Welcome to Top Box Office Winners and Losers! We’re just now beginning the summer gauntlet of wanna-be blockbuster style films, all of which are aiming to make a quick profit before fading from the collective minds of the general audience. What I aim to do with this series is to highlight the weekend winners and losers because let’s be honest, we all can’t have nice things. Trying to predict the box office weekend to weekend is about as harrowing as predicting the stock market so let’s see who has a reason to celebrate this weekend and who needs to re-think their life decision of waiting five years to create a proper sequel. No, I’m not bitter, just disappointed.
Top Box Office: Winners
Aladdin (2019)
You really can’t ask for a better second weekend from this Disney live-action adaptation. I think a lot of people are surprised that the film dropped only 53.7% and as of me writing this it has grossed $185 million domestically. This film had a budget of $183 million and I’m confident to say this will be the most successful live-action adaptation for Disney since Beauty and the Beast (2017), which went on to make $504 million domestically and $1.2 billion worldwide. Aladdin is up to $446 million worldwide and while I’m not entirely sure as to why it’s so successful I have a few guesses. If Guy Ritchie stuck close to the animated film as source material then you can’t go wrong. Aladdin, the animated film, is fondly remembered and I think that people are willing to be more accepting of live-adaptations of the early 90s films. Films like Dumbo or Pete’s Dragon, while classics, are just from a different era. Even The Jungle Book, which was remade in 2016, is more fondly remembered than other Disney remakes. I also think that people were curious to see how Will Smith performed as the Genie, to see how different or similar he would be to the late Robin Williams. Regardless, I see Aladdin continuing to make a push for somewhere between $300 million and $400 million domestically. As long as audiences keep loving the film then I think this film’s magic will continue to produce.
Rocketman
Scoring the fourth highest opening for a music biopic (Straight Outta Compton, Bohemian Rhapsody, and All Eyez On Me are one through three), even though the films in this list are mostly subpar, is quite an achievement. Paramount did well releasing this film on May 31st with June being Pride Month. I’m hoping that word of mouth keeps Rocketman’s domestic gross healthy and, while I don’t see this turning into what Bohemian Rhapsody did when it released to $51 million domestically at the end of last year, I do believe the film will turn a profit. I’ve heard a lot of positive buzz on Taron Egerton’s performance. This is a much needed win for Paramount, their highest grossing film this year comes from Bumblebee which released on December 21st, 2018. Rocketman has a budget of $40 million and is already up to $56 million worldwide. I really hope that with the potential success of Rocketman and the crazy success of Bohemian Rhapsody that studios continue to create these kinds of music biopics.
Top Box Office: Losers
Godzilla: King of the Monsters
I didn’t want to have to include this film as a loser. I didn’t want to be disappointed with what should have been a stellar follow-up to Godzilla (2014) but why did it take five years for this sequel to release? Look, I know it is in first place this weekend but when multiple sites like Deadline were stating at least $10 million more than what the film made domestically, including under performing worldwide, then such a victory feels a bit hollow. I am in no way trashing Deadline because they do good work with predicting films. I just know that this film went from making nearly $70 million at one point to bringing in an estimated $49 million domestically. How has it fared worldwide? $179 million. First place this weekend is merely a moral victory as I keep hearing mixed reviews from audiences. If this film does not make up lost ground in international markets then WB’s “Monsterverse” could potentially be dead. Godzilla (2014) opened up to $93 million and went on to gross $200 million domestically, $529 million worldwide. Kong: Skull Island opened even lower, $61 million, and made even less domestically, $168 million, although it did a bit better worldwide, $566 million.
I understand that WB is probably trying to establish both of the creatures, they are set to face off with next year’s Godzilla vs Kong, but I think the writing is on the wall. I love monster films and was a huge fan of the original Pacific Rim (Pacific Rim 2 never happened…uggh). Kaiju films can be a lot of fun if they are handled correctly but it seems like Hollywood has yet again dropped the ball when it comes to adapting these creatures to film in a way that Western audiences can accept them. Godzilla 2 has very little chance to crack $100 million domestically, in my opinion, as a few upcoming films will probably steal the film’s demographic (Dark Phoenix and Men In Black International). According to the audience score on Rotten Tomatoes folks are really enjoying the film, currently at an 87% as of this writing, but I think we can tell that it’s only a matter of time before this ship unfortunately sinks.
Which films this weekend would you consider winners or losers? I tend to rate films based on box office totals but I’m curious what films you think are winners or losers! Let me know in the comments what you think and I’ll be back next weekend with the box office winners and losers! Check back next week for more Top Box Office Winners and Losers!
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