Weekend Box Office Roundup Aug 31-Sep 2 (August look back)

Good afternoon Disney friends,

I am back from a break and ready to get into some numbers.

First, starting with Disney, some major events occurred during the month of August. First, Disney released Christopher Robin into theaters the first weekend of the month. The film debuted in second place and has remained in the top 10 for 5 straight weeks. The film has crossed the $85 mil mark and has also pulled in almost $46 mil from the domestic market. The film has seen pretty good week over week drops and has been able to remain in the top 10 against strong competition from Tom Cruise and a ginormous shark. 

Speaking of Cruise, Mission: Impossible - Fallout has been performing very well and will eventually become the highest grossing film in the series. Also, big news has been floating around as filming has commenced on Top Gun: Maverick. The film is currently set to fly into theaters on Jun 26, 2020.

August also saw a strong month for Warner Brothers as they released The Meg into theaters and the film has been chomping its way to some strong numbers. The first weekend of the film's release saw the film devour over $40 mil at the domestic market. This is very good considering weekend predictions had the film setting at around $25 mil. The film broke through the $100 mil domestic mark and has also pulled in over $342 mil from international markets. This film along with Crazy Rich Asians gave Warner Brothers the win for the month of August. In fact, since CRA was released three weeks ago, the tandem of CRA and The Meg have remained at 1-2 for the domestic market.

Back to the House of Mouse. When I last spoke about Disney films, I said how it was going to be difficult for Black Panther  to hit $700 mil. WELL, they did that the very next week. That is only the third film to do that in the domestic market. Ant-Man and the Wasp broke across $200 mil mark domestically and has crossed $500 mil gross from a worldwide perspective. Incredibles 2 continued its dominance of domestic animated films by crossing $600 mil this weekend, which is only the 9th film to make that claim.

Looking ahead-things get fairly slow at the domestic box office over the next couple of months. The September-October months have only 1 film to ever open at over $100 mil and that was It from just last year. After that mark, only 4 other films have opened over $50 mil. So expect low numbers for the next couple of months. Once November rolls around, the box office begins to pick up through the Christmas/New Years holidays.

I hope you have a magical week and I look forward to talking with you again soon.

Lastly, if you need any help booking a magical vacation to any Disney location, please let me know how I can help. You can reach out to me at brian.herndon@mousemadesimple.com.

Box Office Update Jul 27-29

Good afternoon Disney friends,

Summer continues to roll on and so do the sequels of summer. This weekend saw the wide release of the sequel (actually the fifth sequel) Mission: Impossible - Fallout and non-sequel Teen Titans Go: To the Movies. With Tom Cruise's film leading the pack with an estimated $61.5 mil, this is the second weekend in a row (and second in history) where 8 of the top 10 films were sequels. If the estimates hold true for M:I6, this would be the highest opening for the franchise. Teen Titans is looking at opening at number 5 for the weekend with a total of $10.5 mil. With Mission's opening at number 1, Mama Mia: Here We Go Again remained at number 2 and Equalizer 2 dropped 2 spots to number 3. 

With 2 new films, Disney's Ant-Man and the Wasp and Incredibles 2 both dropped 2 spots to 6 and 7 respectively. (This is the first time since the last weekend in April that Disney did not have a film in the top 5.) Ant-Man was able to gross $8.4 for the weekend for a running total of $183.1 mil. This is more than the entire run of the first film. That makes if the 8th highest grossing film for the domestic market so far this year. It's current worldwide gross of $394 mil places it in the top 10 by surpassing Solo: A Star Wars Story.

Incredibles 2 continues its march to $600 mil. It brought in $7.1 mil for the weekend for running total of $572.7 mil. It stands at number 3 for the domestic market this year and is currently number 4 for the worldwide market sitting just shy of $1 bil. 

It is looking more and more likely that Black Panther will not be able to make it to the $700 mil mark for the domestic market. Last weekend saw a jump in theaters showing the film, but this weekend the number of theaters showing the movie dropped from 156 to 15. This led to an estimated take of just $3k which left the film standing at $699,955,434 for the year. 

Next weekend see the release of Disney's last film of the summer--Christopher Robins. This is one of 4 new films premiering next weekend, but current projections have the film finishing around the $30 mil mark. That will be the last new film released by Disney for the next 3 months.

