Weekend Box Office: America's theaters were all about It (Chapter Two, that is)
Take the box office results for every other film in the top 30 positions on the chart for this past weekend, combine them into a single dollar amount, and you’d still end up with less than half of what It Chapter Two pulled in during its three-day opening. Clowns may be unwelcome guests most places, but they’re a pretty inviting sight at the nation’s multiplexes, it seems.
The sequel to the massively successful first installment of the Stephen King story pulled in $91 million over the weekend—a good deal less than the $123 million the previous film earned during its opening, but still a huge achievement for an R-rated horror flick. Together, the movies now account for the two biggest September openings ever, as well as the two biggest openings of all time for horror films. It made slightly more than that internationally, giving it a global tally of $185 million, which would buy a lot of fortune cookies that turn into goo-covered CGI beasties. That might seem like a scary amount of money, but honestly, it’s more comical than anything.
Coming in second with only $85 million less than the first-place finisher is Angel Has Fallen, which has finally lived up to its title by falling one spot on the charts and bringing in $6 million. Third place goes to Good Boys, earning $5.4 million for a total domestic haul of $66.8 million, not bad for a group of foul-mouthed eighth graders. The Lion King continues its soulless yet inexorable consumption of audiences curious to see one of Disney’s best-loved movies remade, but without any of the energy and dance moves made possible with traditional animation. It earned $4.2 million, good enough for fourth place and overcoming Overcomer, the faith-based piece of crap which landed in fifth with $3.75 million.
Next week should see somewhat more of a competition on the charts, as both Hustlers and The Goldfinch will be released, at long last answering the burning question of what America likes more, strip clubs or 17th century Dutch art.
For more in-depth box office analysis, check out Box Office Mojo.