Weekend Box Office Report: Paramount Finally Rips Band-Aid, Others Hold Well

In an alternate universe, maybe Paramount's misguided mishap would've been the next Avatar...

Anyways, we all saw it coming. Monster Trucks' tires deflated. Opening at #7, behind several holdovers, the film took in $10 million for the three-day. It's also doing nothing in the few territories it's out in. With a 3x multiplier, the thing won't make more than $30 million, so yes. Big loss, but again, we knew it was going to happen. Paramount knew it back in August, the spillover from the previous guard is finally here and off their chests. Cult favorite in a few years? Or something that'll be locked in the bad box?

Paramount Animation will be fine. A few days ago, it seemed like a few heads were optimistic about their more animated future. By that, I mean we'll be seeing more caricature animation films from them, less live-action movies with hyper-real VFX elements.

Sing still crows, dropping a great 33% and reeling in $18 million for the weekend. At this point, somewhere between $250-270 million seems to be the sky. The picture's now at $397 million worldwide, still has to open in some key markets, as noted before. How long before Universal and Illumination officially ink Sing 2's 2019 release date?

Moana is now out of the Top 10, but it's still hanging ten. (My theater lost it this weekend.) It fell 38%, the gross to date is $231 million domestically. Worldwide, it's now at cruising its way towards $500 million, as it's now at $482 million. Finally past the 3x mark, Disney must be happy. Does it break out in Japan? Could it get to $600 million? We shall see...

Trolls is still around, dropping 12% and making 385k. $151 million domestically, $338 million worldwide. Still waiting on the verdict from DreamWorks themselves, whether this thing's a profit-maker or not.

Storks officially ended its run this past Thursday. $72 million here, $182 million worldwide. Non c'è male!

What are saying for The Lego Batman Movie's opening numbers?

UPDATE: MLK weekend totals...

Four-days are in...

Monster Trucks has made $15 million now, an $29 million worldwide.

Sing is now up to $238 million domestically, and $402 million worldwide.

Moana is still at $233 million, as it's pretty late into its run. $484 million worldwide.

Trolls stayed the same.

Review(s): 'Storks' is a Cartoony Animated Comedy Done Right

We may want to leave a lot behind, and leave certain things in 2016... What we want to take with us, however, is a pretty solid crop of animated movies. One of which I just saw for the first time...

Storks.

Yes, Warner Animation Group's second feature, a fun little comedy outsourced to Sony ImageWorks up in Vancouver. Storks is the movie that Sony Animation hasn't made in a while, and it's also one of the better animated comedy romps made in the last few years.

Spoilers follow...

I liked the characters a great deal! The film's sense of humor channels The Lego Movie and other irreverent cartoon comedies, but it definitely swings more towards classic Looney Tunes. The premise is pretty fun and inventive as well, and while some may say that rings similar to Pixar, I don't mind. Pixar did not create the "what if so-and-so" story, though they do specialize in it. On paper, Storks sounds like it takes a lot from other places. It does, it's not ashamed of that, but...

It does very cool things with what it has. I found myself really laughing at the jokes, but I actually really liked how they executed the story. The way they set up the storks' headquarters was really neat, and the machine they used to use to make babies. You have other things that really work, from Tulip's backstory to the subplot with the family. There's actually some real heart in the subplot alone, and how the kid Nate - who ends up being the older brother to the pink-haired baby Junior and Tulip have to deliver - just wants to spend time with his overworked parents.

The storks at CornerStore, an Amazon-esque parody located on a ridiculously high mountain above the clouds, have given up baby delivery. Their boss Hunter has turned the facility into a package delivery empire, and he's adamant that they don't go back to babies. Everything's pulled off with such zazz. Really picking up once Junior and Tulip set out to deliver the pink-haired baby that they accidentally used the machine to make, the film goes all sorts of weirdo directions. Everything concerning the wolf pack is downright hilarious, definitely spicing up the middle.

The film's offbeat sense of humor keeps what is actually a straightforward adventure firing on all cylinders. Not only do the wolves bring that, but also the Pigeon Toady, an intentionally hyper-obnoxious toupee-wearing chirper who is always talking like someone trying to be hip. Sometimes the film gets a little too frenetic, and at times it does feel a bit undercooked, but what bolsters the tone is the very strong character animation. Look, I may be souring on CG films trying to be so hyper-real yet trying to stay caricature-y in some way, but Storks' character animation really impressed me. The movements, the acting, it was just right.

