'Annabelle' Sequel Shines as Summer 2017 Box Office Continues to Fade

August 13, 2017

It's a great weekend for Warner Bros. which saw Annabelle: Creation, the latest installment in the Conjuring franchise, top the box office with $35 million while Dunkirk topped $150 million domestically. However, fellow new releases struggled to give the box office much of a jolt as the top twelve brought in a combined $103.8 million, down 6% compared to last weekend and the fourth lowest weekend of 2017. Overall, the summer movie season is still down 12% compared to last year.

With an estimated $35 million, Annabelle: Creation opened at the top of the weekend box office, delivering nearly $24 million more than the weekend runner-up. This is the fourth feature in the Conjuring franchise which continues to deliver each time out. Carrying a budget of just $15 million this is also a great outing for director David F. Sandberg whose Lights Out performed very well for WB just last year, bringing in $67.2 million on a $5 million budget, and coming up he's said to be directing Shazam! for WB and New Line.

Opening weekend demos for Annabelle: Creation show the film played to an audience that was 52% female vs. 48% male with 54% of the audience coming in at 25 years or older. The film received a "B" CinemaScore, which is open par with the first film and behind the "A-" received by both of the first two Conjuring releases.

Internationally the film brought in an estimated $35 million from 39 markets for an overseas cume totaling $36.7 million. Highlights include a $6.6 million in South Korea, France saw a $2.9 million opening, $2.6 million debut in the UK, Russia opened with $2.3 million, and $1.8 million in Australia. Looking ahead, the film opens in Brazil and Mexico next week followed by Germany a week later and Spain and Japan in October.

GET MORE: Compare all four films from the Conjuring franchise side-by-side!

WB's Dunkirk finished in second with an estimated $11.4 million bringing the film's domestic cume to $153.7 million after 24 days in release. Internationally the film added an estimated $14.5 million bringing its overseas total to $210 million for a global cume that now stands at $363.6 million. The film has still yet to hit theaters in Italy, China and Japan.

Finishing in third with a mere $8.9 million is Open Road's The Nut Job 2: Nutty by Nature. Playing in 4,003 theaters this is the worst opening for a film playing in over 4,000 theaters by almost $16 million. It was only a couple weekends ago where The Emoji Movie held the record with $24.5 million from 4,075 theaters and before that it was The Mummy with a $31.7 million debut from 4,035 theaters. These are hardly the kinds of records any film wants to be setting. The Nut Job 2 received a "B+" CinemaScore from opening day audiences.

Sony's The Dark Tower dipped down to fourth position in its second weekend, falling 59% and bringing in an estimated $7.87 million for a domestic cume that now totals $34.3 million. Internationally the film added $7.9 million for an overseas cume of $19.3 million and a global cume of $53.6 million.

Rounding out the top five is the aforementioned Emoji Movie, which dipped 45% this weekend for an estimated $6.6 million. The film's domestic cume now stands at $63.5 million after 17 days in release. Internationally the film brought in an estimated $14.1 million this weekend from 42 markets for an international cume of $33.6 million. Upcoming markets include Russia next weekend followed by Brazil in late August, Australia, Italy and France.

Finishing just outside the top five is Universal's Girls Trip, the highest grossing live-action comedy of 2017 with an estimated $6.5 million weekend and a domestic cume that now totals $97.1 million. The film will top the century mark later this week.

And finding its way into the top ten is Lionsgate's release of The Glass Castle, which finished a bit higher than Mojo's forecast, but still came in below industry expectations with an estimated $4.87 million from 1,461 theaters for an average of $3,337 per location. The film played well to audiences, which were 80% female and 76% 25 years or older and received an "A-" CinemaScore.

Outside the top ten, a major highlight is Edgar Wright's Baby Driver topping $100 million domestically with an estimated $1.47 million this weekend. This is Wright's highest grossing domestic release by nearly $75 million and is almost $95 million more than the combined gross for all four of his previous four releases. Internationally, the film is up to $66.7 million after adding another $6 million this weekend from 47 markets and it still has release dates set for Japan next weekend followed by Russia, China, Italy and South Korea.

Further down the chart, Paramount's continued expansion of Al Gore's An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power isn't having the same impact as the original. The film increased its theater count to 556 (+376) over its third weekend and saw a 17% drop, bringing in an estimated $800,000 for a domestic cume that now totals $2.3 million. Comparatively, the first tim didn't reach 500+ theaters until its fifth weekend during which it brought in over $2 million on its way to a $24.1 million domestic run.

The Weinstein Co.'s Wind River also expanded this weekend into 45 theaters (+41) and jumped nearly 300% compared to last weekend, bringing in an estimated $642,067 ($14,268 PTA).

In limited release, Reliance debuted Toilet: Ek Prem Katha into 175 locations where it brought in an estimated $709,420 ($4,054 PTA). Meanwhile, Well Go was busy releasing two new titles including the South Korean drama A Taxi Driver, which opened to an estimated $332,000 on 41 screens for an $8,098 per screen average and Once Upon a Time, the fantasy romance from China based on the best-selling novel "Three Lives, Three Worlds: Ten Miles of Peach Blossoms", which debuted with an estimated $256,500 on 51 screens for a $5,029 per-screen average.

Neon debuted Ingrid Goes West into three theaters where it brought in an estimated $141,216 for a chart-topping $47,072 per theater average. Ingrid stars Elizabeth Olsen and Aubrey Plaza and will expand over the coming weekends.

Right behind Ingrid when it comes to theater averages was A24's Good Time, which brought in an estimated $137,625 from four NY and LA theaters for a $34,406 per theater average. The crime thriller, which stars Robert Pattinson, will expand into several top markets next weekend, ahead of a national expansion on August 25.

Roadside's release of Amazon's The Only Living Boy in New York debuted in 15 theaters where it brought in an estimated $57,619 for a $3,841 per theater average.

Additionally, IFC released The Trip to Spain, the third film in Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon's Trip franchise, which opened with $45,306 from three locations ($15,102 PTA), which is down compared to the limited openings for the first two films, which both went on to gross over $2 million with 2014's The Trip to Italy reaching $2.8 million. The film did, however show an increase from Friday to Saturday, suggesting solid word of mouth, which IFC will be hoping for with the film expanding into the top 15 markets next weekend followed by a further expansion over Labor Day weekend.

Next weekend sees the release of a pair of action comedies in Lionsgate and Summit's release of The Hitman's Bodyguard and Bleecker's release of Logan Lucky as the two studios hope there is enough audience to go around in a very slow marketplace.