It is a relatively slow and surprisingly brutal weekend at movie theaters all over the world. An old warrior makes his highly anticipated return only to find himself beaten back by an aristocratic English family.
Downton Abbey – a film which takes place almost immediately after the conclusion of the award winning television series of the same name – opened on 3,079 screens and is estimated to bring in over $31 million USD this weekend. This easily paces the film on top of the box office for this week. From what I have been told by friends who have seen it, the movie is actually pretty damn good as well. The film’s distributor – Focus Features – must be especially happy as this is now the highest grossing film in the company’s history. In case you were wondering, the previous record holder was Insidious Chapter 3. Unsurprisingly, Downton Abbey largely appealed to older audiences. More than half of all the moviegoers who went to watch the movie on Friday were older than 45 years of age says PostTrak, a firm which tracks demographics.
Sylvester Stallone once again reprised his role of John Rambo in the appropriately titled Rambo: Last Blood. It seems that movie is in a close race for second place at the box office thanks to some intense competition from sci-fi flick Ad Astra which comes to us thanks to 20th Century Fox. As you may recall, Fox was recently acquired by Disney so we can count Ad Astra as yet another notch in the House of Mouse’s belt even if its revenue is tiny when compared to big guns such as Avengers: Endgame and Aladdin. It is a close race but as of this writing it looks like Rambo: Last Blood will probably take second place. That moviee will probably bring in about $18 to $20 million over the weekend from 3,609 screens while Ad Astra is estimated to earn $19 million from 3,460 screens.
Despite the close competition, Ad Astrawill probably not take third place for the weekend. That position will probably go to It: Chapter 2 which is still playing on over 4,000 screens. Pennywise the Dancing Clown is expected to bring in between $19 million to $20 million this weekend.
Hustlers closes out the Top 5 list with a $17.6 million take this weekend.
Here are the Top 10 highest grossing films for the weekend:
1. Downton Abbey
2. Rambo: Last Blood
3. It: Chapter Two
4. Ad Astra
5. Hustlers
6. Good Boys
7. Angel has Fallen
8. The Lion King
9. Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw
10. Overcomer
We have seven movies launching next week. Family friendly film Abominable will probably do well which is tpyical for films from DreamWorks Animation. From what I’ve seen, The Death of Dick Long is quite well written if a bit disturbing at times. I’m not sure how it will at the box office. It is certainly a different kind of movie but are audiences ready to embrace it or will they stick to more traditional film offerings? I think I can safely predict that the lowest grossing film debut next weekend will either be Sister Aimee or The Golden Glove.
Joker takes a closer look at the mind of the iconic villain and adversary to the Caped Crusader. This movie is not part of the DCComics Extended Universe though. The film will launch on October 4th.
If you made it this far, I want to thank you for bearing with me this week. This series is usually written by David but he is living the good life in Reno this week. I encouraged him to try the amazing food at Squeeze In while he is there. You will likely get David back next week. In the meantime, what movies have you watched this week?