Other than that, it's a very there-looking kind of movie. Undeniably pretty for something made for $70 million, it's not earth-shattering... But those movements! That character animation! It is no surprise, for director Doug Sweetland utilized Looney Tunes energy and slapstick in his Pixar short Presto, it carried over nicely into this film. If Mr. Sweetland ever got to make The Familiars a few years back at Sony Animation, I think it would've played out like this. I hope he secures more animation directing work in the future, because he nailed it! With the help of a solid script from the other director, comedy man Nicholas Stoller, it just really hits a sweet spot.

A good cartoony animated feature isn't easy to make. After Disney's few irreverent comedies of the 1990s and early 2000s, I feel few did this particular type of movie justice. Blue Sky did it with the first Ice Age, and to a lesser extent, Rio. Sony Animation impressed with Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, while I feel the first Despicable Me was actually a home run for Illumination. DreamWorks got it really right with their Madagascar 3. So Storks being a very good feature-length cartoon? That's a high honor in my book. It's gleefully silly, heartfelt, and pretty well-written. Not without some roughness around the edges, it flew to me.

Other things I saw recently... SPOILERS for these too...

Though this is mostly a Storks-related post, I'll briefly comment on other recent films I've seen.

The Nice Guys - This won't be everyone's cup of tea, but I quite dug it. A seedy, 70s-set buddy cop comedy with a groovy aesthetic and atmosphere, The Nice Guys has a pretty tight script though it can be convoluted at times. That all being said, it has some strong action scenes, it parodies 70s movies and shows with gusto, has a good if not slightly anachronistic soundtrack (my music nerd is showing here, I know!), and it's got a different sense of humor.

Doctor Strange - A big one right here, being a Marvel Cinematic Universe installment. Like Guardians of the Galaxy, Doctor Strange takes a good-sized risk: Introduce a whole new side of the MCU, in its case, the magical side. While Thor was a mild tease of Marvel's cosmic side, Guardians of the Galaxy was a full-blown jump into space. This sinks us right into magic, alternate dimensions, psychedelic altering of reality, all kinds of mind-bending stuff. All the players are good here, and Stephen Strange is immediately likable the minute you see him... He's basically me when it comes to music and the years certain songs/albums came out!

Despite a little too much over-explaining and exposition, and a rather dull villain, Doctor Strange lives up to its name and gets a little trippy at times. It also boasts a very satisfying third act battle, and is surprisingly very quiet in stretches, really refreshing in a world of blockbusters blowing stuff or being loud most of the time. In many ways, it felt like a Phase 1 MCU movie, mostly Iron Man. Slow-burn first third, some solid action in the middle, and a cool climax. Not a fantastic entry in the series, but one well-worth checking out.

Rogue One - This launching of the non-Episode chapters of Star Wars is more or less director Gareth Edwards' Godzilla. Many complained his Godzilla film, released two years ago, had very little Godzilla in it and very boring lead characters. I was on the other side of the coin, I loved everything but the leads, who were just decent characters at best. It's a film with an awesome story, but with rather rote leads. I loved how they looked at Godzilla and his duel with other creatures from a human perspective, and the sheer suspense that came with all of that.

Basically, Rogue One is pretty much that. I love how they tell the story of how the rag-tag group of rebels stole the Death Star plans, even though we know how it's all going to end. Outside of frontrunner Jyn Erso and the on-point droid K-2SO (Alan Tudyk!), the other characters are just kind of there. No standout personalities or anything, but they get the job done. Its first two thirds are satisfactory, and the film does a great job at blending a rougher atmosphere with the classic Star Wars feel and tone. We are really in the middle of the war here, and the violence is a little more real. This is handled without sacrificing what we love about the galaxy far, far away. The third act blows everything out of the water, with an absolutely perfect final five minutes.

People worried that Disney would kiddify Star Wars? People worried that they'd make Darth Vader break out into song? People worried the reshoot rumors meant that Disney was going to water this off-the-beaten-path installment down? Darth Vader's climactic rampage is one of the iconic villain's most intense and chilling moments ever... All in Disney's Rogue One: A Star Wars Story...

Weekend Box Office Report: Small Stumbles

With Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them expectedly topping the chart, a few movies have seen some pretty good-sized drops.

