The Lego Batman Movie Leads 3 New Sequels
It was the biggest box office weekend of 2017 so far. The top three films last weekend (Feb. 10-12) were all sequels debuting domestically. Warner Bros. Pictures’ The Lego Batman Movie started with $53.0 million, which is 23.2 lower than the $69.0 million opening of 2014’s The Lego Movie. Universal Pictures came in second with Fifty Shades Darker with $46.6 million, or 45.2 percent lower than the $85.1 million opening of 2015’s Fifty Shades of Grey. Taking third place was Lionsgate’s John Wick: Chapter 2 with $30.4 million, or more than double the $14.4 million opening of 2014’s John Wick.
The animated The Lego Batman Movie starring the voice of Will Arnett as the title character appears highly unlikely to match the original installment’s $257.7 million total, unless it experiences a much better hold going forward than is expected.
The sexually-charged romance Fifty Shades Darker, based on the record-breaking book series, returned Jamie Dornan and Dakota Johnson in the leads, with a new supporting role starring Kim Basinger. However, Fifty Shades of Grey may not be an entirely fair comparison, as it had the highest opening of all time for a romantic drama, when adjusted for inflation. Fifty Shades Darker still takes sixth place in the genre behind such impressive competition as Titanic and The Great Gatsby. Also, Fifty Shades Grey was a massive cultural phenomenon that many felt they had to see in order to participate in the cultural conversation, regardless of whether they would actually enjoy it; by contrast, the existing fan base made up a higher percentage of Fifty Shades Darker‘s opening, which was 70 percent female and 56 percent under the age of 30. It was more front-loaded than Fifty Shades of Grey’s debut, incidcating it might fall faster.
The John Wick: Chapter 2 action sequel stars Keanu Reeves as the title character hitman. The original may not have been considered a box office success by traditional measurement with $43.0 million total, but it subsequently became something of a modern cult classic with a reputation far exceeding its gross in pure numbers. The follow-up will likely exceed the original’s cumulative total by this coming weekend.
Elsewhere, Universal’s horror Split, which led for the previous three weekends, dropped to fourth place with a 33.9 percent decline to $9.53 million. Twentieth Century Fox’s Hidden Figures became the highest grossing of this year’s Oscar Best Picture nominees, with a 21.5 percent decline to $8.00 million and fifth place. The film it beat, Lionsgate’s La La Land, took eighth place with a 33.0 percent fall to $4.94 million. And Weinstein Company’s Lion inched up into the Top 10 for the second weekend with its best weekend yet by both gross and rank: a 5.0 percent improvement to $3.05 million and ninth place.
The top 10 films last weekend earned $171.09 mllion. That’s more than double the $75.6 million earned by the top 10 the previous weekend, and also more than double the $75.3 million earned by the top 10 on the same weekend last year, when Kung Fu Panda 3 led for the second consecutive weekend with $21.2 million.
This Week | Last Week | Movie | Weekend Gross | Cumulative Gross | Weeks |
1 | — | The Lego Batman Movie | $53.00M | $53.00M | 1 |
2 | — | Fifty Shades Darker | $46.61M | $46.61M | 1 |
3 | — | John Wick: Chapter 2 | $30.44M | $30.44M | 1 |
4 | 1 | Split | $9.53M | $112.50M | 4 | 5 | 4 | Hidden Figures | $8.00M | $131.45M | 8 |
6 | 3 | A Dog’s Purpose | $7.27M | $42.50M | 3 |
7 | 2 | Rings | $5.65M | $21.32M | 2 |
8 | 5 | La La Land | $4.94M | $125.95M | 10 |
9 | 10 | Lion | $3.95M | $30.24M | 12 |
10 | 7 | Sing | $1.70M | $265.41M | 8 |
Editor-in-Chief Mark Heckathorn is a journalist, movie buff and foodie. He oversees DC on Heels editorial operations as well as strategic planning and staff development. Reach him with story ideas or suggestions at dcoheditor (at) gmail (dot) com.