With no major new releases coming out this weekend — or next weekend — box office numbers have reached an annual low, as Lionsgate’s “The Hitman’s Bodyguard” took the No. 1 spot with $10 million in its second weekend and a 10-day total of just under $40 million. It’s the lowest total for a No. 1 film in any weekend this year.
Several factors contributed to the weak returns in the final days of the summer season. Among them was Hurricane Harvey, which forced theater closures and resident evacuations in Houston and other major cities in southeast Texas. The boxing match between Floyd Mayweather and Conor McGregor also dominated the cultural conversation all week and drew many people away from the cinemas and to the sports bars on Saturday night. In fact, industry estimates have Mayweather vs. McGregor cracking the top ten at the box office, as Fathom Events’ broadcast of the fight made an estimated $2.4 million from 481 screens.
But even without storms or pay-per-view fights, there were simply no movies out this weekend that grabbed the public’s attention. This time last year, the horror film “Don’t Breathe” got some traction and opened to a solid $26.4 million. This weekend, the only new release that cracked the top five was The Weinstein Company’s animated film “Leap!,” which released on 2,575 screens and took the No. 3 spot with a mere $5 million. Audiences who saw the film gave it an A on CinemaScore, but critics rejected it with a 37 percent Rotten Tomatoes score.
Sliding in between “Hitman’s Bodyguard” and “Leap!” was “Annabelle: Creation,” which took the No. 2 spot in its third weekend with $7.4 million to bring its total to $78 million, five percent ahead of the total made to this point by the first “Annabelle.” In fourth place is TWC’s “Wind River,” which expanded wide this weekend and made $4.4 million from 2,124 screens, bringing its total to $9.8 million. Fingerprint/Bleecker Street’s “Logan Lucky” completed the top five with $4.1 million in its second weekend, bringing its 10-day total to $14.8 million.
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Finishing outside the top five is BH Tilt’s “Birth of the Dragon,” which was released on 1,618 screens per the distributor’s strategy of targeted releases that try to maximize revenue by only marketing to a niche audience. The martial arts film made an estimated $2.5 million this weekend, scoring a B on CinemaScore and 27 percent on Rotten Tomatoes.