411 Box Office Report: Avengers: Endgame Dominates Again, Tops $600 Million Domestic

It was all about Avengers: Endgame at the box office this weekend, to no surprise. The Marvel film busted up more records this weekend as it brought in $145.8 million, crushing all comers for the second weekend in a row. The film dropped 59% from its record $357.1 million start, an expected drop for a film with such a hefty opening weekend.

There’s a lot to discuss about this opening weekend and how it compares to other films. To start off with, it is the second-highest second weekend of all-time, just a bit behind Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ $149.2 million. There is some context here, though. Force Awakens opened over the holidays, and its second weekend took place during Christmas which is a notoriously strong period for films. That explains Force Awakens’ drop of just 40%, a hold Endgame was never going to come close to. The drop was much closer to the 55% drop for Infinity War and on par with the 59% second-weekend slip of Age of Ultron. Other recent MCU second weekends include Captain Marvel (56%), Ant-Man and the Wasp (62%) and Black Panther (44%).

While Endgame did not break the record for best second-weekend, it continues to rack up the speed records. With its total gross at $619.7 million domestically and $2.189 billion worldwide, it is the fastest film to $500 million and $600 million with ease, accomplishing those feats in eight and ten days. The previous record-holder, Force Awakens, hit those marks in ten and twelve days, respectively. Meanwhile, Endgame is already the #2 film of all-time in worldwide box office, behind only Avatar’s $2.788 billion. It hit the $2 billion mark in eleven days (having opened a day earlier in China), besting the previous speed record there of Avatar at forty-seven days. Domestically it stands at #9 and will hit #7 on Monday as it passes Star Wars: The Last Jedi ($620.2 million) and the first Avengers film ($623.4 million). It will be in the top five by next weekend.

The only question now is how far the film makes it. It will have to push hard if it wants to top Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ $936.7 million domestic gross. However, there’s little doubt that it will make it past Avatar’s $760.5 million to hit #2. If it follows a similar path to Infinity War, which isn’t out of the question figuring day-to-day comparisons, it would make it to the $900 million range. However, a more reasonable estimate would put it in the mid-to-high $800 million range, accounting for some big openings in the coming weeks. Either way, if the international numbers continue to roll in, AVatar’s worldwide record could fall. Even on a huge $350 million budget plus marketing, Disney is rolling in money from this one.

With Endgame dominating the box office, studios tried to offer some counter-programming options, to modest success at best. The strongest performer was Screen Gem’s The Intruder. The Dennis Quad and Meagan Good-starring home invasion thriller brought in $11 million, right about where most expected it to land. It’s a decent start for an inexpensive film that flew under most people’s radar, though it falls a bit behind the $17.6 million last May’s Breaking In.

The Intruder was fighting the perception going into the weekend of being the kind of film that most people would end up finding on cable. Quaid, Goode and Michael Ealy are not stars who can carry their own films to hit status at this point on name value alone, and the 27% Rotten Tomatoes critic consensus isn’t the kind of thing that will help any film, though domestic thrillers tend to be somewhat less susceptible to reviews.

So with all that in mind, the film is off to an okay start. While overseas numbers won’t be strong, the low $8 million budget and moderate marketing costs mean that this may end up being a minor profit. The final domestic box office should be around $30 million.

While the Long Shot wasn’t far off from The Intruder, things look less rosy there. The Seth Rogan/Charlize Theron romantic comedy brought in $10 million, on the low end of expectations and disappointing for a well-reviewed R-rated comedy (83% on RT). It ranks below the other two major rom-coms of 2019 thus far in February’s Isn’t It Romantic ($14.3 million) and What Men Want ($18.2 million), and those films were moderate successes at best. It’s another example of how comedy is struggling as of late at the box office.

Long Shot’s bigger problem in comparison to The Intruder is the budget. While Intruder was cheap, this one wasn’t at a $40 million budget, plus marketing. There isn’t much of a chance this film makes that back; the strength of critical consensus would help word of mouth if the actual word of mouth was good, but a B CinemaScore isn’t going to cut it. Long Shot looks likely for maybe $30 million to $35 million in the US, and overseas won’t help it enough. Right now it has $3.3 million internationally for a $13.3 million worldwide total. Lionsgate will have to call this a swing and a miss.

Speaking of swings and misses, STX was banking on Uglydolls bringing in the kid crowd, and the result was — well, ugly. The film brought in just $8.5 million, well below the mid-teens it was expected to do. Chalk this up to a property that just didn’t look great in a feature film format and STX not managing to get the marketing out there. Critics weren’t kind at a 33% RT consensus, and the B+ CinemaScore would be great for most genres, but not for family films that routinely go the A- route.

There is no upside here for this animated film. There’s big family competition coming over the next several weeks, and Uglydolls will end up buried. It could maybe make it to $30 million, but that won’t be enough to recoup its $45 million budget. Better luck next time.

Captain Marvel finally dropped, though it didn’t bottom out. The MCU film was off 49% to $4.3 million in its ninth weekend, bringing its totals to $420.8 million domestically and $1.121 billion worldwide. It continues to be a pretty glorious success for Marvel, with $435 million seeming to be the likely ending point. The budget was $153 million.

Breakthrough had a solid hold in its third weekend, down 42% to $3.9 million. The faith-based film brought its totals to $33.2 million domestically and $41 million worldwide, which is okay against its $14 million budget. The film is still on course for around $40 million in the US.

New Line’s The Curse of La Llorona slid an additional 57% in its third weekend for $3.5 million. The horror flick is fading away at an average clip, especially considering the competition, and now stands at $48.1 million domestically and $103.5 million worldwide on a budget of just $9 million. It’s another hit for the studio with an expected final domestic total around $55 million.

Shazam! is no match for the Avengers, as it dropped off another 57% to $2.5 million for its fifth weekend. The DC Extended Universe film has now made $135.2 million domestically and $355.6 million worldwide, both decent numbers against a $100 million budget. It is looking to close out around $142 million domestically.

Little dropped by 57% in its fourth weekend to bring in $1.5 million. The Universal comedy has a total of $38.6 million domestically and $46.1 million worldwide thus far, enough for a small profit against a $20 million budget. It will end with around $43 million.

Dumbo saw its last weekend in the top ten, down 59% against the several family films durrintly in theaters for $1.4 million. The movie now has $109.7 million in the states and $338.7 million worldwide, a money loser against a $170 million budget. It will close out at about $112 million.

It will likely be a third weekend atop the box office for Endgame next frame, as it finds its best competition in Pokemon: Detective Pikachu. The Ryan Reynolds-starring live-action/CGI take on the famed franchise is looking at around $65 million to $75 million, and will have to hope for Endgame to drop hard if it wants to claim #1. Other new releases include the Anne Hathaway/Rebel Wilson remake of Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, The Hustle ($15 million to $17 million), dance comedy Poms ($8 million to $9 million) and biopic Tolkein ($3 million to $5 million).

BOX OFFICE TOP TEN (Three-Day Domestic Numbers)
1. Avengers: Endgame – $145.8 million ($619.7 million total)
2. The Intruder – $11 million ($11 million total)
3. Long Shot – $10 million ($10 million total)
4. Uglydolls – $8.5 million ($8.5 million total)
5. Captain Marvel – $4.2 million ($420.8 million total)
6. Breakthrough – $3.9 million ($33.2 million total)
7. The Curse of La Llorona – $3.5 million ($48.1 million total)
8. Shazam! – $2.5 million ($135.2 million total)
9. Little – $1.5 million ($38.6 million total)
10. Dumbo – $1.4 million ($109.7 million total)