March
Red Sparrow
Result: Disappointment
Box-Office: 129.8 million
Budget: 69 million
Thoughts: Pairing Jennifer Lawrence and Francis Lawrence (no relation) together once more after their successful collaborations on The Hunger Games series was, unfortunately, unable to provide particularly fruitful results. The film received mixed-reviews, and never really seemed to wager much interest. Although Jennifer Lawrence is specifically praised, this follows a certain string of disappointments or box-office flops, such as Joy (another film that paired her with a director she'd previously had success with on the Silverlining's Playbook), Mother!, Passengers (a disappointment, not failure), and the diminished returns for the last Hunger Games and X-Men: Apocalypse, perhaps Jennifer Lawrence is in a sort-of funk, or perhaps she's long overdue for her next sure-fire hit. Unfortunately, this isn't it.
Death Wish
Result: Disappointment
Box-Office: 40.8 million
Budget: 30 million
Thoughts: Eli Roth is a director who has had middling returns at the box-office and has never really had a film a strong number of people regarded as great. Cabin Fever and Hostel both did him well at the box-office, and I dug the second Hostel film, but, other-wise, The Green Inferno and Knock Knock started what has continued with Death Wish, as a long-string of critical and financial disappointments. The difference between these, however, is that Knock Knock and The Green Inferno ultimately succeeded their budgets at the box-office and were conservative enough with their expenditures that they could break even on home-video, whereas Death Wish was a larger financial undertaking altogether. The film had made more than its budget, but it hasn't taken enough of that money for itself to cover production, let alone get started on covering its marketing budget.
Gringo
Result: Disappointment
Box-Office: 6.5 million
Budget: ? million
Thoughts: Not a lot of commentary about this one. A collaborative effort between Amazon and STX Entertainment, it posted the 25th second weekend drop of all-time and struggled out-of-the-gate. Mixed-to-negative reviews, maybe it will have a better like on Amazon's Streaming Service.
The Hurricane Heist
Result: Flop
Box-Office: 11.9 million
Budget: 35 million
Thoughts: This film was from the director of one of the Fast and the Furious films and bombed hard. Reviews are negative, as well.
The Strangers: Prey at Night
Result: Modest Success
Box-Office: 24.8 million
Budget: 5 million
Thoughts: Many will be fast to mention that Strangers 2 has barely made 1/4th of what the first film did. That's not the most reasonable way to look at this, however. For starters, Strangers 2 has half the budget of the first film. It also came out ten years after the fact, depleting practically all marketability it had as a brand. And, finally, the film was distributed by a smaller company called Aviron, whose only other title was a film called Kidnapped with Halle Barry. This film will make a little less than that film, but it also cost a lot less. This is a modest success for them.
A Wrinkle in Time
Result: Flop
Box-Office: 104.4 million
Budget: 100 million
Thoughts: Notably, this is the first film from a black woman that has received a budget of nine-digits. That's a cool fact. Unfortunately, the film has ultimately failed to turn heads other-wise. The film received mixed-to-negative reviews and lost momentum very fast. It's barely halfway where it needs to be in-order to cover the production budget, and then, it will need to cover what will likely be a large marketing budget. This is this year's Tomorrowland. But Disney will survive just fine.
Tomb Raider
Result: Unclear
Box-Office: 245.1 million
Budget: 90-106 million
Thoughts: I said earlier in a box-office thread I didn't want to jump-the-gun with everyone calling Tomb Raider a failure. In truth, it was because I was waiting for the overseas box-office numbers to start pouring in. And with that, there's enough information to say that Tomb Raider didn't flop. However, it remains to be seen if it will be able to climb the ranks as a modest box-office success. The film has failed to garner much attention stateside, pacing at about half of what the original Tomb Raider film did. I think this film will have enough oomph to fall in the 50-55 million range domestically. The film's benefiting a lot from overseas total. It might even end up making more worldwide than the first Tomb Raider because of that. Unfortunately, of course, you receive less in foreign markets. If it can muster up 300 million, I'd call Tomb Raider a "Modest Success".
Love, Simon
Result: Unclear
Box-Office: 33.7 million
Budget: 17 million
Thoughts: Love, Simon received high-marks from critics, and while it hasn't blown up at the box-office, it has, thus far, been able to remain steady, dropping a light 33% in its second weekend. It still hasn't covered its production budget, but it seems well on its way to doing so. It's the type of film I wouldn't be surprised to see do even better on the home-market.
