411 Box Office Report: Spider-Man: Far From Home Retains Top Spot, Stuber Starts Mild

The webslinger kept his perch atop the box office this weekend as Spider-Man: Far From Home spent its second frame at #1. The Marvel/Sony film brought in $45.3 million, down just 51% from its opening weekend take. That hold is much better than the 62% drop of Spider-Man: Homecoming in July of 2017, though it must be said that the previous film opened on Friday while Far From Home got its start on a Tuesday, which skews things somewhat.

Still, it’s a good second weekend for the film, which now stands at $274.5 million domestically and is on course to top Homecoming’s $334.2 million domestic total without much difficulty. Overseas, the movie has already topped Homecoming with $572.5 million for a $847 million worldwide total to date. It’s another big hit for the studios against its $160 million budget and should be able to end its domestic run around $350 million.

Toy Story 4 continued its run as well, down just 39% in its fourth weekend to $20.7 million. The Pixar film now has $346.4 million domestically and $771.1 million worldwide, good numbers that have it pacing just a bit behind Toy Story 3. The fourth film is on pace for around $390 million or so in the US, making it another smash success for the animation studio even with a $200 million production budget.

Coming in at #3 was Crawl. The alligator attack thriller got off to a decent start with $12 million, right around where it was expected to open. The opening is comparable to shark thriller 47 Meters Down’s $11.2 million start in June of 2017, and is looking to be in solid shape to make back its $13.5 million budget. Crawl succeeded as counter-programming to Spider-Man by way of a solid marketing effort which sold it as a down and dirty thrilling good time at the box office, and the critic scores agreed. The film has a stellar 88% consensus on Rotten Tomatoes, which likely helped bring people out to the theater to check it out. And the B CinemaScore isn’t exceptional, but should be good enough to keep people coming. 47 Meters Down had a lowly C CinemaScore but still managed to push itself to a 3.95 multiple.

Crawl, to be clear, isn’t likely to have the same legs. There’s plenty of male-targeted fare coming up, including Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time In Hollywood in just two weeks and Hobbs & Shaw after that. But even a 3.0 multiple would bring it to $36 million, and Crawl should be able to get a bit above that. $40 million would have a definite profit margin. The film is on scattered release overseas with $4.8 million so far for a $16.8 million total. All in all, this is in fine shape.

The same can’t be said of Stuber, which started quietly with $8 million. That’s below the low-teens start that most expected. The Dave Bautista/Kumail Nanjiani-starring film was the latest victim of the Fox/Disney merger, being brought over and somewhat hung out to dry, with a lackluster marketing campaign. (Seriously, just look at the uninspired posters.) Critic buzz wasn’t there to boost it any, with the film hitting a sketchy 43% RT score, and audiences gave it a B CinemaScore which is not where a comedy wants to hang.

To be fair, the problem here isn’t just Stuber’s fault. Comedy has had a rough go at the box office all year unless it’s mixed with other genres like Shazam!. The highest-grossing pure comedy is Tyler Perry’s A Madea Family Funeral, which bucked the trend with $73.3 million thanks to Perry’s exceedingly loyal fanbase. After that, it’s What Men Want at $54.6 million. By this time last year — also a low year for comedy — we at least had Game Night ($69.2 million) and Blockers ($60.3 million). Meanwhile, Late Night, Long Shot, Poms, and Booksmart have all fallen short.

Regardless of the reason, Stuber isn’t likely to be counted as a success. But it also won’t be a huge bomb, with a budget of just $16 million and most of the marketing cost absorbed by Fox. The film is falling cold overseas with just $3 million so far — normal for American comedies — leading to an $11 million worldwide total. This should end up grossing around $30 million by the end of its US run.

Danny Boyle’s Beatles dramedy Yesterday was down just 33% in its third weekend, bringing in $6.8 million. The musical film now has $48.3 million domestically and $80 million worldwide against a budget of $26 million, making it an impressive performer for Universal. It still looks on par for around $65 million.

Aladdin eased 22% in its eighth weekend with $5.9 million, bringing its fantastic totals to $331.5 million domestically and $960.2 million worldwide. It still aiming for around $350 million domestically, with $1 billion worldwide not that far off. It had a $183 million budget.

Annabelle Comes Home was doiwn an okay 41% in its third weekend to score $5.6 million. The Conjuring universe film has a total of $60.8 million domestically right now and $173.6 million worldwide against a $30 million budget. The franchise has yet another hit and should end its US run around at about $75 million to $80 million.

Ari Aster’s trippy horror film Midsommar was down 46% in its second weekend to ring up $3.6 million. That is a better hold than Hereditary’s 50% drop, though that film had a much better start. Midsommar is on okay shape, hanging in at $18.4 million in the US thus far. It should still be able to make it to at least $30 million, good enough for profit against a $10 million budget.

The Secret Life of Pets 2 scored an additional $3.1 million, off 34%. The animated film has a total of $147.1 million domestically and $298.8 million worldwide. The final gross domestically should be in the $155 million range, good enough for some profit against an $80 million budget.

Men in Black: International closed out the top ten with $2.2 million, down 41%. The sci-fi action comedy has now grossed $76.5 million domestically and $239.5 million worldwide. It doesn’t look likely to earn a profit against its $110 million budget. The domestic total should be around $80 million.

The box office will make way for The Lion King next weekend, as the “live action” adaptation of the animated classic is looking to be in the $200 million range. No one else is willing to wide release against the movie, for obvious reasons.

BOX OFFICE TOP TEN (Three-Day Domestic Numbers)
1. Spider-Man: Far from Home – $45.3 million ($274.5 million total)
2. Toy Story 4 – $20.7 million ($346.4 million total)
3. Crawl – $12 million ($12 million total)
4. Stuber – $8 million ($8 million total)
5. Yesterday – $6.8 million ($48.3 million total)
6. Aladdin – $5.9 million ($331.5 million total)
7. Annabelle Comes Home – $5.6 million ($60.8 million total)
8. Midsommar – $3.6 million ($18.4 million total)
9. Secret Life of Pets 2 – $3.1 million ($147.1 million total)
10. Men in Black: International – $2.2 million ($76.5 million total)