The ladies steal the crown

This weekend was regarded as something of a lull, against the next two frames featuring huge releases. However a remake of a franchise has become a bit of a surprise and demanded to be noticed.

Summer is now in full effect and most weekends will be event picture time moving forward. Next week is Pixar’s highly anticipated “Incredibles 2”, and then “Jusrassic World: Fallen Kingdom” will stomp theaters. That sequel was just released in foreign territories and it has already grossed $150 million.

OCEANS 8 – $41.5 million
The past week saw projections for the title scaling higher and it has proven to be a genuine hit. This total places it as the biggest opening title in the franchise, which not too many had in mind, at all. Speculation was difficult on this, given it was eleven years since “Oceans 13”, and there were some mixed feelings about the all-female cast as it led to comparisons to the disastrous reboot of “Ghostbusters”. However there were many differences at play, primary being this was not a reboot actually, but a spin-off. The strong female cast led by Sandra Bullock was a key here, and it helps that the genre is still one to appeal to both sides. Guys will turn out for a decent heist film. This return has now led to some wondering if this cast will be combined with the original members for a super-plot.

2. SOLO: A STAR WARS STORY – $15.15m
The film needed some strong word of mouth support to get a footing, but that has not materialized. A big disappointment in the Star Wars universe, it has not reached $175 million after three weekends. This soft return is impacting the decisions on the proposed stand-alone character films. The Obi-Wan Kenobi project is in the production phase, but the proposed Boba Fett title is now in the balance.

3. DEADPOOL 2 – $13.65m
Holding strong and after four weeks it is drawing a better per screen average than “Solo”. It should easily reach $300 million, and globally it has already taken in over $655 million.

4. HEREDITARY – $13.03m
A much-heralded title out of Sundance this drama-horror starring Toni Collette came in close to predictions. A strong performance against a very crowded field, if not a legitimate hit.

5. AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR – $6.83m
Just over $650 million domestic means that it has become only the fourth film to ever earn $2 billion worldwide. The main goal remaining for the comic smash hit is whether it will catch the “Black Panther” total in North America, at the $700 million line.

6. ADRIFT – $5.05m
The open ocean drama has not found a counter-program audience. After a soft opening last week it fell a sharp -56%.

7. BOOK CLUB – $4.2m
Still performing decently it had a light -40% drop as it shed 367 screens.

8. HOTEL ARTEMIS – $3.15m
A high-concept underworld offering about an underground hospital for criminals. Despite a cast choked with stars it collapsed entirely. The marketing never landed and the reviews were very mixed, as were the audience expectations. It would need to have a critical boost, or exit poll raves, but everything was showing tepid apathy.

9. UPGRADE – $2.22m
This violent genre action pic was made to earn a fast buck, but it has actually held relatively well, with a -52 drop.

10. LIFE OF THE PARTY – $2.1m
Melissa McCarthy’s underperforming adult college comedy is about to take the rest of the summer off.