'It' Devours Competition with Record-Breaking $123 Million Opening
UPDATE: Warner Bros. has updated their estimate for It, reporting a $123.1 million opening for the horror film, expanding on the records set and detailed in our weekend recap below.
WEEKEND RECAP: With a monster, $117 million opening weekend Warner Bros. and New Line's It has delivered a record-breaking opening, breathing a little life back into the slumping domestic box office. The film has claimed the largest September opening, largest Fall opening, the largest opening for an R-rated horror film, not to mention the largest opening weekend for a horror film of any MPAA rating, and tops Open Road's new release Home Again in second place by nearly $110 million. Overall, the film accounted for more than 75% of the combined gross for the weekend's top twelve, and we've only just begun.
With an estimated $117 million, WB and New Line's It, an adaptation of the acclaimed Stephen King novel, claimed the weekend's #1 spot with ease, besting Open Road's new release of Home Again in second place by nearly $110 million, the fifth largest gap between first and second place all-time. The film also dusted the previous opening weekend record for an R-rated horror film, more than doubling Paranormal Activity 3's previous record of $52.5 million. In fact, It is already the fifth highest grossing R-rated horror film all-time after just three days in release.
The horror film's debut was the widest opening ever for an R-rated film and as such delivered the second largest opening for an R-rated movie behind Deadpool's $132.4 million opening last February. Additionally, the previous opening weekend record for September was held by Hotel Transylvania 2 with $48.5 million and the previous Fall opening weekend record was Gravity's $55.7 million, neither of which stood a chance against It and combined don't even come within $10 million.
It should be mentioned that rival estimates put It's opening over $120 million and some closer to $125 million. One obvious reason for the disparity has to do with Hurricane Irma hitting Florida this weekend where ~175 theaters are closed. The state typically represents 5.5-6.5% of the domestic gross each weekend.
It received a "B+" CinemaScore, which, for comparison, is below the "A-" the first two Conjuring films received and ahead of both Annabelle features. The audience was split nearly down the middle, playing 51% female vs. 49% male with 10% of the audience under the age of 18, of which scored the film an "A-". Overall 65% of the audience was over the age of 25.
Internationally, It brought in an estimated $62 million from 46 markets for a $179 million global debut. The overseas numbers include the largest opening weekend for a horror film in the U.K. ($12.3m), Russia ($6.7m), Australia ($5.9m), Brazil ($5.6m), Netherlands ($1.4m) and Poland ($1.15m). Upcoming releases include openings in The next key markets to open include Sweden and Mexico next week followed by France (Sep 20), Argentina (Sep 21), Germany (Sep 28) and Italy (Oct 19).
In second place is Open Road's Home Again, which brought in an estimated $9 million from 2,940 locations. The debut is just a shade ahead of Mojo's pre-weekend comparison to Bridget Jones's Baby, which opened with $8.6 million last September. Home Again scored a "B" CinemaScore from opening day audiences.
Lionsgate's The Hitman's Bodyguard finished in third with an estimated $4.85 million, down 54% from last weekend. The film's domestic cume now stands just shy of $65 million.
Warner Bros. and New Line also claimed fourth place on this weekend's chart with Annabelle: Creation now in its fifth week of release. Dropping 47% this weekend the film delivered an estimated $4 million as its domestic cume climbs to $96.2 million, soon to become the only August 2017 release to cross $100 million domestically.
Rounding out the top five is the Weinstein Co.'s Wind River. The film dropped 49% compared to last weekend, finishing with an estimated $3.2 million for a domestic cume topping $25 million.
Elsewhere, Spider-Man: Homecoming remains in the top ten in its tenth weekend in release with a domestic cume that now totals $327.7 million. The film's international cume got a big bump this weekend as it opened in China with an estimated $70.8 million, pushing its international total to $495.3 million. The film's worldwide total now stands at $823 million, making it the second largest Spider-Man release all-time behind Spider-Man 3 which finished with $890.9 million globally back in 2007.
Speaking of international totals, Universal and Illumination's Despicable Me 3 entered the weekend as the third 2017 release to top $1 billion worldwide. The film added another $6.2 million to that international total as its current worldwide cume reaches $1.006 billion, the third largest worldwide release of 2017.
WB's Wonder Woman brought in an estimated $662k this weekend and it has now crossed $410 million domestically, enough to become the fifth largest superhero release of all-time, pushing Iron Man 3 to sixth with $409 million.
In limited release IFC's Rebel in the Rye opened with $44,280 from four theaters ($11,070 PTA); China Lion's Twenty Two brought in an estimated $20k from 11 locations ($1,818 PTA); and The Orchard's Trophy opened with $3,474 in one theater.
Next weekend will be interesting as Darren Aronofsky's thriller mother! hits ~2,500 theaters as both it and It hope to reside alongside one another in harmony. Lionsgate will release American Assassin in over 3,000 locations and Open Road will debut All I See is You.
You can check out all of this weekend's estimated results right here and we'll be updating our charts with weekend actuals on Monday afternoon.
