"The LEGO Movie 2" Debuts at #1 Spot

[JamesG]

The LEGO Movie 2 Debuts with Weaker Than Expected, $34M Opening
by Brad Brevet
February 10, 2019


The weekend didn't turn out to be quite as big as expected, thanks mostly due to a severe underperformance from Warner Bros.'s The LEGO Movie 2: The Second Part, which debuted approximately $20 million below expectations as franchise fatigue seems to have settled in rather quickly.

Otherwise, the rest of the weekend's new releases fell, for the most part, within expectations with What Men Want finishing in the runner-up position followed by Lionsgate's release of Summit's Cold Pursuit while Orion's The Prodigy fell just a bit outside industry expectations.







At the top of the box office, Warner Bros.'s The LEGO Movie 2 brought in an estimated $34.4 million, falling well short of the anticipated $50-55 million the studio was anticipating heading into the weekend. The performance is also well below the $69 million the first film opened with back in February 2014 as well as below the $53 million opening for The LEGO Batman Movie in February 2017.

That same year WB debuted a second LEGO feature in The LEGO Ninjago Movie, which opened with a franchise low, $20.4 million in September 2017. The dwindling returns for the films in this franchise suggests the studio jumped the gun with so many spin-offs before actually establishing the overall series.



That said, critics have given three of the four films (Ninjago excluded) top marks, with those three declared "Certified Fresh" on RottenTomatoes and the same going for audience response on those same three films.

Audiences gave LEGO 2 an "A-" CinemaScore, matching the same score for LEGO Batman. Overall, this looks far from the end of the franchise, and WB may simply need to change tact looking ahead.

Internationally, LEGO 2 brought in an estimated $18.1 million from 63 overseas markets.







Paramount's What Women Want came in smack dab in the middle of studio expectations, debuting with an estimated $19 million from 2,912 locations.

The film entered the weekend with relatively weak reviews — 47% on RottenTomatoes and 51 on Metacritic — and audiences seem to have agreed based on a 49% audience score at RottenTomatoes and a very weak, 3.6/10 on IMDb. That said, the film's CinemaScore was still an "A-", matching the likes of Night School, which pulled off a 2.83x multiplier, which would mean a $53 million run for What Men Want on a reported $20 million budget should it enjoy a similar run.







Lionsgate's release of Summit's Cold Pursuit slightly exceeded expectations with an $10.8 million opening from 2,630 locations.

The film received a "B-" CinemaScore.







In fourth is STXFilms's The Upside, continuing its strong week-over-week performance, this time dipping just 17% compared to last weekend with an estimated $7.2 million and a domestic cume that now stands at $85.8 million, well on its way to a $100 million domestic run.

The film has also brought in $8.9 million internationally so far, boosting its worldwide cume to $94.7 million.







Rounding out the top five is Universal's Glass with an estimated $5.8 million for a domestic cume that now totals $98.4 million.

The film also added $6.6 million internationally this weekend for an overseas cume that now totals $123 million, pushing its global cume over $221 million.







Finishing outside the top five is Orion's release of the horror thriller The Prodigy, which debuted in 2,530 locations with an estimated $6 million.

The performance is short of the $7-9 million the studio was anticipating heading into the weekend, but with a $6 million budget the film should break even easily enough, though weak reviews and a relatively poor audience response means it won't be sticking around too long.

The film received a "C+" CinemaScore.







Elsewhere in the top ten, Universal's Green Book added $3.56 million domestically for a cume totaling $61.5 million while Lionsgate's and Amblin's release of the film overseas added an additional $11.4 million internationally this weekend for a worldwide cume topping $106 million for the Oscar contender.







In limited release Focus Features's Everybody Knows, starring Javier Bardem and Penélope Cruz, opened in four locations in New York and Los Angeles with an estimated $75,000 ($18,750 PTA).

Additionally, Magnolia released the 2019 Oscar Nominated Short Films in 265 theaters, the widest release ever in the distributor's 14 years of releasing the shorts and the result was the largest debut, coming in at an estimated $912,000 ($3,442 PTA).



Additional limited releases include Gunpowder & Sky's Lords of Chaos, which opened in four theaters with an estimated $28,086 ($7,021 PTA); Good Deed's To Dust opened with $8,400 in one theater; and STX released Peppa Celebrates Chinese New Year in 67 locations with an estimated $70,000 ($1,045 PTA) for a $127,195 cume since debuting on Wednesday.

https://www.boxofficemojo.com/news/?id=4485&p=.htm









February 8-10, 2019 Weekend Studio Estimates:


1. The LEGO Movie 2: The Second Part $34,400,000
2. What Men Want $19,000,000
3. Cold Pursuit $10,800,000
4. The Upside $7,220,000 / $85,800,366
5. Glass $6,422,000 / $98,476,580
6. The Prodigy $6,004,403
7. Green Book $3,567,000 / $61,501,776
8. Aquaman $3,300,000 / $328,547,042
9. Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse $3,040,000 / $179,821,627
10. Miss Bala $2,725,000 / $11,865,096