In Disney motion picture news, stockholders of both Disney and 20th Century Fox overwhelmingly supported the merger of Disney and Fox. The merger will be complete next year and will see the Avatar film series come to Disney. Avatar already has a foothold at Walt Disney World with the Land of Pandora in Animal Kingdom. The merger will give Disney a firm hold on box office magic over the coming years. 2019 was already looking strong for Disney with the upcoming line up of Captain Marvel, Avengers 4, Frozen 2, and Star Wars: Episode 9 (which will start shooting this week in the United Kingdom,) but next year sees Fox pictures releasing 2 Marvel films and Avatar sequels beginning in 2020. This should keep Disney at the top of the box office charts for years to come.

I hope you have a great week and if you need help planning a magical vacation, please let me know how I can help by emailing me at brian.herndon@mousemadesimple.com.

Weekend Box Office Round-Up for Jul 20-22

Good afternoon Disney friends,

Disney was part of another record weekend. For the first time ever 8 of the top 10 films for the weekend were sequels. In fact, the top 5 were all sequels-only the second time ever-the first was 2 weeks ago. (That could be top 6 depending on how Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom and Skyscraper finally end up-right now they are separated by $45k.)  Also, there was a shocker at the top spot--Equalizer 2 overperformed by over $10 mil compared to projections going into the weekend to beat out Mama Mia: Here We Go Again, $35.8 mil to $34.4 mil. 

Now to Disney--Ant Man and the Wasp and Incredibles 2 were numbers 4 and 5 for the weekend. Ant-Man was able to add over $16 mil for a running total of over $164.6 mil. That total is only about $16 mil short of what the first film was able to pull in during its entire run in 2015. The film added over $21 mil from international markets for a total worldwide gross of $353 mil--it still has 44% of the international markets to go.

Incredibles 2 pulled in an estimated $11.5 mil stateside for a running tally of $557 mil. It also opened in South Korea this weekend with over $10 mil, which is the largest opening for a Disney animated film or a Pixar. The current worldwide tally is coming in at $940 mil and still has 25% of the international markets to go. Once this film finishes its run, it will become the 36th film to cross the $1 bil mark. That would also be Disney's third film to hit that mark this year alone.

Avengers: Infinity War added over $400k for a running tally of $676.8 mil. Solo: A Star Wars Story added $221k for a current total of $212 mil. Lastly, Disney added theaters for Black Panther to help the film add an estimated $25k, which puts the film at $699,931,862 domestically.

Next weekend sees Tom Cruise return to the Mission Impossible series which will probably have cause a larger than normal drop for Equalizer 2 due to pulling in similar crowds. This will have somewhat of an effect on Ant-Man and the Wasp, but Disney's film is more family fare. Teen Titans Go! To the Movies will probably eat into both A-M and Incredibles 2.

I hope you have a magical week and if you need help book a Disney vacation (parks, resorts, or cruises,) please email me at brian.herndon@mousemadesimple.com.

Disney Weekend Box Office Round Up and Release Date Updates (Jul 13-15)

Good afternoon Disney friends, 

The weekend estimates are in and it is another weekend with 2 Disney films in the top 10. That streak has been going on since the last weekend in April when Avengers: Infinity War and joined Black Panther. In fact, both Ant-Man and the Wasp and Incredibles 2 were both able to make it into the top 5.

Ant-Man grossed an estimated $28.8 mil this weekend which was good enough to take the number 2 spot. The film has now grossed a total of $132.8 mil from just 10 days in theaters. That places the film in the top 10 for the year in the domestic market. At this point in the year, Disney has 5 of the top 10 films from the domestic market. The film has also grossed a total of $283 mil from the worldwide market which places it at number 17 for the year, but still has many major markets to go (France, Germany, UK, and Japan to name a few.)

Incredibles 2 added another $16 mil this weekend, which was good enough for number 4 for the weekend (behind The Rock's Skyscraper--more about The Rock in a little bit.) The film's total domestic gross is currently at $535 mil, which places it at number 3 for the year at the domestic market. The film also stands at $856 mil for the worldwide box office this year. This makes it the number 4 film and still has South Korea, Japan, Germany and others left to go.

Avengers: Infinity War crossed the $675 mil mark this week and Black Panther is within $100k of $700 mil.

