'Sing 2'
Universal.
Sing 2 was the runner-up at the box office over the year-end. The musical earned another $19.6 million over the weekend, dropping just 12% from the previous weekend. Sing rose 22% in its second Fri-Sun weekend in late 2016/ early 2017. The last time Christmas and New Year's were on Saturdays was in 2010 when Sing 2 held better than Little Fockers. Sing 2 will end with $130 million, just like the Ben Stiller/Robert De Niro threequels.
That will be enough to get it into the top ten and top ten alone, which is bigger than any animated film since Frozen II. Is that possible? We have seen Universal titles thrive with concurrent theatrical/PVOD releases. Between now and Pixar's Turning Red on March 11 there is nothing else to open. Spider-Man: No Way Home than Sing 2 will have a harder time than the other films in the first two months because they will be R-rated.
The film has already earned over $150 million worldwide, nearly doubling its production budget and putting it on the road to theatrical profitability. It isn't getting anywhere near Sing, but it is close to The Secret Life of Pets 2. It feels like a bar for success even if it doesn't hit it. Don't need to break records to break even success story It will open in South Korea and Brazil this week.
The man is the king.
Disney.
The King's Man earned just $4.5 million in the second weekend, bringing its 12-day total to $19.52 million. People like The Kingsman because of Colin Firth and Taron Egerton, but they don't care enough about the intellectual property to want to see a Joseph Fiennes movie. The Matthew Vaugn actioner, which is better than the previous sequel and is clearly a "one for me with an intellectual property as an alibi" flick, has earned just $49 million worldwide.
'American Underdog'
The film, Lionsgate.
American Underdog has earned $4.075 million and placed above a number of high-profile titles. The faith-based (but not quite faith-centered) true-life NFL drama has now grossed 15 million nine-day domestic dollars. Will Smith's King Richard will pass the movie by the end of the awards season, along with a number of other high-profile titles. I wish football fans would show up for the movie, but it is already available at home. This is no exception to the fact that Lionsgate has excelled at selling aspirational faith-based flicks.
The Matrix: Resurrections features Carrie-Anne Moss.
The Warner Bros.
The Matrix Resurrections earned less than $4 million. Wonder Woman 1984 had a drop of 67% after a $16.4 million debut last New Year's weekend. Lana Wachowski's sci-fi deconstructive rom- rom is a miserable $30.6 million 12-day box office. It is worse than the flop of 47 Ronin, which made $32 million in 123 days. It has a $75 million foreign gross and a $106 million global gross. The best case scenario is a final global gross on par with Wonder Woman 1984 and The Suicide Squad. I like all four Matrix films, but nobody wanted a fourth one.
Rachel Zegler and Ansel Elgort played Maria and Tony in West Side Story. The photo is from the 20th Century Studios. All rights are reserved.
The person is Niko Tavernise.
West Side Story will get a bit of year-end juice as it earns over $2 million over the weekend to bring it to $29.5 million domestic and $47.1 million worldwide. It will eventually be above In the Heights and Cats. The remake of Ghostbusters: Answer the Call would have made more money in the US had it not cost so much. The overseas audience doesn't care about Ghostbusters.
Licorice pizza.
The MGM.
A Journal for Jordan will make $4.74 million in nine days, while Licorice Pizza will make $1.249 million. Encanto is at $205 million worldwide and I expect it to be as leggy on Disney+ as was Luca this summer. It's not a hit, but it's good enough to encourage Disney to distribute the next Wes Anderson film.
