The upcoming holiday weekend sees the wide release of three new films in time for Presidents Day on Monday, but The LEGO Batman Movie will reign supreme in its second week of release on the back of excellent word of mouth from families and a variety of audiences.
Among the newcomers, Matt Damon’s star power would ordinarily be a major advantage for The Great Wall; however, the film’s social media footprint up to this point has been quite modest (comparable to Gods of Egypt) and reviews are sitting at just 45 percent on Rotten Tomatoes as of Wednesday afternoon. The other factor working against it this weekend will be John Wick: Chapter 2, a film similarly aiming for the male and action fan audiences that has earned significant praise since its strong debut last weekend. Wick should hold well in its second frame relative to many sequels, and that isn’t great news for The Great Wall.
Also launching this weekend is Fist Fight, an R-rated comedy hoping to benefit from the lack of such films in the market right now. Ice Cube’s co-starring presence should help it to some extent after he’s proven to be a recent box office draw in last year’s Barbershop: The Next Cut and the Ride Along franchise. Social media buzz is decent for such a low-budget comedy, and industry tracking has shown interest levels in a close race with The Great Wall in recent weeks.
The last of the newcomers, A Cure for Wellness, unfortunately isn’t likely to generate big business this weekend. Industry tracking has been soft, reviews are lackluster at 41 percent, and social media buzz has fallen shy of films like The Lazarus Effect and Side Effects. With Split still playing well in its fifth weekend and catering to a similar crowd, we expect Wellness to come in on the low-end of expectations.
Check out our complete 4-day weekend forecast in the table below.
Title | Distributor | 4-Day Weekend | Domestic Total through Monday, February 20 | % Change |
The LEGO Batman Movie | Warner Bros. | $46,500,000 | $112,177,078 | -12.27% |
Fifty Shades Darker | Universal | $22,000,000 | $93,870,850 | -52.80% |
John Wick: Chapter Two | Lionsgate/Summit | $19,000,000 | $62,178,639 | -37.57% |
The Great Wall | Universal | $17,500,000 | $17,500,000 | NEW |
Fist Fight | Warner Bros. | $17,000,000 | $17,000,000 | NEW |
Split | Universal | $7,620,748 | $124,694,206 | -20.00% |
Hidden Figures | Fox | $7,202,403 | $142,567,812 | -10.00% |
A Cure for Wellness | Fox | $6,900,000 | $6,900,000 | NEW |
A Dog’s Purpose | Universal | $5,817,144 | $51,265,557 | -20.00% |
La La Land | Warner Bros. | $4,449,430 | $133,825,589 | -10.00% |
Shawn Robbins and Alex Edghill contributed to this report.
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