War was the story at the box office this weekend, as one of this year’s critically acclaimed new releases was the choice for audiences. Here’s what went down:
Christopher Nolan’s Dunkirk debut at the top of the box office this weekend, bringing in an estimated $51 million. That’s around what we thought the film would do, and is actually a stronger opening than Nolan’s last film, Interstellar, which delivered $47.5 million. Dunkirk should continue to perform well over the coming weeks, as Nolan has a lot of good will with audiences.
As for the rest of the top five, the critically well-received Girls Trip managed to do far better than the similar Rough Night, debuting in second place with $28.1 million.
War for the Planet of the Apes fell to third place with $21.7 million. The film is about to cross the $100 million mark, but is far off from the previous entry in the franchise.
Spider-Man: Homecoming was in fourth place with $21.6 million, and has passed the $250 million mark. There’s a chance the film could hit $300 million in North America before the end of its run, which would make it an absolutely outstanding comeback for the franchise.
Finally, debuting in fifth place with an anemic $16.7 million is Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets. This is a disastrous debut for the bug budget sci-fi film from Luc Besson. Unless the overseas numbers are miraculous, this one is going to have serious red in its ledger.
So, to recap, here were our predictions:
1) Dunkirk – $53 million
2) Girls Trip – $26 million
3) War for the Planet of the Apes – $25 million
4) Spider-Man: Homecoming – $24.5 million
5) Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets – $16 million
And here’s how the weekend is estimated to turn out:
1) Dunkirk – $51 million
2) Girls Trip – $28.1 million
3) War for the Planet of the Apes – $21.7 million
4) Spider-Man: Homecoming – $21.6 million
5) Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets – $16 million
Next weekend sees the release of The Emoji Movie and Atomic Blonde. Be sure to check back on Friday to see our predictions!
I think Valerian, although not doing well up front, will be one of those films that end up having a long tail.
I saw Spider-Man and 2/3 of Valerian this weekend. Yikes, Valerian was bad. I’m not sure what they were thinking, if you want to do “weird Sci-Fi” you need to scale back on some o the budget. It’s a turkey in the vein of Jupiter Ascending.