Fifty Shades Freedwill be the number one movie of the weekend at thebox officeby the end of today, as estimates have it coming in at around $38.8 million. That’s down some $7 million or so fromFifty Shades Darker’s opening weekend and over $45 million less thanFifty Shades of Grey’s opening gross. Between this and the similar deterioration of returns on theMaze RunnerandDivergentseries, one would think that studios might get the hint that trilogies only bring in the big bucks in the MCU at this point, at least domestically. Like so much of 2017’s big-studio trash,Fifty Shades Freedmade over double its domestic gross globally, already climbing to over $136 million in total. That covers the $55 million spent on producing the movie and domestic marketing costs, but we’ll likely know just how much was spent on marketing and releasing this movie overseas. As such, it’s becoming harder to tell just what constitutes a box office bombs nowadays.
The same does not go forPeter Rabbit, which will come in second this weekend with $25 million and has yet to be released in foreign markets.Clint Eastwood’s thoughtlessly malignedThe 15:17 to Pariswas released in limited foreign markets but only made $5.3 million against its domestic take of $12.6 million, placing it in third for the weekend. These are not big numbers and I would blame the largely indifferent reception to both largely on the marketing but it’s good to see three new releases lead the box office rankings for the first time in 2018, afterJumanji: Welcome to the Jungledominated much of the first quarter thus far.
Jumanjiis still bringing in audiences too. TheJake Kasdan-helmed adventure-comedy brought in $9.8 million while another sleeper,The Greatest Showman, rounds out the top five with $6.4 million. Even withBlack Panthercoming out next weekend, it looks likely that theP.T. Barnummusical will break $150 million domestically, though the arrival of the Marvel epic will likely spell doom for the likes of Eastwood’s film.Fifty Shades FreedandPeter Rabbitmay survive the arrival ofRyan Coogler’s excellent third feature, but this weekend was their only real chance to make their money, especially withAnnihilationhitting screens the weekend afterBlack Panther. Indeed, next weekend is when the 2018 box office competition really kicks into high gear. Hold onto your butts.
Here’s your estimated top five at the box office for the weekend:
Weekend Domestic BO
Total Domestic BO
1. ‘Fifty Shades Freed’
$38,806,000
2. ’Peter Rabbit’
$25,000,000
- ‘The 15:17 to Paris’
$12,600,000
- ‘Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle’
$9,825,000
$365,656,871
5. ‘The Greatest Showman’
$6,400,000
$146,535,870
