It was much closer than usual (and it was in second place on Friday), but Avengers: Endgame pulled ahead on Saturday thanks to a matinee bump. In the end, the penultimate entry in the MCU did take a stronger hit than what some expected, down 57% in its third frame to $63.1 million. In comparison, Infinity War was down 46% and Black Panther was off 41% in their third weekends. Endgame has pulled in a truly-stunning $723.5 million in 17 days, which passes the final grosses of Infinity War ($678 million) and Black Panther ($700 million) for third place on the all-time list. Endgame will certainly pass Avatar ($760 million) for second place by the end of next weekend. Overseas, the film is starting to fall quickly, but the team-up still pulled in another $100 million. Worldwide, its' at $2.49 billion and counting, ranking second behind Avatar ($2.78 billion). Whether or not it takes first place by the end of its run will depend ultimately on how it holds in the face of John Wick - Chapter 3 and fellow Disney release Aladdin the next two weeks.
Meanwhile, even though it didn't break out as high as I anticipated, Detective Pikachu managed a solid second place start. The adaptation of the wildly-successful video games and TV series pulled in $58 million (for a strong $13,803 per-venue average), in line with the $55-60 million analysts expected and ahead of distributor Warner Bros.' $50 million forecast. Even more notable is that Pikachu edged past Tomb Raider's $47 million launch from 2001 to take the record for the biggest opening to date for a film based on a video game. Pikachu was a bit front-loaded as expected, but the weekend multiplier still settled in at a solid 2.75. As far as holding power is concerned, families will have some competition coming up from next week's A Dog's Journey and Memorial Day Weekend brings Disney's anticipated Aladdin remake. However, with a solid "A-" CinemaScore and the extended holiday usually benefiting most films, it could be set for a good run. The budget was $150 million.
In a distant third, Anne Hathaway and Rebel Wilson proved a decent draw for women with The Hustle. A remake of Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Hustle earned $13.5 million (decent $4,502 per-venue average). That's in line with recent female team-up movies like Snatched ($16 million) and Hot Pursuit ($13 million), and also matches analysts expectations. For Wilson, this was also in line with her previous comedy, Isn't It Romantic? Audiences didn't seem to like the film too much, granting the heist comedy a "B-" CinemaScore. However, there's not many options for females coming up, so it could be set to have decent holding power in the weeks ahead. Distributor MGM didn't release a budget.Meanwhile, last week's holdovers held on surprisingly well. The Intruder was off 39% to $6.6 million, for a decent $21 million in 10 days. That looks really good especially against just an $8 million budget. The well-reviewed comedy Long Shot was off 37% to $6.1 million, for a meh $19.7 million in the same amount of time. Both films seem set to finish above $30 million if they can keep up the pace in the coming weeks.
I surely thought that Poms would successfully bring in older crowds. It didn't, and it's another misfire for STX Entertainment. The Diane Keaton flick opened to just $5.1 million in sixth place (weak $1,858 per-venue average). That's less than half of Keaton's last film, Book Club ($13.5 million). While marketing was strong, overall audience interest didn't seem like it was there. And even Mother's Day didn't seem to help matters much here at all. Audiences gave it a "B+" CinemaScore, and the budget (thankfully) was a light $10 million. So overall losses should be minimal here.Speaking of STX, their animated disappointment Uglydolls took a hit from Pikachu. The musical was down 54% to $3.9 million, for a stale $14.3 million in 10 days (against a $45 million budget). Meanwhile, Breakthrough held solidly again. The faith-based flick was off 37% in its fourth weekend to $2.5 million, for a solid $37.1 million pick-up in 26 days. It should end up near $45 million (I will be finally seeing it tomorrow, so look for a review by the end of the week).
Finally, audiences didn't seem interested in a biopic about J.R.R. Tolkien. Disney and Fox Searchlight's first release together opened to just $2.2 million in ninth place. The PG-13 drama averaged just $1,440 from a semi-wide release (Searchlight mostly starts their films off in limited release). In comparison, Goodbye Christopher Robin earned $1.7 million in its entire run (from limited release). Tolkien carried a $20 million budget, and wasn't given a wide enough release to receive a CinemaScore grade.Rounding out the Top 10 in its 10th weekend is the superhero blockbuster Captain Marvel. Marvel's heroine was down 58% to $1.8 million, for a strong $423.8 million pick-up in 70 days. It currently ranks 22nd on the all-time list domestically, while the $1.124 billion worldwide gross (and still inching upward) ranks 23rd.
And that's about it. Next weekend, Keanu Reeves returns in the highly-anticipated John Wick - Chapter 3. Families will get the dog sequel A Dog's Journey in what could be two movies in the Top 10 with Dennis Quaid, and romance fans will get the book adaptation The Sun is Not a Star. Look out for my review of Detective Pikachu tomorrow, and a weekend predictions post coming Thursday (along with Breakthrough). Hope all has a great week!! :)
