Fifty Shades dominates weekend
LOS ANGELES — Following a lackluster Super Bowl weekend for theaters where films opening around Christmas dominated the box office, this past weekend’s three new wide releases all debuted at the top of the chart, led by Universal Pictures’ Fifty Shades Freed.
The final installment in the Fifty Shades trilogy debuted in first place to the tune of $38.5 million, according to ComScore.
Based on the third and final entry in the book series by British author E.L. James, Fifty Shades Freed earned negative reviews from critics and audiences with an 11 percent rotten rating from review aggregation site Rotten Tomatoes.
The two previous movies in the trilogy grossed a combined $950 million. The first, Fifty Shades of Grey, opened in 2015 with $85 million domestically before grossing $571 million globally. Last year’s follow-up, Fifty Shades Darker, debuted to $47.6 million and eventually collected $381 million worldwide.
In second place, Columbia’s family film Peter Rabbit earned $25 million in its first weekend in theaters, well above analysts’ predictions of $16 million.
A modern-day computeranimated/live-action take on the Beatrix Potter character, estimated to have cost $50 million, the film stars James Corden as the voice of a mischievous bunny at war with his neighbor. The movie also earned mixed reviews, receiving an A-minus on CinemaScore and a 58 percent rotten on Rotten Tomatoes.
In third place, Warner Bros.’ The 15:17 to Paris earned $12.5 million in its first weekend, at the high end of the expected $10 million to $12 million range analysts projected.
The latest directorial effort by Clint Eastwood tells the real-life story of three Americans who thwarted a terrorist attack on a train in 2015 by subduing a gunman. In an unusual twist, the American men, Spencer Stone, Anthony Sadler and Alek Skarlatos, play themselves in the film. It earned a B minus on CinemaScore and a 20 percent rotten rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
Coming in fourth, Columbia’s Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, now in its eighth week, added $10 million in earnings, for about $366 million.
Rounding out the top five, Fox’s The Greatest Showman, also in its eighth week, added $6.4 million for about $146.5 million.
After debuting last week in third place, Lionsgate’s Winchester dropped to the seventh spot this past weekend, adding $5.2 million to its $17.3 million gross.
Overall the marketplace is still down about 1.8 percent for the year and about 27 percent from the same weekend last year which, comScore senior media analyst Paul Dergarabedian notes, saw the premiere of The Lego Batman Movie, Fifty Shades Darker and John Wick: Chapter 2, all of which opened over $30 million.
But the box office will pick up today with Black Panther, which some analysts are pegging for a $150 million start.
“This is the calm before the Marvel storm,” Dergarabedian said. “Black Panther is going to supercharge this marketplace when it opens … . I think it’s going to break records and spark a huge conversation.”
Lionsgate debuts the animated Early Man and Pure Flix premieres Samson, a remake of the 1949 camp classic Samson and Delilah.