411 Box Office Report: Crazy Rich Asians Spends Third Week at #1

It was a rom-com Labor Day weekend, as Crazy Rich Asians continued its stellar box office run. The Jon M. Chu-directed film scored $22.2 million for its third three-day weekend. That is down a mere 10%, which follows the second weekend’s 6% drop. It goes without saying that these are great numbers, and Asians is the breakout hit of the summer with ease. It puts the film at $111 million domestically and $130.9 million worldwide. At this point it should be able to make it to $160 million-plus domestically. The budget was $30 million.

#2 was a repeat as well, with The Meg taking in $10.5 million in its fourth weekend. The Jason Statham-starring action film has been on quite the tear after an okay start, with $120.5 million domestically and $462.8 million worldwide. Even with the prohibitive $130 million production budget plus marketing, The Meg is definitely headed for a profit. It should finish with around $140 million to $145 million in the US.

The good news for holdovers continued with Mission: Impossible: Fallout, was slid a small 13% in its sixth weekend for a $7 million three-day take. That’s the best sixth weekend in the Tom Cruise-led franchise yet, leaving Fallout on pace to beat Mission Impossible II as the franchise’s highest-grossing film. Right now the film has $204.3 million domestically and $647 million worldwide, with a likely final domestic total of $220 million. The budget was $178 million.

The first newcomer came at #4, where Operation Finale nailed down $6 million. That is a solid but unspectacular start for the Oscar Issac/Ben Kingsley film, which was predicted to finish right around here. The film, which tells the dramatized version of an effort by Israeli intelligence officers to capture former SS officer Adolf Eichmann in 1960, was never going to be a big opener, and MGM knew it. The film simply didn’t have the right kind of critical buzz, cast or director to push a serious film like this over the top.

So far, Operation Finale is performing up to snuff, especially considering the film is barely fresh at 62% on Rotten Tomatoes. Films like this are generally more reliant on reviews than action flicks, and that will neither help nor particularly hurt this one. Word of mouth is good, in the meantime. The movie has a very nice A- CinemaScore. Operation Finale started on Wednesday and has $7.7 million total in five days thus far. $30 million seems doable, though that means overseas grosses will have to bring it to profit even with a $24 million budget.

A much stronger start came from Screen Gems’ Searching, which expanded from eight theaters to 1,207 and scored $5.7 million. The internet-based thriller stars John Cho and rode in on the strength of stellar reviews so far. The movie has a 91% RT average, which has helped boost business nicely for this microbudgeted film. It has $6.2 million domestically thus far and $12.7 million worldwide, with more expansion very possible. The budget isn’t known but is believed to be very small, which will make this film profitable. A domestic total of $30 million is very possible.

Christopher Robin was down 20% in its fifth weekend with $5 million. The Disney movie continues to fight its way toward profit; it is currently up to $85.4 million domestically and $131.3 million worldwide. That sounds great, but this film cost $75 million so the profit line is still in doubt. Either way, the movie has overperformed its relatively modest start. It should finish off with $100 million or so domestically.

Studio 8’s Alpha also refused to say die, but it’s also closer to death. The adventure drama brought in $4.5 million in its third weekend, down 26%. The film is now sitting at $27.3 million domestically and $45.7 million worldwide. That wouldn’t be bad for a modest August release, but this one cost $51 million and that’s not good for what it’s returned. It will likely finish off in the US with $35 million to $40 million.

The Happytime Murders did not benefit from the weekend the way the other films did, as it fell a rough 54% to $4.4 million. For a high-grossing Melissa McCarthy film, that would be an okay second-weekend drop. Happytime isn’t high-grossing through. The movie looks to have a quick fade-away if this is any indication; it has $17 million thus far, and $30 million seems the upward limit. That would be a disaster for the film, which had a $40 million. Foreign grosses haven’t started coming in, but it will be hard to see how they save this one.

Spike Lee’s BlacKkKlansman was down just 19% in its fourth weekend with $4.1 million. That’s enough to give this critic-loved film status as Spike Lee’s third-best grossing film to date, behind Inside Man ($88.5 million) and Malcolm X ($45.2 million). It will likely stay in third place on that list, but will get close ro Malcolm X’s total domestically. On a $15 milliom budget, this one will hit a profit margin soon.

Mark Wahlberg and Peter Berg’s Mile 22 closed out the top ten with $3.6 million, which is down 44% in its third weekend. The action-thriller has solidified its dud status at this point and has brought in a total of $31.8 million domestically and $38.1 million worldwide. The budget was $50 million and STX won’t be able to recoup that. Mile 22 should end its run domestically with around $40 million.

Crazy Rich Asians will see its box office run come to an end next weekend as The Nun will dominate. The horror film is looking at a likely $35 million to $40 million start. Also opening next weekend is Jennifer Garner’s revenge action film Peppermint, which is targeting as low teens start, and inspirational drama God Bless the Broken Road at a lows single-digits start.

BOX OFFICE TOP TEN (Three-Day Domestic Numbers)
1. Crazy Rich Asians – $22.2 million ($110.1 million total)
2. The Meg – $10.5 million ($120.5 million total)
3. Mission: Impossible – Fallout – $7 million ($204.3 million total)
4. Operation Finale – $6 million -($7.7 million total)
5. Searching – $5.7 million ($6.2 mililon total)
6. Christopher Robin – $5 million ($85.4 million total)
7. Alpha – $4.5 million ($27.4 million total)
8. The Happytime Murders – $4.4 million ($17 million total)
9. BlacKkKlansman – $4.1 million ($38.3 million total)
10. Mile 22 – $3.6 million ($31.8 million total)