WithSplitfinally ending it’s stranglehold over the box office for the last three weeks, Valentine’s Day weekend is now a fight between a trio of sequels. Well, to be plainly honest, it’s really between the sex movie (Fifty Shades Darker) and the kids movie (The LEGO Batman Movie). Even asJohn Wick: Chapter 2brings in some very positive appraisals from critics worldwide, it’s stock is not quite as lucrative to the married-with-children contingency as its competition.
That’s really no matter:John Wick: Chapter 2will have a much better life on home video thanFifty Shades Darkerand maybe evenThe LEGO Batman Movie. For right now, however,Fifty Shades Darkerhas taken a sizable lead in the race. The Friday numbers haveJames Foley’s boring-as-fuck sequel toFifty Shades of Greycurrently holding in the number one spot with $21.5 million whileThe LEGO Batman Movieis holding strong in the second spot with $15 million. Keep in mind that the latter also premiered in a lot more theaters than Foley’s film by well over 300 venues.The LEGO Batman Movieis still expected to take the weekend but it’s now looking like an even tighter race than was prognosticated by experts.
Meanwhile,John Wick: Chapter 2has come in with $11 million, proving that theKeanu Reeves-fronted franchise has plenty of promise for future volumes. Right now, predictions have the sequel, directed byChad Stahelski, coming in with $29 million for the entire weekend, which is a solid debut for a lean-budgeted action film. And one should expectSplitto likely take the fourth place in this line-up withHidden FiguresorLa La Landtaking the fifth spot in the top bracket.
It’s not likely thatFifty Shades Darkerwill keep up its lead next weekend, but bothThe LEGO Batman MovieandJohn Wick: Chapter 2look to have legs for another few weekends at least. This will depend highly on a trio of wild cards that debut next week:Fist Fight,A Cure for Wellness, andThe Great Wall. All of them are originals withFist FightandThe Great Wallboasting stars that are known for bringing in the audiences andA Cure for Wellnessushering in the return ofGore Verbinskito his more eerie roots. I don’t seeFifty Shades Darkerholding strong against these movies, whereas John Wick andLEGO Batmanat least have some chances to give these new releases, to borrow a football phrase, the business.
