Four Movies Shared the Wealth This Weekend

By Nathaniel R

What did you see this weekend?

Weekend Box Office (July 28th-30th)
W I D E	L I M I T E D
1. DUNKIRK $28.1 (cum. $102.8) PODCAST	1. 🔺   A GHOST STORY $382k (cum. $941k) 329 screens
2. 🔺  THE EMOJI MOVIE $25.6	2. 🔺  DETROIT $365k 20 screens
3. GIRLS TRIP $20 (cum. $65.5)	3. MAUDIE  $350k (cum. $4.6) 228 screens REVIEW
4. 🔺 ATOMIC BLONDE  $18.5	4. 🔺  MUBARAKAN $300k 128 screens
5. SPIDER-MAN: HOMECOMING  $13.4 (cum. $278.3) REVIEW | 2ND OPINION | PODCAST	5. 🔺WOLF WARRIOR 2 $190k 53 screens
6. WAR FOR PLANET OF APES  $10.3 (cum. $118.6) REVIEWISH | PODCAST	6. 🔺 LADY MACBETH  $179k  (cum. $467k) 104 screens
7. DESPICABLE ME 3 $7.7 (cum. $230.4)	7. 🔺  AN INCONVENIENT SEQUEL $130K 4 screens REVIEW
8. VALERIAN $6.8 (cum. $30.6)	8. THE LITTLE HOURS  $125k (cum. $1.2) 96 screens  REVIEW
9. BABY DRIVER $4 (cum. $92) REVIEW | 2ND OPINION | POSTERIZED | PODCAST	9.🔺 THE MIDWIFE $78k   (cum. $112k) 27 screens
10. WONDER WOMAN $3.5  (cum. $395.4) REVIEW | TOP TEN | SPECIAL	10. THE HERO  $68K (cum. $3.8) 102 screens BEST ACTORS
🔺 = new or added screens numbers from box office mojo

Dunkirk and Girls Trip, both enjoyed very strong second weekends (giving their audiences exactly what they promised... which is all too rare!) and managed to mostly fend off the new challengers which were the animated Emoji Movie and Charlize Theron kicking all kinds of spy ass as Atomic Blonde. It was a fairly unique weekend since all four titles were within 10 million of each other - they all have a reason to celebrate. The only people not celebrating? Whoever chose to take their families to Emoji Movie which is the worst reviewed movie of the year. 

In limited release the doc sequel An Inconvenient Truth (reviewed), Kathryn Bigelow's race riot drama Detroit, the Hasidic drama Menashe (reviewed), and Brigsby Bear all barely dipped their toe into theaters but audiences expressed interest in all four. Expect expansions soon with Detroit going wide next weekend.

"Dunkirk" and "Girls Trip" Have Great Opening Weekends

By Nathaniel R

It's musical chairs every week at the box office now. But new releases like Dunkirk and Girls Trip (which both opened well above expectations) and presumably Atomic Blonde next weekend should have an untroubled run if word of mouth is strong given that August is looking pretty dire in terms of upcoming mainstream releases.

Weekend Box Office (July 21st-23rd)
W I D E	L I M I T E D
1. 🔺  DUNKIRK $50.5	1. 🔺   MAUDIE $390k (cum. $4) 233 screens REVIEW
2. 🔺  GIRLS TRIP $30.3	2. 🔺  THE LITTLE HOURS $162K (cum. $971k) 114 screens REVIEW
3. SPIDER-MAN HOMECOMING $22 (cum. $251.7) REVIEW | 2ND OPINION	3. THE HERO  $145K (cum. $3.7) 191 screens BEST ACTORS
4. WAR FOR PLANET OF $20.4 (cum. $97.7) REVIEWISH | PODCAST	4. 🔺  A GHOST STORY $141k (cum. $480k) 43 screens
5. 🔺  VALERIAN AND... $17	5. LADY MACBETH $123k (cum. $219k) 40 screens
6. DESPICABLE ME 3  $12.7 (cum. $213.3)	6. BEATRIZ AT DINNER  $114k  (cum. $6.7) 116 screens
7. BABY DRIVER $6 (cum. $84.2) REVIEW | 2ND OPINION | POSTERIZED | PODCAST	7. 🔺  LOST IN PARIS $61K (cum. $242k) 42 screens
8. THE BIG SICK $5 (cum. $24.5) REVIEW | 2ND OPINION | HOLLY ♥︎ !!! | PODCAST	8. PARIS CAN WAIT  $53k (cum. $5.4) 66 screens
9. WONDER WOMAN $4.6 (cum. $389) REVIEW | TOP TEN | SPECIAL	9. 🔺  LANDLINE $52k  4 screens
10. WISH UPON $2.4  (cum. $10.5)	10. 🔺  THE MIDWIFE  $20k  3 screens
🔺 = new or added screens numbers from box office mojo

Dunkirk's $50 million opening with no stars, no superpowers, and no sci-fi spectacle, is another reminder that directors can be bankable too, IF they consistently deliver for their audiences which Nolan has (consider that his devout fanbase never seems even the slightest bit disappointed in his work). Meanwhile people are using Girls Trip's terrific opening as a cudgel with which to beat Rough Night which is kinda silly. Just because two rowdy comedies feature a group of women does not make them interchangeable! Imagine saying that about two comedies about men behaving badly. Girls Trip received an A+ Cinemascore (meaning its paying audiences went wild for it) while Rough Night scored a C+ (which means the audiences didn't like it at all - C+ is basically a failing grade with Cinemascore). Their review fates were similarly disparate (pro Girls / con Rough)  but reviews don't mean much to mainstream pictures in terms of opening weekend box office. 

Wonder Woman marks its incredible 8th weekend in the top ten and maybe its last given that it took its first big hit with theater count. Still, what a run. It's now the #2 superhero origin movie of all time (behind only Sam Raimi's Spider-Man), the #1 DC Extended Universe movie, the #1 World War I movie (though the competition isn't strong there), the #2 movie of 2017 (behind Disney's Beauty & The Beast karaoke) and the #5 female action movie of all time (behind only two installments each from the Hunger Games and Star Wars franchises).

What did you see this weekend? 

Let the new "Girls Trip" teaser be a salve for your weary spirit

Robert here! Boy, these are some trying times to be alive and conscious in the world. Luckily no matter what shenanigans are going on in Washington, Hollywood continues to churn out entertainment to allow us a few hours of blissful ignorance to the outside world. In the spirit of that I present to you the first teaser trailer for Girls Trip, in theathers July 21st. The film is a raunchy R-rated comedy starring Queen Latifah and front woman of the nu metal band Wicked Wisdom, Jada Pinkett Smith, along with criminally underused comedians Regina Hall and Tiffany Haddish. Check out the trailer and more details about the film after the jump...  

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