In its second weekend of release,Itcontinues to break records. As of today,Andy Muschietti’sStephen Kingadaptation is once again leading the top five with $60 million, making for $218.7 million at the domestic box office. This would make the 80s-set horror movie the eighth most profitable movie thus far in 2017, as well as the most profitable movie to be released in September in the history of the box office. It’s already far more lucrative thanDunkirkat the domestic box office and by the end of next weekend, it will have overtakenThe Fate of the FuriousandLoganas well. Muschietti’s movie cost $35 million to make, whereas the aforementioned trio cost $100 million, $250 million, and $97 million to make respectively. Of course,The Fate of the Furioushas reached over a billion in the foreign market, whichItwill not even get close to by the end of all of this
Though the unstoppable force that is globalization will continue to make trash likeTransformers: The Last Knight,The Mummy, andThe Fate of the Furiousimmensely profitable, the success ofItwill likely have greater influence on how studios think. At least that’s what I hope. If one were to ignore the global box office and consider undisclosed marketing costs, two of the biggest hits of the year –Get OutandIt– signal a growing hunger for smart, stylish horror films made on a modest budget. The lesson here is less that we need more King adaptations (though I wouldn’t mind a few more good ones) and more that we need more inventive filmmakers who know how to work small even in the big leagues.
And yet, this weekend offered a case study in how badly this philosophy can go as well.Darren Aronofsky’s beguilingmother!, which was made for a little less than It, came in with an unimpressive $7.5 million at third place, walloped by would-be franchise starterAmerican Assassinat number two with $14.8 million, which was made for $33 million. The latter movie has a chance to make back its money but for mother!, this will prove to be an uphill battle at best. In fact, mother! only made $2 million more thanHome Again’s $5.3 million take in its second frame, landing the vanilla-as-fuckReese Witherspoonvehicle in fourth place.
Aronofsky’s movie also will not benefit from a string of low-tier releases the wayThe Hitman’s Bodyguarddid, to the point that it’s still in the top five with $3.5 million in its fifth frame at number five. Next weekend will bring two big releases,The LEGO Ninjago MovieandKingsman: The Golden Circle, that will sendHitman’s Bodyguardto the lower depths and will likely unseatItfrom its throne. Even if that happens, however,Itwill continue to put asses in seats for at least another two weeks. The likelihood of that happening withmother!, which is the best movie currently in wide release alongsideLogan Lucky, is simply non-existent. Still, as a risk,mother!’s budget was a drop in the bucket. What happens when franchise movies that cost $150 million to produce start consistently tanking both here and abroad? That’s when things will start getting interesting.
Here’s your estimated top five for the weekend:
Weekend Domestic BO
Total Domestic BO
$60,000,000
$218,710,619
2. ‘American Assassin’
$14,800,000
- ‘mother!’
$7,500,000
4. ‘Home Again’
$5,334,160
$17,135,244
- ‘The Hitman’s Bodyguard’
$3,550,000
$70,357,040