Trolls is currently in third place, and it's a smidgen behind Doctor Strange. Both movies dropped over 50% this weekend, the Marvel sorcerer seeing an unsurprisingly harsher drop. Trolls collected $17 million (estimate) for the weekend, and is at $116 million here in the states. Overseas numbers are a little sluggish right now, as the picture's still below $300 million worldwide. Next weekend, I think, will also be something of a test for Trolls. It could either hold up quite nicely against Moana, or get hit a little hard.

Even films outside the Marvel and DreamWorks wheelhouses dropped pretty hard this week, so all-around it's just an okay week for holdovers. I expect Fantastic Beasts to see a bit of dipping next week, as Moana is sure to be open big.

Storks fell off 60%, it has crept to $71 million here and $175 million worldwide. This is the final set of laps, methinks. I wonder how much higher it'll go overseas. It has officially made 2 1/2x its budget. I hope Warner Bros. is happy with it. Kubo and the Two Strings is pretty much done, I doubt it'll make much in the two markets that haven't gotten it yet: Poland and Bulgaria. $47 million domestically and $69-71 million worldwide it is.

Finding Dory is still juicing in some small venues, total is pretty much the same here. $1,026 million worldwide, still a few clicks above Zootopia. It's the year's biggest animated film. The Blu-ray cover for the film states that it's the biggest, too... But only at the domestic box office. The covers for these things are made and printed looooong before they hit stores, so I guess at the time, Disney bean counters weren't sure if the fishies would overtake the animals. In a way, that's quite exciting.

See, I thought the Pixar sequel to the beloved hit from 13 years ago would've easily been this year's animated champion. While Finding Dory is the champion, it literally eked by Zootopia to claim the trophy. No, Disney Animation's little animal movie was the little animated movie that could. Projections said it would do good but no exceptionally, it did more than just that. Reminds me of how Disney wasn't so sure about an animal picture some 22 years ago. It just proves that old William Goldman quote... "Nobody knows anything... Not one person in the entire motion picture field knows for a certainty what's going to work."

Some thought Trolls would open with a meager $25-30 million and finish up with $90 million at best, that's clearly not the case, three weeks in.

Anyways, prime time will truly be in full swing by next weekend.

Weekend Box Office Report: 'Storks' Keeps Hovering, 'Trolls' Incoming

We're now in the final stretch, before the holiday season kicks off next weekend. Everything winds down, while other movies are winding up...

Down just 30% in its last weekend all to itself, Storks is making it to the seven-oh. It should settle for a decent $75-77 million domestic haul when all is said and done. Worldwide, it is now at $153 million, barely double the budget. Hopefully it lands closer to $200 million soon.

That's the only animated picture in the Top 10 right now. Bubbling far below at #25 is The Secret Life of Pets, at $366 million domestically and $868 million worldwide. Watch the sequel break a billion in summer 2018.

Kubo and the Two Strings saw a nice 100% rise, it has one more weekend then the Blu-ray hits (alongside Sausage Party, both on Election Day), it's at $47 million here and $67 million around the world. The film is LAIKA's lowest-grossing, but that doesn't matter. They have the clout to keep doing these films.

Finding Dory is still at $485 million here, but at $1,021 million worldwide. Just two millions away from topping Zootopia as biggest animated movie of the year. It's really rocking in territories like Germany, it seems!

Sausage Party is pretty much done, $97 million domestically and $136 million worldwide. Expect more sequel announcements soon.

Trolls spiked a little overseas, it's now at $61 million, indicating that the new DreamWorks film could be saved by other countries if the stateside gross is not up to par. At this point I see it missing $100 million domestically, but who knows. I still think they threw away an opportunity by not releasing it in mid-October here in the states, when that field was arguably wide open.

How do you think next weekend will go?

Weekend Box Office Report: 'Storks' Continues to Ease, 'Trolls' Starts Overseas

Yet another pretty slow October weekend, but that means the current crop can ease.


Storks only fell 28%. It seems the final total for this film, currently at $64 million domestically, will be somewhere in the mid-70s. Just a good click below a similar September animated opener from a decade ago, Open Season. Sony was happy with that film's $197 million worldwide haul against its $85 million budget. Right now, Storks has doubled its $70 million budget worldwide. A few more chugs, and Warner Bros. should be happy with its performance.

