Andres Muschietti's IT has been scaring off box office competition for the last couple of weeks, but it's time at the top of the charts has reached an end. The arrival of Matthew Vaughn's Kingsman: The Golden Circle has vanquished Pennywise, and the sequel is the new king of the hill in late September. Check out the full Top 10 below!
The metric by which any sequel is judged is in direct comparison to the performance of its predecessor, and from a box office perspective, Kingsman: The Golden Circle can certainly be considered a success in its first week. When the first film, Kingsman: The Secret Service, arrived in theaters in February 2014, it wound up being a massive surprise - pulling in $36.2 million in its first three days - but the follow-up is actually off to a stronger start. It was released in a completely different season, but as you can see from the chart above, it managed to make nearly $3 million more for an estimated total of $39 million.
The reason why I specify that Kingsman: The Golden Circle is a success from a box office perspective is because it's been a disappointment in terms of critical reaction. Arguably in spite of its excessiveness in regards to sex and violence, Kingsman: The Secret Service got an impressive reaction from the professional set, but the same can't be said for the follow-up (which is currently sporting a 51 percent score on Rotten Tomatoes). It's worth noting that the two movies have both received the same CinemaScore - a "B+" - but one thing we will definitely be tracking in the coming weeks is the ultimate influence that the negative buzz from critics has on the blockbuster's strength in the weeks to come. There's some notable competition coming up, and it could stop would-be ticket buyers from buying a ticket.
Kingsman: The Golden Circle was clearly the top dog of new releases this time around, but now we have to turn our head to the disappointing wide release of the week. We were very much hoping that The LEGO Ninjago Movie would help lift up what has otherwise been a dismal year for animated features, but that didn't wind up being the case. Not only did it fail to garner the same positive reaction from critics that was received by both The LEGO Movie and The LEGO Batman Movie, but it's also the first in the franchise not to take the number one spot in its opening weekend. Rather, while the film was looking at three day total total somewhere between $27-32 million, according to Box Office Mojo, but instead only managed to pull in $21.2 million (The LEGO Movie made $69 million, and The LEGO Batman Movie made $53 million). This probably won't end up doing to much damage to the brand, but Warner Bros. is certainly going to learn that they can't bank on a big hit using the "LEGO" name alone.
As bad as things were for The LEGO Ninjago Movie, however, things wound up being far worse for the third and final new wide release of the week. Movie fans may have spent the last few weeks flocking to see the horrorific adventure feature in IT, but the arrival of Friend Request certainly shows that folks are still discerning when it comes to scary features. Opening at number seven, the movie only brought in $2.4 million, is carrying a 20 percent on Rotten Tomatoes, and got a C+ according to CinemaScore. That's rough even for a film made for only a reported $9.9 million, and this may be the last time you actually ever read about this particular title.
Next weekend will officially bring September to a close - and right now it looks like the box office total for the month domestically is going to be setting a new record.We'll have to wait and see if that happens, and if new releases like American Made, Flatliners, A Question of Faith and Til Death Do Us Part. Join us next week for the full rundown!
