No one wants to be defeated, but it looks like someone just beat IT (see what I did there?). That’s right, the highly-anticipated sequel Kingsman: The Golden Circle (you can check out my video review here) saddled the number one spot at the box office this weekend, dethroning New Line’s IT after two-weeks.
Domestically, the comic book-adapted spy pastiche opened to an estimated $39 million, an improvement over ‘The Secret Service,’ which debuted to $32.8 million. Of course it has yet to be seen whether or not ‘The Golden Circle’ will have the legs of its predecessor, but with a higher budget behind the production and significantly weaker reviews, FOX has got to be at least somewhat optimistic about a stronger opening.
As for IT (read my review here), a third week drop-off to second place is not bad, especially with a $30 million haul. That’s only a 50% fall from last weekend’s total. Heck, $30 would have been a solid second week gross (IT was originally projected to open to $60 million after all). In all, IT has scared up $266.3 domestically. Not adjusted for inflation, that means it’s the highest-grossing R-rated horror movie ever. In just three weeks, IT was able to snatch that record away from The Exorcist, which grossed $232.9 million in total.
In third place WB’s The LEGO Ninjago opened to a franchise-low of $21.2 million. Original expectations had the third LEGO film seeing somewhere between $27-$32 million. Earlier this year, The LEGO Batman Movie also underperformed. Seeing is how each entry in the series seems to segment its audience more and more, it isn’t surprising that these totals reflect that.
Rounding out the top five in unspectacular fashion is the Michael Keaton-led spy thriller American Assassin, which saw an extra $6.25 million in its second week and Reese Witherspoon’s Home again, which added $3.3 million to its domestic cume.
In other box office news, the horror flick Friend Request opened this week. The social media thriller could not break the top five. Rather, it landed at the number seven slot with a debut of $2.5 million. The film runs off the rails after the first act (you can see my video review here) and devolves into the type of supernatural bore fest that give the horror genre a bad name.
Those are your top five performing movies at the box office this past weekend. What did you all see and what do you think of these results? Are you glad ‘Kingsman’ did so well? Perhaps you’re shocked at the continued success of IT? I want to hear your thoughts so leave them in the comments below!
movieminutes.net 