Disney also made some changes for their upcoming movies. Ralph Break the Internet dropped the Wreck It Ralph 2 part of its name. The release date for Mary Poppins Returns was moved up one week from Christmas Day this year to December 19, 2018. The Rock's Jungle Cruise got a release date of Oct. 11, 2019. Maleficent 2 will be released on May 29, 2020. Disney also announced that Indiana Jones 5 would be moved back one more year to July 9, 2021. (My personal take is that this film will either not happen or will have to be a type of reboot since Harrison Ford will be pushing 79 (his birthday is July 13, 1942) and it is hard to picture him as an action hero. There were also other changes to release dates, but many dealt with films that do not have names yet.

I hope you have a magical week and if you need any help booking a Disney vacation, please let me know how I can help.

Disney Weekend Box Office Round Up

Good evening Disney friends, 

I am sorry to be coming to you a later than normal but I spent time watching Ant-Man and the Wasp earlier today. The movie was very good. There are a few times when the movie did drag but over all the jokes were good and so was the action. From some of the rumors running around, this film will be important in regards to next summers Avengers 4. One last thought about the movie in terms of whether or not to go see it-the end credit scenes were almost worth the price of the ticket. 

Now to some numbers. Disney made it 5 for 6 this year--5 of Disney's 6 films have opened at number 1 for the weekend (A Wrinkle in Time is the only film to not open number 1 and part of the reason was that Black Panther was still number 1 when it opened.) If you look at the 5 movies that ranked number 1, they have been number 1 for a total of 10 weekends this year. In fact, except for three weeks in late January or early February between Star Wars: The Last Jedi and Black Panther, a Disney film has been ranked in the top 10 every weekend so far this year. Since Avengers: Infintiy War opened, Disney has had 2 films ranked in the top 10 (2 weekends they had 3.) 

Ant-Man and the Wasp opened with an estimated $76 million dollars which was well above the previous films opening of $57 million. According to some industry experts, Ant-Man and the Wasp will probably clear about $100 million for Disney when the film finishes its worldwide run. 

Disney was also able to hold on to the number two spot with Incredibles 2 staying there for the third weekend in a row. I2's weekend of $29 million helped the film become the first animated film to cross the $500 million mark for the domestic market. It was also able to surpass Finding Dory to become the highest grossing animated film of all time in the domestic market. 

Disney accounted for 57% of the domestic market this weekend.

I hope you have a magical weekend and if you need any help booking a Disney vacation, please let me know how I can help by emailing me at brian.herndon@mousemadesimple.com.

Weekend Box Office Update for Jun 29-Jul 1 (Mid Year Review)

Good afternoon Disney friends,

As we reach the midway point of the year, it is a good time to take a look back at Disney's box office numbers and look ahead to the rest of the year.  

Just a quick note about this weekend before I begin the look back. Disney still has 2 films in the top 10. Incredibles 2 maintained its stay at number 2 with a weekend take of $45 mil (total domestic of $439 mil)  and Solo: A Star Wars Story is ranked at number 8 for the weekend by pulling in $2.2 mil (total of $207 mil) from the domestic market. Avengers: Infinity War was able to gross $1.4 mil (total $672 mil,) but did drop out of the top 10.

Looking Back

The numbers for Disney films have been staggering. From the 5 films they have released in 2018, the House of Mouse has already grossed over $2 bil for the domestic market. The next closest competitor is Universal which has grossed $638 mil. For a little more perspective, there have been 349 films released domestically this year and Disney has only 5 of those films, but yet it is pulling in just shy of 40% of the entire domestic market for the year. All five Disney films have grossed over $100 mil domestically. There have only been 12 films to hit this mark so far this year. 

In terms of all time domestic box office grosses, Disney's Black Panther and Avenger: Infinity War are respectively the 3rd and 4th films on the list. Disney now has 6 of the top 10 all time highest grossing films from the domestic market. Looking at the global market, Disney now has 17 of the 34 films that have grossed over $1 bil for the worldwide market. These 2 films helped make this years April, the highest grossing April of all time. This year also saw the highest February of all time.

Infinity War is only the 4th film of all time to gross over $2 bil from the global market after having the highest grossing opening for both the domestic market and the worldwide market. Black Panther had the highest opening weekend for the month of February. Incredibles 2 had the highest opening weekend for an animated film. In terms of opening weekends for the domestic market, Disney now has 9 of the top 10. Disney now has the highest opening weekends for February (Black Panther), March (Beauty and the Beast), April (Avengers: Infinity War), May (Marvel's The Avengers), and December (Star Wars: The Force Awakens).

