Box Office: ‘Black Panther’ tops $700M in US, ‘Jurassic World 2’ stomps on

• Posted on August 6, 2018
• by Ellsamwise King
• Comment

Black Panther finally crossed the $700 million mark at the domestic box office on its 170th day of release. The MCU action drama has now earned $700.004m just shy of six months after its mid-February debut.

It is the third movie to cross this milestone, after James Cameron’s Avatar (on day 72) and J.J. Abrams’ Star Wars: The Force Awakens (on day 16). The picture has earned 3.45x its $202m Fri-Sun debut, making it the second-leggiest MCU movie behind Guardians of the Galaxy ($333m/$94m in 2014). It is also the second-leggiest $200m+ opener behind The Force Awakens. Maybe it’ll crawl to $700.007m and call it a day.

It has earned an additional $6.5 million since its May 8 digital HD debut and $3.5m since its May 15 DVD/Blu-ray debut. Please cool it with the conspiracy theories or the notions that putting it out on DVD/Blu in May meant that Disney didn’t believe in the movie.

It debuted in post-theatrical in about the same amount of time as any modern release (Avengers: Infinity War just dropped on digital just over three months after its theatrical launch). I’m guessing if they didn’t believe in the movie that they wouldn’t have spent $200m to produce and about as much to market the movie in the first place.

Universal/Comcast Corp.’s Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again earned another $9.09 million (-40%) weekend for a $91.335m 17-day domestic cume. It’s still looking like around $110m domestic total for the $75m musical sequel. I still find it hilarious that Meryl Streep will score one of her biggest-ever hits from a film in which she barely appears (and yet was heavily featured in the advertising).

Oh, and it has already earned $230.5m worldwide, including, uh, $300k in China. Oh well, the Lily James/Amanda Seyfried flick doesn’t need China to be a huge hit. It has already earned $51m in the UK, or nearly 4.25x its $12m debut.

Sony’s The Equalizer 2 earned another $8.83 million, which is a solid hold of 39%. That gives the action sequel a $79.886m 17-day total. At a glance, the Denzel Washington thriller is still looking like a $100m+ domestic earner.

Unless it collapses overseas, we may see The Equalizer 3 in a few years. Sony’s Hotel Transylvania 3 earned $2.425m (-35%) on its fourth Friday for a likely $8.2m (-34%) weekend and $136.456m 24-day cume. Yeah, it’ll still top $150m by the end. I don’t have the overseas updates yet, but it’s way over $300m on an $80m budget.

Walt Disney’s Ant-Man and the Wasp earned another $6.188 million (-27%) this weekend for a $195.469m cume. It’ll pass $200m by the end of next weekend. It has earned $426m worldwide on a $165m budget, and whether it ends up closer to $500m or $600m worldwide depends on how it performs in China (Aug. 24) and the rest of its upcoming territories over the next month.

It may not be breaking records, but it’s still in the realm of “okay” even for an MCU sequel.

Not to be outdone by T’Challa (or Ethan Hunt), Incredibles 2 earned $5 million (-33%) in its eighth weekend and $583m domestic total. Heck, an Oscar reason push (or a Ralph Wrecks the Internet double feature) could push this one over $600m domestic. Either way, with $1.047 billion worldwide, it is now the 27th-biggest global grosser of all time.

Not holding up so well was Teen Titans Go! To the Movies, which earned $4.86 million (-53%) in its second weekend. That gives the Warner Bros./Time Warner Inc. toon a $20.785m ten-day cume. That’s a harsh drop for a toon, especially one that didn’t open that hot in the first place.

Nonetheless, the $10m DC superhero comedy should wrap up with around $30m domestic, which is more than enough to justify itself. And considering the reviews, we have to consider the possibility that it’ll end up with a Best Animated Feature Oscar nomination next year.

Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom earned $4.01 million (-40%) in its seventh weekend for a new $405.618m domestic cume. That puts it over Jurassic Park’s $402m cume (counting the 2013 3D reissue) and makes it Universal/Comcast Corp.’s second-biggest domestic grosser (sans inflation) behind E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial ($435m counting the reissues) and Jurassic World ($652m in 2015).

With $1.26 billion, it’s also Universal’s third-biggest global earner behind Furious 7 ($1.5b) and Jurassic World ($1.672b). So, yeah, considering Universal and friends spent $170m on this J.A. Bayona-directed sequel, I think they can handle an underperforming Skyscraper or two.

A24 expanded Eighth Grade into 1,0084 theaters yesterday and earned $2.87 million (+125%) for their troubles. The acclaimed coming-of-age dramedy has earned a promising $6.581m 24-day total. I meant to catch it yesterday, but life got in the way.

It’s totally on my radar next week, especially since I’m relatively light on screenings between now and late August. Dwayne Johnson’s Skyscraper has earned $285m worldwide, including $94m in China, but just $64.45m domestic. Meanwhile, Three Identical Strangers has earned $8.5m, Sorry to Bother You has $14.9m, Blindspotting as $3.1m and Won’t You Be My Neighbor has grossed $21m domestic. In more good news for good movies, Leave No Trace has crossed $5m.

Source: Forbes