Alita battles her way to No. 1, Lego close behind

Keean Johnson (left) and Rosa Salazar (center) star in 20th Century Fox’s Alita: Battle Angel. It opened at the box office on Feb. 14, and came in at No. 1, earning an estimated $33.5 million.
Keean Johnson (left) and Rosa Salazar (center) star in 20th Century Fox’s Alita: Battle Angel. It opened at the box office on Feb. 14, and came in at No. 1, earning an estimated $33.5 million.

Hollywood's attention will be squarely focused on the Oscars this weekend, where Green Book, Roma and A Star Is Born will vie for the top prize. At the same time, the cinema industry is hoping Toothless, the dragon, breathes some fire into the box office.

How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World is expected to top the domestic charts this weekend, with about $40 million in ticket sales in U.S. and Canadian theaters through Sunday, according to people who have reviewed pre-release audience surveys. That would be welcome news for multiplexes that have weathered a rough 2019 so far, thanks to disappointments including The Lego Movie 2 and Alita: Battle Angel.

This year's Washington's Birthday weekend box office pales in comparison with 2018's record-setting result, which was buoyed by the runaway success of Black Panther. In contrast, this year's box office is down 57.7 percent week-to-week from last year and down 19.7 percent year-to-date.

The futuristic science-fiction film Alita: Battle Angel far surpassed estimates to capture top position at last weekend's box office, unexpectedly knocking off The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part after just a week in another sign the animated sequel is off to a rocky start.

Alita, a 20th Century Fox movie produced by James Cameron of Titanic fame and starring Rosa Salazar and Christoph Waltz, brought in $33.5 million in the United States and Canada from Friday through Monday, researcher Comscore Inc. said.

At No. 2, Warner Bros.' The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part earned an estimated $27.8 million in its second weekend for a cumulative $62.7 million.

The Lego movie's performance has raised concerns about the franchise -- a would-be growth driver for AT&T Inc.'s Warner Bros. Its debut weekend generated far less revenue than predicted, even after favorable reviews.

The studio's Isn't It Romantic debuted in third place with $14.2 million over the weekend (with an expected $16 million haul through Monday) and a $20.4 million cumulative since its Feb. 13 opening.

Paramount's What Men Want earned an estimated $10.9 million in its second weekend ($12.6 million through the holiday) and dropped to No. 4, for a cumulative $36.1 million.

Rounding out the top five, Universal's sequel Happy Death Day 2U was expected to earn $9.8 million from Friday through Sunday, $11.5 million through Monday and $13.5 million since its release Feb. 13, well below the original's $26 million opening gross. Despite the low result, the film earned a 66 percent fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

In limited release, MGM opened Fighting With My Family on Feb. 13 in four theaters to $131,625 over the weekend (a solid per-screen average of $32,906) and a cumulative $166,041.

Focus Features' Everybody Knows added 19 locations (for a total of 23) and $191,000 in its second weekend for a cumulative $286,000.

Seven weeks into the new year and the box office is still struggling, down nearly 20 percent from where industry totals were last year.

"We've been down every week this year," said Comscore senior media analyst Paul Dergarabedian. "This [past] weekend is emblematic of what is going on at the box office."

Dergarabedian said that "slow weekends beget more slow weekends -- with less foot traffic at the theaters, fewer people are seeing previews for what's to come and the cycle just continues. But Captain Marvel may be coming to save the day on March 8."

Oscar drama is heating up, with the industry waiting to see what film wins a tense battle for best picture. Netflix's Roma, widely considered a front-runner for Sunday night's highest honor, continued its momentum at the 72nd British Academy Film Awards in London this month, where it won best film.

But the film's success has irked cinema owners, who say Netflix's release strategy for Roma undermines their business model. Netflix released Roma and other movies three weeks ahead of their streaming debut, giving cinemas a significantly shorter exclusive window than they're used to.

Now, it appears major European cinema chain Vue Cinemas has had enough. Chief Executive J. Timothy Richards, in a letter to the British academy Tuesday, blasted the decision to bestow honors on Roma, calling it a made for TV film. He also threatened to end the company's support for the awards unless the group changes its eligibility requirements.

"We believe that BAFTA has not lived up to its usual high standards this year in choosing to endorse and promote a 'made for TV' film that audiences were unable to see on a big screen," he wrote in the letter, which was posted online by Hollywood Reporter and other outlets.

MovieStyle on 02/22/2019

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