Finding Dory lingers in the Top 25, still at $485 million domestically, $1,017 million worldwide. It's a few clicks away from outgrossing Zootopia and becoming this year's highest grossing animated film. It remains the grand champion of animation box office domestically, as the previous record was held for 12 years by Shrek 2. If Moana pulls a billion, the mouse will be a happy camper: Three animated releases of theirs, one Pixar, two from their once-ailing animation house, makin' the big billions.

We are so far from where we were ten years ago, when Disney Animation was scraping the bottom of the box office barrel and mostly putting out disappointing efforts.

Pretty much on its final legs, Kubo and the Two Strings may or may not hit $50 million domestically. It's currently at $47 million here, and $66 million all around the world. It doesn't matter, because LAIKA has the clout to keep making stop-motion extravaganzas. Also, $47 million is 3.9x the opening weekend gross. Shows that word-of-mouth was pretty strong!

The Secret Life of Pets treks slowly to $370 million here, it has topped $860 million worldwide. $366 million stateside, $864 million worldwide. Ice Age: Collision Course still skates a bit, $64 million domestically and $406 million worldwide. Sausage Party looks to just miss $100 million, but the little $19 million movie topped $135 million around the world.

On the other side of the globe, things are happening with the new kid on the block.

Trolls has collected $21 million overseas, as it rolled out in some territories recently. I think Fox and DreamWorks dropped the ball by keeping the early November release date for the US bow, as October was pretty much family film-free and it's out now in other countries. I get the sense that Fox just doesn't care, and will toss the remaining DreamWorks films that they have on hand, if Boss Baby's super-divisive teaser is any indicator.

Anyways, tracking says Trolls won't top $30 million for the weekend, but anything is possible. Remember when tracking said Home wouldn't make much more than like $25-30 million on opening weekend? Then in the week leading up to its release, the tracking folk were saying "$35-45 million", and it opened with $52 million. Anything goes, sometimes. Maybe Fox/DreamWorks can give it one last, eleventh-hour kick and have the little flick stack up well against the oncoming Marvel monster Doctor Strange.

On a side note, both films - visually - are kind of similar to me. Doctor Strange is psychedelic in one way, while Trolls is psychedelic in another. Doctor Strange is like Matrix mindbender-level stuff, while Trolls is the colorful, fuzzy, cute kind of psychedelia. It'll make for an interesting pair that weekend...

What say you?

Weekend Box Office Report: Billion Dollar Dory, 'Storks' Still Flies

Estimates for now, weekend actuals to be posted on Monday...

Another relatively quiet weekend, but some things are happening here and there...

Storks fell 37%, and is now sitting at $50 million domestically and $104 million worldwide. Certainly not the drop Open Season - the best we can compare this movie's run to - had on its third weekend, as that was at $59 million domestically by that point. Again, Storks cost $70 million, it's not too far from doubling that. Should it make above, around say, $180 million worldwide, it should be a success for Warner Bros. I've been watching Storks in particular, because I think it could set a new precedent.

Next in line is Sausage Party, which rose 139% because of an expansion, apparently extra footage was added to the film's ending. My theater didn't get this re-release. It's at $97 million domestically, $129 million. Quite the hit.

Notably, Finding Dory jumped 10 spaces up and rose 136%. Still at $484 million domestically, it has finally topped $1 billion worldwide. Amazing that it'll finish behind an all-original animated movie that came out a few months before it...

We did it... A calendar year where two all-animated pictures topped $1 billion worldwide...

Right behind it is The Secret Life of Pets, falling only 26% and landing at $365 million here, $848 million worldwide. Illumination really, really scored with this one. Watch Pets 2 be a potential candidate for highest grossing animated feature.

Kubo and the Two Strings is pretty much disappearing, falling 54%, the climb to $50 million may be a bit of a struggle from here on out. Even then, if it doesn't reach it, it still had incredible legs. It's at $63 million worldwide.

The Wild Life still lingers, going up 12%, but $8 million will be this one's final domestic gross. $30 million worldwide.

And so we wait for the trolls...

Weekend Box Office Report: 'Storks' Eases, 'Dory' Near $1 Billion

It looks like Storks will be all set.

