The success ofThe Hitman’s Bodyguard, which will lead this weekend at the box office with $21.6 million, is good news for a movie that cost $29 million or so to make. With next weekend looking like a complete dead zone – unless you’re particularly pumped for Sony’sAll Saints– the action-comedy looks primed to make back its cost of production. By the time it lands on VOD and home video, it could even turn a bit of a profit. For a movie that’s only redeeming quality is its leads,Ryan ReynoldsandSamuel L. Jackson, that’s a small victory in a summer that’s been rife with failures and mediocrities saved only by their foreign box office performance.
Even taking this victory into account though, $21.6 million is no one’s idea of big hit. It’s a little more than whatBaby Drivermade in its opening weekend, butThe Hitman’s Bodyguarddoesn’t have the critical praise or word-of-mouth buzz thatEdgar Wright’s hugely satisfying action-comedy rode so ably. It’s also a sizable drop from August’s biggest hit,Annabelle: Creation, which came in at number two this weekend with $15.5 million from its $35 million opening, dropping about 56% in its second frame. With no help from the foreign box office,The Hitman’s Bodyguardwill likely still eek out a profit but just barely.
The road ahead looks much less charitable for the best movie currently in wide release,Logan Lucky, which landed at number three with $8 million.Steven Soderbergh’s return to popular filmmaking cost about as much to make asThe Hitman’s Bodyguardand sports a much bigger cast, but its marketing was noticeably less effective than this weekend’s winner. The very same could be said aboutThe Nut Job 2: Nutty by Nature, which landed in fifth with $5.1 million in its second frame.
Both of those movies will have to fight to get anywhere near turning a profit, which is not the case withChristopher Nolan’sDunkirk. The war epic dropped to fourth place this weekend with $6.7 million in the till after five weeks in the top five. By the end of next weekend, it will likely have passed $170 million off of a budget of around $100 million. Nolan knows how to utilize a big screen, which is a major part of what makes him so popular, but his technical knowledge has always far outweighed the emotional and philosophical resonance of his movies. Still, for a generation of movie lovers who are less and less interested in actually going to a movie theater, having an artist who knows how to use an IMAX screen to its full potential is something of a gift.
Here’s your top five for this weekend:
Weekend Domestic BO
Total Domestic BO
- ‘The Hitman’s Bodyguard’
$21,600,000
2. ‘Annabelle: Creation’
$15,500,000
$64,044,221
3. ‘Logan Lucky’
$8,050,182
4. ‘Dunkirk’
$6,700,000
$165,508,079
- ‘The Nut Job 2: Nutty by Nature’
$5,113,278
$17,696,923
