The credits have rolled on Hollywood's worst summer in a decade, closing out with a dismal Labor Day weekend that was the first in a generation without a big, new movie opening in wide release.
The summer drew a little more than $3.8 billion in sales, the first time the season's tally has dipped below the $4 billion mark since 2006, according to Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst at researcher ComScore Inc. The holiday weekend generated about $99.5 million in U.S. and Canadian theaters from Friday through Monday, the least since 1998, according to Comscore data.
"Some comedies didn't perform as expected and there were some great movies that didn't resonate here, although they did better internationally," Dergarabedian said Sunday. "All it takes are one or two movies to harm the bottom line in a profound way."
The domestic box office is down about 6 percent year to date compared with a year earlier, according to ComScore.
The holdover picture The Hitman's Bodyguard from Lionsgate led the box office for a third time, generating $10.5 million through Monday, according to ComScore.
The biggest film opening this weekend was a re-release of Steven Spielberg's Close Encounters of the Third Kind, which opened in 901 theaters to celebrate the science fiction film's 40th anniversary, according to ComScore. The film took in $2.2 million from Friday through Monday.
The weekend also saw the debut of Tulip Fever, a period drama from Weinstein Co. featuring Alicia Vikander, and the novel release of the first two episodes of Marvel Entertainment's The Inhumans on Imax screens. It had been planned as a film but was instead made into a TV show. ABC will premiere the series in the fall.
Among other returning films, Warner Bros.' Annabelle: Creation returned to place second with $7.5 million, according to Box Office Mojo. That puts it on track to be one of the few sequels this summer to beat its predecessor, according to Gitesh Pandya at Box Office Guru.
Weinstein's drama Wind River leapfrogged over Leap!, swapping with the animated family film for the No. 3 spot after adding 507 theaters for a total of 2,602. The crime thriller, set on an American Indian reservation in Wyoming and starring Jeremy Renner and Elizabeth Olsen, earned $6.2 million through Monday. Written and directed by Taylor Sheridan (screenwriter of Sicario and Hell or High Water), the film earned a solid 86 percent "fresh" rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
Leap!, also distributed by Weinstein, brought in $4.8 through Monday for a cumulative total of $13 million after 10 days in theaters. The film, about an orphan girl who dreams of becoming a dancer in Paris, features the voices of Elle Fanning, Kate McKinnon and pop singer Carly Rae Jepsen and was met with mixed reviews, earning an A-rating on CinemaScore but only a 35 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
Rounding out the top five was Bleecker Street and Fingerprint Releasing's action comedy Logan Lucky, directed by Steven Soderbergh, which made $4.4 million through Monday for a total of $22.5 million. Starring Channing Tatum and Adam Driver as brothers who try to pull off a heist during a NASCAR race.
In limited release, Lionsgate opened Hazlo Como Hombre (Do It Like an Hombre) in 382 locations earning $1.4 million through Monday.
While sales were harmed by the lack of a new opening movie, Dergarabedian is expecting an improvement in the coming months, kicked off by Warner Bros.' release of It, a horror thriller remake based on the Stephen King novel of the same name.
"The good news is we have It this week, and then movies such as The Lego Ninjago Movie, Kingsman: The Golden Circle and Blade Runner 2049 to come," he said. "We are going to make up a lot of ground in the next three months."
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
The top 20 movies at U.S. and Canadian theaters Friday through Monday, followed by distribution studio, gross, number of theater locations, average receipts per location, total gross and number of weeks in release, as compiled Tuesday by comScore:
The Hitman's Bodyguard, Lionsgate, $10,536,010, 3,370 locations, $3,126 average, $57,966,926, three weeks.
Annabelle: Creation, Warner Bros., $7,506,234, 3,358 locations, $2,235 average, $90,866,014, four weeks.
Wind River, The Weinstein Co., $6,237,517, 2,602 locations, $2,397 average, $20,270,857, five weeks.
Leap!, The Weinstein Co., $4,845,793, 2,705 locations, $1,791 average, $12,760,985, two weeks.
Logan Lucky, Bleecker Street, $4,410,185, 2,975 locations, $1,482 average, $22,502,616, three weeks.
Dunkirk, Warner Bros., $4,373,281, 2,752 locations, $1,589 average, $180,204,578, seven weeks.
Spider-Man: Homecoming, Columbia, $3,684,189, 2,036 locations, $1,810 average, $325,120,922, nine weeks.
Despicable Me 3, Universal, $2,501,280, 2,132 locations, $1,173 average, $258,789,675, 10 weeks.
The Emoji Movie, Columbia, $2,464,948, 2,108 locations, $1,169 average, $81,147,957, six weeks.
Girls Trip, Universal, $2,305,780, 1,607 locations, $1,435 average, $112,097,725, seven weeks.
Close Encounters Third Kind 40 Anniversary, Columbia, $2,220,957, 901 locations, $1,962 average, one week.
Nut Job 2: Nutty by Nature, Open Road, $2,115,589, 2,651 locations, $798 average, $26,632,132, four weeks.
Wonder Woman, Warner Bros., $2,038,351, 1,808 locations, $1,109 average, $409,537,039, 14 weeks.
Cars 3, Disney, $1,773,264, 2,445 locations, $725 average, $151,521,551, 12 weeks.
Birth of the Dragon, OTL Releasing, $1,738,645, 1,633 locations, $1,065 average, $5,876,845, two weeks.
Kidnap, Aviron Pictures, $1,625,745, 1,689 locations, $963 average, $29,769,491, five weeks.
The Dark Tower, Columbia, $1,609,457, 1,820 locations, $884 average, $47,825,887, five weeks.
Baby Driver, Columbia, $1,477,281, 1,463 locations, $1,010 average, $105,843,272, 10 weeks.
The Big Sick, Lionsgate, $1,436,252, 1,270 locations, $1,131 average, $41,308,818, 11 weeks.
The Glass Castle, Lionsgate, $1,408,614, 1,360 locations, $1,036 average, $15,129,065, four weeks.
MovieStyle on 09/08/2017