Of the three new wide releases this weekend, two of them aren’t doing well with critics. The Dark Tower is currently at 18%, while Kidnap is a bit higher at 42%. To be fair, The Dark Tower has more than double the amount of reviews that Kidnap has. The third wide release is Detroit, which opened in limited release last weekend, and is loved by critics with a 92% certified fresh. These three films have to fend off Dunkirk, Girls Trip, and even The Emoji Movie to stay alive.
The Dark Tower is still an adaptation of a very popular Stephen King novel. And Dunkirk is now in its third weekend. So, the odds remain in Dark Tower’s favor that it will manage to win the weekend. I’ve seen projections anywhere from 17-23M for this film, which is a pretty decent range for an August title. Most of Stephen King’s books are horrors, and this is more of a sci-fi/western, so it’s hard to compare it directly to anything. The film lacks proven starpower with Idris Elba, but does have Matthew McConaughey.
In Kidnap, Halle Berry hopes her long gestating film can snag some views. They’ve tried to release this film before. It used to be with Relativity, before they went belly up. Now, we’re getting Kidnap, which could do OK. Also, Detroit, which really lacks stars, but has a ton of recognizable faces, from John Boyega to Anthony Mackie. Word of mouth might be generated from the positive critic buzz.
1) The Dark Tower- 18M Weekend, 18M Total
2) Dunkirk- 16M Weekend, 132M Total
3) The Emoji Movie- 14M Weekend, 51M Total
4) Girls Trip- 13M Weekend, 87M Total
5) Detroit- 11M Weekend, 11.5M Total
6) Kidnap- 10M Weekend, 10M Total
7) Spider-Man Homecoming- 8M Weekend, 294M Total
8) Atomic Blonde- 8M Weekend, 34M Total
9) War For The Planet Of The Apes- 5.5M Weekend, 129M Total
10) Despicable Me 3- 4.5M Weekend, 239M Total