As said before, the film cost $70 million to make, so not too much is riding on the back of this pretty well-liked animated comedy. It fell a good 36%, ending up at $38 million domestically. Worldwide, it's at $77 million, so it's slowly but surely picking up steam. If it follows Open Season's ten-year-old trajectory, then the picture will end up with $77 million domestically. Overseas grosses should get it up to a good near-$200 million total worldwide, which Warner Bros. should be satisfied with, which I elaborated upon here.

Right now, Storks is the only caricature animation film flying around the Top 10. Kubo and the Two Strings fell 58%, it looks like the crawl to $50 million will be slow, but that will still be 4.1x its opening gross. Worldwide, it's at $61 million. The Blu-ray is coming in a little over a month.

The Secret Life of Pets continues to linger and linger and linger. It fell 36%, it's at $364 million domestically and $834 million worldwide. Just wow... Sausage Party fell 66%, still below $100 million domestically, but it doesn't matter, the budget was tiny on this one. $124 million worldwide, 6 1/2x the budget. Titmouse's adults-only feature Nerdland is hitting theaters thanks to Samuel Goldwyn Films, and perhaps this months-old movie got picked up because of how well the food film did.

Finding Dory looks to finish with around $485-486 million when all is said and done, but it surged in Germany, bringing the worldwide gross up to $986 million. It is now officially getting closer, and as Cartoon Brew noted, this will be the first year where two animated features (again, of the caricature/not same-as-real-life variety) have cracked the big billion at the worldwide box office. Yes, this year has been pretty darn good to the medium...

Little to no movement on Ice Age cinque, The Wild Life fell 25 places, lost 1,200+ theaters, and dropped 87%. The picture looks to barely crack $8 million domestically, much worse than Norm of the North. I hate to think what Lionsgate will do to Rock Dog this coming February... But what matters is, the microbudgeted movie made it back worldwide.

What say you?

Box Office Report: 'Storks' Flies Low, 'Kubo' Lingers, 'Wild Life' Dead

Results are in, Warner Animation Group's second didn't quite soar.

However, Storks is far from doomed. The movie only cost around $70 million to make, as it was done by Sony ImageWorks in Vancouver. WAG's projects aren't animated in-house, hence their name: Warner Animation Group. The Lego Movie was a co-production between Animal Logic (also out of town) and a few other houses, while the upcoming Smallfoot will mostly be done at Sergio Pablos' Madrid studio. Smart strategy, but...

Why did Storks not open much higher than $20 million? Warner didn't seem to put much effort into marketing this one, methinks, putting all the love into Suicide Squad. Understandable in a way, if they were so disappointed with how Batman v Superman did ($872 million, in this day and age, is a disappointment... Because of an astronomical high budget and marketing costs... Let that sink in...), they were absolutely banking on the villain team-up to save them from an overall lousy year. Storks was much lower budget, so they probably figured a ho-hum campaign would be enough for it.

Anyways, $140 million is double the film's budget, should make that worldwide and should be all set. I'm confident it won't flop. It doesn't have much family competition up until Trolls hits, so it should do the usual multiplier for an animated family film. Word of mouth seems good, so we'll see how high it flies from here on out. As long as it's profitable, no worries, but c'mon WB. You coulda put more oomph into the non-Lego movie. Heck, you've felt The Lego Batman Movie's presence (which is opening in February, no less) more than Storks'. I know, I know, not every animated film is meant to pull those huge numbers out of a hat, regardless of their quality. At least WB was smart in not making this some $100 million-costing goliath. They'll win in the end.

Kubo and the Two Strings hangs in the top 10, losing 500+ screens, dropping 56%, and landing at $45 million domestically. Worldwide, it has collected $58 million, still quite below the other LAIKAs, but a few countries just got the picture, and quite a few more markets are left. Can it at least crack $100 million worldwide? We shall see.

The Secret Life of Pets still has some staying power, landing ahead of later films like Sausage Party and The Wild Life. Fell 45%, is now at $364 million domestically and $820 million worldwide. Hit-makers, Illumination's folk are. Watch Sing really soar this holiday season.

Sausage Party fell 52%, as it slowly crawls to the big one oh oh. $96 million here, $122 million everywhere. The Wild Life lost over 1,400 screens and dropped a massive 85%... Its third weekend. Curtains. No matter, the Belgian picture is at $29 million worldwide, it has doubled its tiny budget. Distributor Lionsgate will probably dump Rock Dog like this as well, come late February.

What say you?