Lego Batman flogs 50 Shades Darker at the Box Office

Lego Batman took the top box office spot with a whopping $55 million. This is so far the biggest opening debut of 2017, but it still fell a little short of expectations of over $60 million. The $80 million budget film is expected to continue doing very well, but not better than 'The Lego Movie' which had a $467 million worldwide run.

In the second spot Fifty Shades Darker also made a whipping $46.9 million which is great, but almost half of the grosses of the first film debut number ($86 million). While this might look a little 'darker' for this sequel, the truth is that it did better than the other films opening this week at the international front. Release on 53 other markets, 'Fifty Shades Darker' took a stunning $100.1 million for a worldwide thre days take of $147 million. That means it made its $55 budget three times. Whatever it makes from now on doesn't matter, its current numbers put it already on profit street and we will get another sequel next year.

John Wick: Chapter 2 came in third place with a hefty $30 million or double the numbers of the first film's debut grosses. Expect a 'Chapter 3' next year.

The three weeks champ Split finally conceded to the newer competition and fell to the fourth spot with $9.3 million for a current domestic total of $112 million...the best numbers a M. Night Shyamalan film had in more than a decade.

Finally in the fifth spot the Oscar nominated Hidden Figures added $8 million to its hidden stash for a current domestic take of $131 million.

 

So Lego Batman compares favorably with any of DCs attempts....remarkable. ::

 

It earned a 91% Fresh rating at RT which is just almost as favorable as The Dark Knight and miles ahead of whatever the DCEU has released so far after 'The Dark Knight' since 2005!

 

What a shitty opening for John Wick after all of the hype.

 

But its double what John Wick took in the same three days...in fact that has only totalled US$45 million domestically to-date.

 

Keep in mind that the first one had a worldwide gross of $86 million on a $20 million budget. The budget of this sequel is estimated to be close to $40 million, but it might end up making three or four times that amount. This is a low budget film by today's standards of $200 million plus megabudgets and if it makes over $100 million globally (it will) then it is a solid hit.