Discuss this story with fellow Box Office Mojo fans on Facebook. On Twitter, follow us at @boxofficemojo and author Brad Brevet at @bradbrevet.
WEEKEND RECAP: With a monster, $117 million opening weekend Warner Bros. and New Line's It has delivered a record-breaking opening, breathing a little life back into the slumping domestic box office. The film has claimed the largest September opening, largest Fall opening, the largest opening for an R-rated horror film, not to mention the largest opening weekend for a horror film of any MPAA rating, and tops Open Road's new release Home Again in second place by nearly $110 million. Overall, the film accounted for more than 75% of the combined gross for the weekend's top twelve, and we've only just begun.
With an estimated $117 million, WB and New Line's It, an adaptation of the acclaimed Stephen King novel, claimed the weekend's #1 spot with ease, besting Open Road's new release of Home Again in second place by nearly $110 million, the fifth largest gap between first and second place all-time. The film also dusted the previous opening weekend record for an R-rated horror film, more than doubling Paranormal Activity 3's previous record of $52.5 million. In fact, It is already the fifth highest grossing R-rated horror film all-time after just three days in release.
The horror film's debut was the widest opening ever for an R-rated film and as such delivered the second largest opening for an R-rated movie behind Deadpool's $132.4 million opening last February. Additionally, the previous opening weekend record for September was held by Hotel Transylvania 2 with $48.5 million and the previous Fall opening weekend record was Gravity's $55.7 million, neither of which stood a chance against It and combined don't even come within $10 million.
It should be mentioned that rival estimates put It's opening over $120 million and some closer to $125 million. One obvious reason for the disparity has to do with Hurricane Irma hitting Florida this weekend where ~175 theaters are closed. The state typically represents 5.5-6.5% of the domestic gross each weekend.
It received a "B+" CinemaScore, which, for comparison, is below the "A-" the first two Conjuring films received and ahead of both Annabelle features. The audience was split nearly down the middle, playing 51% female vs. 49% male with 10% of the audience under the age of 18, of which scored the film an "A-". Overall 65% of the audience was over the age of 25.
Internationally, It brought in an estimated $62 million from 46 markets for a $179 million global debut. The overseas numbers include the largest opening weekend for a horror film in the U.K. ($12.3m), Russia ($6.7m), Australia ($5.9m), Brazil ($5.6m), Netherlands ($1.4m) and Poland ($1.15m). Upcoming releases include openings in The next key markets to open include Sweden and Mexico next week followed by France (Sep 20), Argentina (Sep 21), Germany (Sep 28) and Italy (Oct 19).
In second place is Open Road's Home Again, which brought in an estimated $9 million from 2,940 locations. The debut is just a shade ahead of Mojo's pre-weekend comparison to Bridget Jones's Baby, which opened with $8.6 million last September. Home Again scored a "B" CinemaScore from opening day audiences.
Lionsgate's The Hitman's Bodyguard finished in third with an estimated $4.85 million, down 54% from last weekend. The film's domestic cume now stands just shy of $65 million.
Warner Bros. and New Line also claimed fourth place on this weekend's chart with Annabelle: Creation now in its fifth week of release. Dropping 47% this weekend the film delivered an estimated $4 million as its domestic cume climbs to $96.2 million, soon to become the only August 2017 release to cross $100 million domestically.
Rounding out the top five is the Weinstein Co.'s Wind River. The film dropped 49% compared to last weekend, finishing with an estimated $3.2 million for a domestic cume topping $25 million.
Elsewhere, Spider-Man: Homecoming remains in the top ten in its tenth weekend in release with a domestic cume that now totals $327.7 million. The film's international cume got a big bump this weekend as it opened in China with an estimated $70.8 million, pushing its international total to $495.3 million. The film's worldwide total now stands at $823 million, making it the second largest Spider-Man release all-time behind Spider-Man 3 which finished with $890.9 million globally back in 2007.
Speaking of international totals, Universal and Illumination's Despicable Me 3 entered the weekend as the third 2017 release to top $1 billion worldwide. The film added another $6.2 million to that international total as its current worldwide cume reaches $1.006 billion, the third largest worldwide release of 2017.
WB's Wonder Woman brought in an estimated $662k this weekend and it has now crossed $410 million domestically, enough to become the fifth largest superhero release of all-time, pushing Iron Man 3 to sixth with $409 million.
In limited release IFC's Rebel in the Rye opened with $44,280 from four theaters ($11,070 PTA); China Lion's Twenty Two brought in an estimated $20k from 11 locations ($1,818 PTA); and The Orchard's Trophy opened with $3,474 in one theater.
Next weekend will be interesting as Darren Aronofsky's thriller mother! hits ~2,500 theaters as both it and It hope to reside alongside one another in harmony. Lionsgate will release American Assassin in over 3,000 locations and Open Road will debut All I See is You.
You can check out all of this weekend's estimated results right here and we'll be updating our charts with weekend actuals on Monday afternoon.
Discuss this story with fellow Box Office Mojo fans on Facebook. On Twitter, follow us at @boxofficemojo and author Brad Brevet at @bradbrevet.
