1. The Dark Tower (review)- $19.5M
Stephen King's The Dark Tower crumbled in its opening weekend with a disappointing $19.5M. Yeah, it won the week, but so what? These numbers suck for a major studio effort based on one of the most popular book series on the planet. On the plus side, the film only cost $70M which is more than your typical King adaptation, but still pretty small. And if it had kicked ass this weekend it would probably be one of the summer's most profitable films. However, that didn't happen, despite a cast that featured Matthew McConaughey and Idris Elba. Surely, recent reports of a trouble production didn't help, and the bad reviews did extra damage. But when has that ever mattered for a King adaptation? The problem is The Dark Tower didn't look very good, the marketing was as unfocused as the finished product, and so here we are. Pretty sure the Man in Black has cast his evil spell all over this franchise, and any hopes of a TV series are kaput.
2. Dunkirk- $17.6M/$133.5M
3. The Emoji Movie- $12.3M/$49.4M
Smiley face emoji for Sony, who are doing pretty well with The Emoji Movie. The critically-reviled film about how emojis live in your smartphone held pretty well and earned $12.3M for $49M domestic, $62M worldwide. It would be forgettable news until you look at the far superior movies it's doing so much better than.
4. Girls Trip- $11.4M/$85.4M
It's not going anywhere, and frankly I want to see it again. Clearly I'm not alone.
5. Kidnap- $10.2M
I know, Halle Berry's thriller Kidnap looks exactly like her 2013 film, The Call, only with her as the victim this time. But it didn't fare quite as well, opening with $10M compared to its predecessor's $17M. Still, these aren't bad numbers for a film that was among the many victims of Relativity's bankruptcy. I don't have budget details but I'm guessing this didn't cost that much to produce and newbie distributor Aviron spent about $17M on marketing. Assuming this sticks around for a couple of weeks it may turn out okay.
6. Spider-Man: Homecoming- $8.8M/$294.9M
7. Atomic Blonde- $8.2M/$34.1M
>sigh< Look, Atomic Blonde wasn't an amazing film, but Charlize Theron deserves better than this. At Comic-Con the crowd roared feverishly when she begged people to come out and support women in action flicks just like this. And yet the result after two weeks is a pathetic $34M, $45M if you include foreign receipts. I'm disappointed in you again, America.
8. Detroit- $7.2M/$7.7M
Moving into wide expansion is Kathryn Bigelow's controversial drama, Detroit, about the Algiers Motel incident during the 1967 riots. The film is a powerhouse on all sides with Bigelow directing, plus Anthony Mackie, John Boyega, Will Poulter, and John Krasinski as part of the ensemble. Annapurna, making their first solo distributing effort, expanded it into over 3000 theaters for $7.2M and $7.7M overall. Not a bad start for the $34M-budgeted film, and the hope is that good reviews will carry it along and perhaps earn some Oscar buzz.
9. War for the Planet of the Apes- $6M/$130.2M
10. Despicable Me 3- $5.2M/$240.7M
