Box Office Round Up - 2-20-2018

Excelsior! I have been vindicated. After months of saying that Black Panther was going to be a huge hit, and tracking not confirming my suspicions…this weekend proved me right. But even I couldn’t predict just how well Black Panther did this weekend. The film shattered box office records with an over performing $241.9 million haul for the four-day weekend. The film is the second best four-day weekend behind Star Wars: The Force Awakens, and the fifth best domestic opening of all time. To put that in some context, Justice League’s entire domestic box office run came to $228 million. This also shows that tracking doesn’t always account for diverse audiences. Black Panther’s success should have people in Hollywood taking notice, and putting together larger films catering to those audiences as well.
 
WME should be EXTREMELY happy with Black Panther’s success as they represent writer/director Ryan Coogler and lead villain Michael B. Jordan. CAA will be happy as well as they represent co-star Lupita Nyong’o. The Black Panther himself, Chadwick Boseman, is repped by boutique Greene and Associates Talent Agency, as well as high profile management company Management 360.
 
In second place with $23 million is Peter Rabbit. In third with $19 million comes  Fifty Shades Freed – a holdover of folks celebrating Valentine’s Day late. Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle is still hanging round in fourth place with $10 million. Finally, in fifth place with $9.1 million comes Clint Eastwood’s the 15:17 to Paris.
 
The Greatest Showman finally falls out of the top five for the first time in two months, but not too far as it’s in sixth place. Aardman Animation’s Early Man didn’t give Peter Rabbit a run for its money as it came in seventh place, kinda underperforming, but not terribly. Maze Runner: The Death Cure is kicking it in eighth place, and Winchester and The Post round out the top ten in ninth and tenth respectively.  
 
Next week: Natalie Portman heads into the shimmer and fights monsters in Annihilation, the YA fantasy Every Day comes to theaters, and Rachel McAdams and Jason Bateman go to Game Night. Will any of them dethrone Black Panther? I doubt it.

1. Black Panther ($241.9 MM)
Dir: Ryan Coogler (WME)
Writers: Ryan Coogler (WME) and Joe Robert Cole (CAA|Circle of Confusion)  
 
Cast: Chadwick Boseman (Greene and Associates|Management 360)
         Michael B. Jordan (WME)
         Lupita Nyong’o (CAA)

2. Peter Rabbit ($23 MM)
Dir: Will Gluck (UTA)
Writers: Rob Lieber (Verve|Fourth Wall Management) and Will Gluck (UTA)
 
Cast:  James Corden (CAA|United Agents – UK)
          Rose Byrne (CAA|RGM Artists – AU)
          Domhnall Gleeson (Paradigm)

3. Fifty Shades Freed ($19 MM)
Dir: James Foley (UTA|Elevate Management)
Writer: Niall Leonard (Valerie Hoskins and Associates – UK)
 
Cast: Dakota Johnson (WME)
         Jamie Dornan (UTA|Troika – UK)
         Arielle Kebbel (Principal Entertainment LA)
 

4. Jumanji Welcome to the Jungle ($10 MM)
Dir: Jake Kasdan (WME)
Writers: Chris McKenna & Erik Sommers (UTA|Magnet Management), Scott Rosenberg and Jeff Pinkner (WME),  
 
Cast: Dwayne Johnson (WME)
         Kevin Hart (UTA|3 Arts)
         Karen Gillan (UTA)

5. The 15:17 to Paris ($9.1 MM)
Dir: Clint Eastwood (Gang, Tyre, Ramer and Brown)
Writer: Dorothy Blyskal (WME)
 
Cast: Alek Skarlatos (McKeon/Myones Management)
         Anthony Sadler (Entertainment Law Partners)
         Jenna Fischer (WME|Odenkirk Provissiero Entertainment)