Friday Box Office Analysis
By Kim Hollis
September 7, 2019
BoxOfficeProphets.com
Yes, we take a nice little break from your regularly scheduled box office doldrums to bring about the return of Pennywise and the Losers' Club in IT: Chapter 2. The second adaptation of the book after a 1990 miniseries featuring a freaking fantastic Tim Curry, the first film earned a whopping $123.4 million in its opening weekend almost exactly two years ago. IT became the biggest horror movie ever with $327.5 million domestically plus another $372 million from international venues. I'd say it was a monster, but you'd roll your eyes.
IT: Chapter 2 won't have quite the same amount of success, as it debuted yesterday with $37.4 million, a number that includes $10.5 million from Thursday previews. You can blame the decline on worse reviews (IT 2 is 66 percent fresh at Rotten Tomatoes versus 86 percent fresh for the first film) and a massive runtime of two hours and 49 minutes. People, if you include trailers in your experience, you're dedicating about three hours and 20 minutes to this movie. It's a lot to ask, and also decreases overall showings. On the plus side for Warner Bros., since there aren't really any other good films in theaters right now, they can consume a TON of screens.
Over the course of the weekend, I think we can look for IT: Chapter 2 to earn $92.5 million. Yes, that's a big decline from the first chapter, but it's huge nonetheless. I do think it's a good lesson about the advantages of restraint, though.
There are truly no other box office stories of interest this weekend, though we can report that The Lion King has passed $525 million. Also, I did mention another clown in the opening paragraph. If you're wondering, I'm talking about Joker, which won the Golden Lion in Venice. It's probably fair to put Joaquin Phoenix up in the front for Best Actor consideration at this point, but we'll see.