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Posted March 8, 2020 by Mike Tyrkus in News
 
 

Box-Office Weekend: Pixar Returns to the Top

Two new releases made noise this box-office weekend while another film rode a nationwide expansion to a place on the top ten as well. The latest Disney/Pixar production, Onward, led the weekend box office with an opening weekend debut of $40 million, easily besting the second-place film by nearly $25 million.

Last week’s number one film, The Invisible Man, dropped to second place this weekend with $15.2 million, giving the horror film a two-week total of $52.7 million. In third place was the weekend’s second new film, the Ben Affleck-led drama The Way Back. The film inspired enough people to see it that it managed to pick up $8.5 million during its opening weekend.

Onward posterMeanwhile, Sonic the Hedgehog fell from second-place to fourth making $8.0 million. Still, the film has made $140.8 million through four weeks, so the little guy probably doesn’t feel like he’s spinning his wheels too badly at this point. In its third week in release, The Call of the Wild, dropped two spots to finish in fifth place with $7.0 million.

Also debuting in the weekend box-office top ten, after expanding nationwide, was the latest interpretation of the beloved Jane Austen novel, Emma, which managed to take in $5.0 million over the weekend and now sports a three-week total of $6.9 million.

At long last giving up the fifth spot in the countdown, Bad Boys for Life dropped to seventh place with $3.1 million over the weekend. The film can now boast an eight-week total of $202 million. Falling two spots to eighth place and adding $2.2 million was Birds of Prey: And the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn which now sports an extremely disappointing five-week total of $82.6 million. Elsewhere, Impractical Jokers: The Movie dropped two spot to finish in ninth place with $1.8 million in its third weekend, which gives it a cumulative total of $9.7 million.

Finally, dropping to the final spot in our in the weekend box-office countdown was the FUNimation release My Hero Academia: Heroes Rising, which dropped from fourth place last week to finish in tenth this weekend, earing $1.5 million and raising the film’s two-week total to $12.7 million.

This week, another three films departed the weekend-box office. As of Sunday night, the critically-acclaimed Sam Mendes film, 1917, finished in eleventh place over the weekend, earning $2.7 million. This gives the Oscar-winner an eleven-week total of $158.4 million as it leaves the top ten for a second time after enjoying a post-Oscar resurrection. Also taking leave of the top ten was the less critically acclaimed Brahms: The Boy II, which made $2.6 million over the weekend. This lifted its three-week total to $11.8 million, pretty much assuring that a The Boy III might be rather tough to get off the ground. Finally, the horror reimagining of Fantasy Island made $2.3 million, giving it a four-week tally of $25.8 million. Sadly, this level of return on investments could suggest that future projects of this sort could be coming our way. Only time will tell.

Three new releases will hit theaters next weekend as Lionsgate releases Andrew and Jon Erwin’s I Still Believe, Vin Diesel returns in Bloodshot, and Universal dusts the mothballs off of The Hunt.

Weekend Box Office (March 6th – March 8th)

  1. Onward…$40.0 Million
  2. The Invisible Man…$15.2 Million
  3. The Way Back…$8.5 Million
  4. Sonic the Hedgehog…$8.0 Million
  5. The Call of the Wild…$7.0 Million
  6. Emma.…$5.0 Million
  7. Bad Boys for Life…$3.1 Million
  8. Birds of Prey: And the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn…$2.2 Million
  9. Impractical Jokers: The Movie…$1.8 Million
  10. My Hero Academia: Heroes Rising…$1.5 Million
Mike Tyrkus

Mike Tyrkus

Editor in Chief at CinemaNerdz.com
An independent filmmaker, co-writer and director of over a dozen short films, the Editor in Chief of CinemaNerdz.com has spent much of the last three decades as a writer and editor specializing in biographical and critical reference sources in literature and the cinema, beginning in February 1991 reviewing films for his college newspaper. He was a member of the Detroit Film Critics Society, as well as the group's webmaster and one-time President for over a decade until the group ceased to exist. His contributions to film criticism can be found in Magill's Cinema Annual, VideoHound's Golden Movie Retriever (of which he was the editor for nearly a decade until it too ceased to exist), the International Dictionary of Films and Filmmakers, and the St. James Film Directors Encyclopedia (on which he collaborated with editor Andrew Sarris). He has also appeared on the television program Critic LEE Speaking alongside Lee Thomas of FOX2 and Adam Graham, of The Detroit News. He currently lives in the Detroit area with his wife and their dogs.