Image: Warner Bros.
Chris Luckett
Despite having starred in such masterpieces as Cloud Atlas and Captain Phillips in recent years, it’s been seven years since a live-action Tom Hanks movie opened #1 at the box office.
Sully, the Clint Eastwood-directed biography of Capt. Chelsey “Sully” Sullenberger, played on screen by Hanks, not only reclaimed that throne but also nearly broke September box office records.
Photo: Screen Gems
Chris Luckett
Only two movies opened in wide release on Friday — sci-fi thriller Morgan and tearjerker The Light Between Oceans — but neither was able to even crack the top 5 at the box office over the long weekend.
Photo: Paramount Pictures
Chris Luckett
Star Trek Beyond, the 13th movie in the franchise and third of “the reboot years,” opened at #1 over the weekend, managing to both disappoint and set a box office record.
Photo: Sony Pictures Releasing
Chris Luckett
Despite a lot of interest in the project and strong reviews, Paul Feig’s Ghostbusters reboot couldn’t quite overtake The Secret Life of Pets in its second weekend. Continue reading
Photo: Sony Pictures Releasing
Chris Luckett
China has become a true powerhouse behind potential movie grosses, as evidenced by the gangbusters box office Warcraft has been doing there ($221-million, versus $47-million in North America).
Faced with a vocal segment of the North American audiences that has pre-judged and boycotted Paul Feig’s Ghostbusters reboot, Sony had hoped China would offset the cost of the picture. China, though, has now denied the movie a release in their country. Continue reading
Photo: Universal Pictures
Chris Luckett
This time last July, Illumination Entertainment’s Despicable Me spinoff Minions opened to a whopping $116-million. Their latest effort, the new property The Secret Life of Pets, has now scampered into theatres, achieving nearly the same success without the aid of previous films. Continue reading
Photo: Twentieth Century Fox
Chris Luckett
Just as Corner Gas is to Canadians and Friday Night Lights to Americans, there’s a national love in England of the boozy Britcom Absolutely Fabulous. That patriotic popularity boosted the long-awaited Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie to the biggest U.K. opening weekend for a British movie since Spectre. Continue reading
Artwork: Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures
Chris Luckett
The first weekend of July has always been a big one for box office, with the confluence of Canadian and American long weekends.
Steven Spielberg’s takes on the Roald Dahl tale The BFG, the threequel The Purge: Election Year, and David Yates’ reboot The Legend of Tarzan were all outpaced this holiday weekend by Finding Dory, Pixar’s latest behemoth. Continue reading
Photo: Legendary Pictures
Chris Luckett
Being a bomb in North America no longer guarantees a movie’s global failure. Warcraft, which cost over $200-million between production and marketing costs, has earned $44-million in Canada and the U.S. over the last three weeks’ of release.
It’s made $221-million in China so far.
Globally, Warcraft has now earned almost ten times its domestic box office numbers, totalling upwards of $420-million.
That makes it a higher-grosser than the previously most-profitable video games Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, The Angry Birds Movie, and Resident Evil: Afterlife, none of which crossed $400-million.
Legendary Pictures hasn’t yet decided whether to greenlight a sequel to the fantasy epic, but is at work on Pacific Rim 2 — which also happened to earn more in China than in Canada and the U.S.
Demand in China for Warcraft was so large, over 70% of theatre screens in the country were dedicated to the movie on its opening weekend.
Warcraft is just one of many recent China-backed pictures to do better overseas than domestically. This past weekend, Now You See Me 2 also opened to $43-million in China (outperforming Independence Day: Resurgence‘s opening), nearly double its North American opening of $22-million.
(Sources: The Wall Street Journal, Forbes)
Artwork: Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures
Chris Luckett
Finding Dory blew newcomers Independence Day: Resurgence, Free State of Jones, and The Shallows out of the water in its second weekend. Continue reading
The Apple Box 