Box Office Report: PIKA PIKA!

By Kayleigh Donaldson | Film | May 12, 2019 |

By Kayleigh Donaldson | Film | May 12, 2019 |

So Pikachu, the bad news is that your movie didn’t manage to knock Avengers: Endgame off the top spot at the box office. But the good news is that you had a record opening for a video game adaptation, so that’s a win all round. Pokemon: Detective Pikachu made around $58 million in its first weekend, with a per theatre average almost identical to Endgame, but that movie’s in more cinemas and it’s also the biggest movie ever. In any case, that’s still pretty impressive for Pikachu. Given how video game adaptations are almost always box office disappointments, the fact that this movie managed to break the curse will be cause for celebration with Warner Bros. Expect this one to do very well internationally. It’s so cute!

But of course the king of the box office remains the MCU. Even with a 57% dip from the previous weekend, it still brought in over $63 million, bringing its domestic gross to over $723 million. It’s only the third film ever to top $700 million domestically, and it’s already overtaken Titanic as the second highest grossing film ever. Surely this thing will pass $3 billion? It’s only a matter of time.

Elsewhere in new releases, The Hustle opened to horrid reviews (mostly) but solid numbers, with a $13.5 million opening weekend that was about what United Artists expected. Poms, however, could only manage $5.1 million from 2750 theatres. That’s still better than Tolkien, which made $2.1 million and debuted at number nine. It’s a Fox Searchlight title, which means it’s now Disney’s problem, so I’m curious to see if this bodes well for the studio’s treatment of the much beloved indie wing.

In limited releases, Indian film Student of the Year 2 made $438,000 from 190 theatres; All is True, featuring Kenneth Branagh directing himself in the role of Shakespeare - how has he not already done this? - made $46,809 from four theatres; the sinfully underrated Mary Harron’s new movie, the Manson girls biopic Charlie Says, made $39,114 from 39 theatres.

This coming week sees the release of A Dog’s Journey, YA adaptation The Sun is Also a Star, and John Wick 3, baby!

You can check out the rest of the weekend box office here.

What films did you watch this weekend? Let us know in the comments.