I will admit that Solo: A Star Wars Story and A Wrinkle in Time both underperformed and these were not financial successes for Disney, but the films grossed over $200 mil and $100 mil at the domestic box office respectively. Part of their lack of success was the strength of Panther and Infinity War.

Looking Ahead

Here is the list of films (with dates) for the films yet to come from Disney:

Ant-Man and the Wasp July 6

Disney's Christopher Robin August 3

The Nutcracker and the Four Realms November 2

Ralph Breaks the Internet: Wreck-It Ralph 2 November 21

Mary Poppins Returns Christmas Day

When looking at the future numbers, I think Ant-Man will do very well especially since the latest information has the film building is building to next years Avengers 4, because Ant-Man will attempt to explain the quantum realm which may have a big part of Avengers 4. (There have been rumors about the name of this film this weekend, but I will wait until the official name change to speak on it.)  The first film opened with a gross of $57 mil on its way to a domestic gross of $180 mil and a global take of $519 mil.

Ralph and Mary will do well. Ralph moves to the cherished Thanksgiving weekend spot. The first film opened the first weekend in November 6 years ago at number 1 with over $49 mil and the marketing has been strong. Mary Poppins opens on Christmas day and is one of the most beloved characters at Walt Disney World resort.

To me the wildcards for Disney will be Christopher Robin and The Nutcracker and the Four Realms. Robin looks a lot like a sequel to Hook and The Four Realms is being released at the right time of year.

Next weekend will see Disney return to number 1 with Ant-Man and the Wasp. Until then, have a great week.

Weekend Box Office Update Jun 22-24 and Some Sequel Analysis

Good afternoon Disney friends,

The weekend has about come and gone and the estimates are showing another good weekend for Disney movies. There are still 3 films associated with Disney that are still found in the top 10 and with no major competition, Disney films should continue to hold well for the weeks to come.

First up is Incredibles 2, which had a larger drop than expected but still brought in approximately $80 mil for a running total of $350 mil . One possible reason for the drop is that Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom with its opening of $150 mil was able to chomp into some of the ticket sales because of its strength. An interested side note, this is only the second time (first that did not include a holiday) in which 2 films opened up back to back with first weekends of over $100 mil (May 2007-Shrek the Third and Pirates of the Caribbean: At Worlds End were the other 2 films.) On Tuesday, I2 ($27 mil) was able to have the highest Tuesday for the month of June. It has already surpassed the entire run of the first Incredibles, which was $261. It was able to accomplish this feat in just 7 days of release (Thursday.) As of now it worldwide gross stands at $485 mil, which may seem low, but animated films tend to have a long roll out period. In fact, it will not reach its last market until September so this film will continue to grow and will probably hit the $1 bil mark by the time it finishes playing. 

Solo: A Star Wars Story is estimated to gross approximately $4 mil this weekend. This puts it over the $200 mil mark and it is still doing pretty good considering how "low" it opened. In its 31 days of release, it has only dropped below $1 mil once. Partially because of this film (and probably almost completely because of this film,) Disney/Lucasfilm is being rumored to be putting a hold on any single entry films, instead looking to focus on Episode 9 and the future new set of trilogy of trilogy films that will be separate from the Skywalker family.

Avengers: Infinity War was able to pull in an estimated $2.48 mil this weekend which puts it less than $1 mil of the $670 mil mark.

Black Panther added another $74k to put it about $250k shy of $700 mil.

A Wrinkle in Time saw a bit of a jump this weekend and now becomes Disney's fifth film of the year to cross the $100 mil mark. This means that all of Disney's films released in 2018 have crossed that threshold.

Now for a little bit of nonexpert analysis/opinion. Looking at the past 2 weekends, I feel that unless the film has a strong or continuation of a story line or there has been enough separation, then sequels are starting to have a struggle. Now do not get me wrong, Fallen Kingdom is going to make a lot of money (maybe even cross the $1 bil mark for worldwide gross,) but this film is coming in weaker than the first Jurassic World film. That film did better than expected, but it had been almost 14 years since the last Jurassic Park film, which is close the length of time between the first Incredibles film and its sequel. Marvel films are able to grow from sequel to sequel because they advance the story line, but even then, if the plot seems weak or just a retelling of the previous film (Marvel's The Avengers vs. Avengers: Age of Ultron,) then expect there to be a drop. 

Thank you for sharing your time with me and I look forward to sharing with you Disney movie information with you again soon.

PS: As always if you need any help booking a magical vacation, please let me know how I can help.