‘Dunkirk’ Exceeds Box Office Expectations While ‘Valerian’ Falls Cosmically Flat
Dunkirk has nabbed the top spot in this weekend’s box office as numbers continue to roll in. The Christopher Nolan film has exceeded expectations and predictions as it earned a respectable $50.5 million this weekend. The World War II epic beat out fellow newcomers Girls Trip and Valerian by staggering amounts.
Dunkirk‘s stellar weekend kicked off with a $19.7 million on Friday in 3,720 locations. The film still has quite a ways to go before crossing its $150 million budget line, but projections are predicting it will.
Coming in at second this weekend was laugh-out-loud comedy Girls Trip. The female-led cast starring Queen Latifah and Jada Pinkett Smith earned a cool $30 million as reported by Box Office Mojo. Spider Man: Homecoming earned $22 million in its third weekend landing it in the No. 3 spot. War for the Planet of the Apes earned an honest $20 million in its second week which puts it at No. 4 for the weekend.
Falling embarrassingly flat at the No. 5 spot is debuter Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets. The cosmic action film has been praised for its visual effects, but most moviegoers opted for better selections this weekend. It’s unusual for a debut film to fall behind movies in their second and third weeks, but was the unfortunate turn out for this Cara Delevingne flick. The movie has quite a ways to go before earning back the $200 million budget that was expended.
Deadline reports Nolan’s newest film pushed Warner Bros. over the billion dollar revenue edge this weekend, marking the seventeenth time the company has hit the threshold. Wonder Woman, The Lego Batman Movie, and Kong: Skull Island are responsible for the majority of the domestic billion dollar gross. Dunkirk now holds the No. 4 spot for highest earning Warner Bros. film in 2017.
Buena Vista and Universal already crossed the billion dollar threshold earlier this year, but neither studio has the impressive streak of Warner Bros. BV has Beauty and the Beast and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 to thank, while Universal relied on the successes of The Fate of the Furious and Despicable Me 3.
Dunkirk’s modest opening wasn’t expected, as war movies generally have a smaller audience than those of superhero and comedy flicks. The movie’s impressive 92 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes could be partially responsible for the successful opening. Warner Bros. president of domestic distribution, Jeff Goldstein, believes Dunkirk‘s impressive director deserves the thanks.
“It’s been universally well received throughout the world, Chris Nolan has an incredible fan base.”
He’s absolutely right. Nolan’s fan base only continues to grow with each movie, as he seems to capture the attention of almost every demographic. Fans really became aware of what Nolan could do with the Dark Knight trilogy, Inception, and Interstellar. Now with Dunkirk on his back, Nolan is solidified as one of the greatest directors of our time.
Dunkirk is out now in theaters and IMAX everywhere.
[Featured Image by Warner Bros.]
