren't promising).
Meanwhile, in third place, The Spy Who Dumped Me failed to really bring in the female crowd. The R-rated comedy settled for a $12.4 million debut (lowly $3,970 per-venue average). While Lionsgate predicted a low-to-mid teens millions debut, others were thinking it might would go higher. As far as R-rated comedies go, it was in line with recent films such as Hot Pursuit ($14 million) and Rough Night ($14.5 million), but it was less than half of star Mila Kunis' Bad Moms ($27.7 million). On a $40 million production budget, this will need strong legs in order to get to profitability. Reviews wound up being on the negative side (38% on Rotten Tomatoes), while audiences gave it a "B" CinemaScore. Thankfully, there's little to no added competition for its crowd the remainder of the summer, so it might have decent holding power down the stretch.In its third weekend, Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again stabilized. The musical sequel was off 40% to $9.1 million, for a very solid $91.3 million pick-up in 17 days. It should easily make it past the century mark in the next week. Meanwhile, fellow sequel The Equalizer 2 held up nicely in its third frame. Denzel Washington's latest was off just 37% to $8.8 million. The action sequel is at $79.9 million in 17 days, exactly the same amount that the first Equalizer had pulled in through the same point. Looks like there's a good chance this could reach the century mark as well.
In the face of added competition from Disney, Sony enjoyed a strong hold for Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation. The animated threequel was off a light 33% in its fourth frame to $8.2 million, for a very solid $136.5 million pick-up in 24 days. The Drac pack is also about to pass $350 million worldwide. Meanwhile, Ant-Man and the Wasp had its strongest hold yet. The Marvel sequel was off just 29% to $6.2 million, for a very good $195.5 million pick-up in one month of release (I hope to finally see it later this week).
The last new release, in the meantime, was DOA in eighth place. Fox released YA adaptation The Darkest Minds, which managed just $5.8 million (weak $1,855 per-venue average). While it was marketed fairly heavily, tracking never supported a strong opening for this. Meanwhile, young adult adaptations don't really draw crowds anymore today. Overseas numbers weren't promising either. With negative reviews (18% on Rotten Tomatoes) and a somewhat mixed "B" CinemaScore, this isn't likely to remain in theaters for long. Fox produced the film for $34 million, and was hoping for close to $10 million for its debut.
Two superhero animated films rounded out the list. The Incredibles 2 continued to be a trooper, off just 31% in its eighth weekend to $5 million. Since its debut 56 days ago, the sequel has earned an incredibly impressive $583.1 million, where it might just leg it out past the $600 million mark. It passed $1 billion worldwide earlier this week, becoming the 35th film in history to do so. Meanwhile, despite positive reviews, Teen Titans GO! To the Movies fell 53% in its sophomore frame to $4.9 million. The TV series adaptation has earned a somewhat disappointing $20.8 million in 10 days, where it looks likely it will finish around $30 million or a little more. However, with just a $10 million budget, Warner Bros. probably will find a little bit of profit here by the time DVD sales are added in.
That's about it. Stay tuned for next weekend's predictions on Wednesday! :)
