Angel Has Fallen Tops Labor Day Weekend

The box office saw its second-worst weekend of the year over the Labor Day weekend (Aug. 30-Sept. 2), with studios not opening any major new wide releases as the summer box office came to a close. That allowed Lionsgate Films’ Angel Has Fallen to repeat in the top spot with an $15.38 million over the four-day and $11.80 million over the three-day period, while holdovers like Good Boys, The Lion King and The Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw had a little room to breathe in advance of It: Chapter Two’s debut this coming weekend.

Angle Has Fallen topped the Labor Day weekend box office with $15.38 million. (Photo: Simon Varsano/Lionsgate Films)

 
After debuting to a solid $21.38 million the previous weekend, Angel Has Fallen held well, dropping 44.8 percent from its opening three-day weekend to give the Gerard Butler action film $44.49 million in North American through Monday. The threequel is currently edging out its predecessor London Has Fallen, which had $39 million through the end of its second three-day weekend versus $40.91 million for Angel Has Fallen through Sunday.

Second place went to Universal Pictures’ Good Boys which dipped just 18.3 percent to take in $12.18 million over the four-day holiday in this third weekend and $9.51 million over the three-day weekend. That is a superb hold for the R-rated comedy, which has benefited from strong word-of-mouth. It now has a $59.20 million total domestically.

Walt Disney Stuidos’ The Lion King rose two spots to third place in its seventh weekend, banking $9.35 million through Monday and $6.92 million over the three-day period. That is a 14.3 percent drop for the three-day total. With $523.58 million to date, the Disney blockbuster is currently the 13th highest-grossing film of all time domestically, putting it just shy of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, which finished its North American run with $532.1 million.

Universal’s Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw finished in fourth place with $8.40 million over the four-day holiday and $6.92 million over the three-day weekend, a 20.0 percent drop, giving the action spinoff $159.22 million in North America to date. It is now fifth on the list of highest-grossing installments in the long-running franchise, having surpassed 2009’s Fast and Furious with $155 million total not adjusting for inflation.

Taking fifth place over the long weekend was last weekend’s faith-based sleeper Sony Pictures/Affirm’s Overcomer, which took in $7.78 million over the four-day holiday and $5.67 million over the three-day weekend, a fall of 30.4 percent. Through Monday, it had earned $19.35 million domestically.

Fox Spotlight’s well-reviewed Ready or Not finished in sixth place with $7.47 million over the four-day holiday and $5.91 over the three-day weekend, a drop of 26.3 percent in its second weekend. It seems to have benefitted from good word-of-mouth following a so-so $8.02 million opening the previous weekend. The R-rated horror has taken in $21.95 million domestically to date, although it will likely take a major hit next weekend with the release of It: Chapter Two.

Lionsgate’s Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark grossed $6.29 million over the four-day holiday to finish in seventh with $5.00 million over the thre-day weekend, a drop of 14.8 percent. It has earned $58.91 million through the end of its fourth weekend.

In eighth place while tenth place went to Sony’s The Angry Birds Movie 2 with $5.95 over the four-day holiday and $4.24 million for the three-day weekend, a fall of 32.9 percent. That gives the animated sequel a disappointing $35.74 million to date in North America.

Finishing in ninth place was Paramount Picture’ Dora and the Lost City of Gold with $5.80 million over the four-day and $4.10 million over the three-day, down 23.1 percent from the previous three-day weekend. That give it $51.25 million to date domestically.

Spider-Man: Far from Home returned to the Top 10 with an additional four minutes of footage. (Photo: Sony Pictures)

 
Rounding out the top 10, Sony’s Spider-Man: Far from Home expanded to 3,162 theaters last weekend with four minutes of additional footage. It grossed $5.65 over the four-day holiday and $4.30 million over the three-day weekend, an increase of 156.0 percent from the previous weekend. That gives the Marvel Cinematic Universe installment $386.10 million in North America, where it currently stands as the second highest-grossing Spider-Man film of all time without adjusting for inflation. Notably, Far From Home was the crown jewel in a very good season for Sony, which is poised to take second place in summer market share for the first time since 2010 with a projected $700 million in domestic grosses.

This coming weekend the fall box office gets underway with Warner Bros. Pictures’ release of It: Chapter Two.

The top 10 films grossed $84.26 million over the four-day holiday and $63.91 million over the three-day weekend. That is 27.3 percent behind the previous three-day weekend’s $87.92 million total. It was 12.5 percent behind last year’s four-day holiday weekend and 13.4 percent behind last year’s three-day period, when Crazy Rich Asians led for the third week with $21.96 million. Total box office year-to-date stands at $7.80 billion. That is 6.5 percent behind last year.

Aug. 30-Sept. 2, 2019

Mark Heckathorn

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.