I Can Only Imagine
Result: Success
Box-Office: 56 million
Budget: 7 million
Thoughts: I remember seeing trailers for this film in theaters and thinking to myself, "That's weird they made a movie about this," but, evidently, a market existed for the faith-based film, and it has flourished at the box-office. The film opened above expectations at the box-office and dropped a light 19% in its second weekend. The film has already broken even and likely covered its marketing budget, and it looks like it has some mileage left.
Pacific Rim Uprising
Result: Unclear
Box-Office: 231.9 million
Budget: 150-170.6 million
Thoughts: The new Pacific Rim dethroned Black Panther's reign as the weekend champion and surpassed expectations, garnering over 28 million at the domestic box-office. Although, that isn't a very impressive sum for such an expensive film to amass. I anticipate the film will exceed 50 million, but fall short of 100 million stateside. Really though, it was all about the overseas total as far as this film was concerned. Uprising improved on what the first film made in China, but it still looks like it's in for a very uphill battle as far as breaking even is concerned, a feat that most analysts aren't even thinking Pacific Rim ever did in-terms of its theatrical profit against its production and marketing budget. This film needs around 400 million in-order to really be worth its expenditures and I don't think it will be up to the task.
Sherlock Gnomes
Result: Flop
Box-Office: 30.8 million
Budget: 59 million
Thoughts: Although I chuckled at the cheap "No ship, Sherlock" joke used in the trailers, I carry the same sentiment as many moviegoers in-regards to this film. Simply put, the 20% Rotten Tomatoes score was badly echoed in its theater totals, amassing disappointing numbers, and one would anticipate theaters dropping this film early on. Easter might help improve numbers, but it looks like it's simply too large an uphill battle to overcome.
Isle of Dogs
Result: Unclear
Box-Office: 8.2 million
Budget: ? million
Thoughts: The film has thus far been given a limited release and has done considerably well. It will be interesting to see how the film's positive reviews and its current buzz helps it as it is released in more theaters.
Unsane
Result: Disappointment/Unclear
Box-Office: 9.5 million
Budget: 1.5 million
Thoughts: The film is notable for having one of the all-time largest declines in its second weekend. Directed by Steven Soderbergh, who Roger Ebert dubbed as the Poster Boy of the Sundance generation, the horror film received mixed-to-positive reviews, but has failed to generate much buzz from a financial perspective. Luckily, the film's conservative production budget has already been covered by its box-office total, and, right now, they're really just trying to cover all the money spent on marketing cost. Maybe it will have a better life on home-video.
Acrimony
Result: Unclear
Box-Office: 17.1 million
Budget: 20 million
Thoughts: Most Tyler Perry films that aren't to do with Madea don't do all that well. That said, Acrimony's opening weekend almost matched the production budget, mind you, that isn't how much they receive from the cut, but it's a solid debut. What will really be the deciding factor is how the film does in proceeding weeks, if it drops like a rock, it will fail to generate revenue and these type of films don't usually do well overseas, so, we'll see.
God's Not Dead: A Light in Darkness
Result: Disappointment
Box-Office: 2.6 million
Budget: ? million
Thoughts: This franchise doesn't have much to justify itself or its existence. The first film delivered with over 60 million dollars whereas the sequel made only about a third of what that film did. At any rate, many would decide it's time to come up with something different that will appeal to faith-based audiences, but not Pure Flix. This film opened to less than half of what the second film made. In their defense, few would have predicted the lasting appeal of the "I Can Only Imagine" film. Still. Stop.
Ready Player One
Result: Unclear
Box-Office: 181.6 million
Budget: 175 million
Thoughts: Ready Player One marks Steven Spielberg's first film to open number-one on its weekend in nearly a decade. In one swoop, Ready Player One also out-grossed Bridge of Spies and The Post, and is only a day away from out-grossing The BFG. The film has received a warm response from audiences and critics alike, but it definitely has a lot of ground to cover. One name a lot are making comparisons to is the G.I. Joe: Retaliation film, which opened to a fairly similar weekend on a domestic level, ultimately ending up with 122 million. If Ready Player One were to match that, it'd cover only around half of its production budget. Alongside a marketing budget that likely inflated it to around 250 million, I don't think overseas totals will be able to pick up the slack enough. We'll see though.