Weekend Wrap-Up: Sonic Sets Records and Returns 2020 to the Top

February 19, 2020

Sonic the Hedgehog

The long weekend turned out to be a lot more lucrative than many predicted, especially on the top. Sonic the Hedgehog broke records for a video game adaptation opening with $58.02 million over the three-day weekend and $70.00 million including Monday. It wasn’t the only success story of the weekend, as Fantasy Island did well for a low-budget horror movie and The Photograph did well enough to break even, eventually. The overall box office rose dramatically from last weekend, up 64%. However, it was a holiday weekend, so impressive growth was expected. More importantly, the box office was up 26% from the same weekend last year. And while the misalignment in Valentine’s Day did have an effect, this is still a good result for the box office. 2020 has opened a nearly $100 million lead on 2019, up by $99 million or 8.4% at $1.28 billion to $1.18 billion. A few more weeks like this and I will start to become optimistic.

Sonic the Hedgehog became the fastest opening video game adaptation of all time earning $58.02 million / $70.00 million over the weekend. This topped the previous record-holder, Detective Pikachu, by a few million dollars, although the long weekend did help here. The film’s reviews remain in the overall positive level, making it one of the best-reviewed video game adaptations as well. Audiences gave the film an A-rating with CinemaScore, so it should have strong legs going forward. It will easily cross $100 million, making it the first film released by Paramount to get to the century mark in over a year.

Birds of Prey matched expectations nearly perfectly with $17.17 million / $19.70 million over the weekend for a total of $61.86 million after two weeks of release. The film should have no trouble matching its production budget domestically and as long as it can do as well internationally, it could still break even, eventually.

Fantasy Island earned as much over three days as many thought it would earn over four with an opening of $12.31 million / $13.75 million. Its reviews and its C minus from CinemaScore suggest short legs, even compared to the average horror film. That said, it only cost $7 million to make, so this isn’t going to kill its chances to break even.

The Photograph was next with $12.18 million / $13.25 million during its opening weekend. This is not as good as anticipated, but with its reviews and its B plus from CinemaScore, it might last long enough to break even, eventually. We are seeing that phrase a lot at the moment.

Bad Boys for Life rounded out the top five with $11.53 million / $13.10 million over the weekend for a running tally of $183.12 million after a month of release. It will get to $200 million domestically very shortly.

Downhill managed to avoid the Mendoza Line and that’s the only bit of good news we can say about it. The film managed just $4.62 million / $5.10 million during its opening weekend and when you add in its mixed reviews and its D-rating from CinemaScore, it will very likely have very short legs.

- Weekend Box Office Chart
- Friday Box Office Chart
- Thursday Box Office Chart

- Weekend Estimates: Sonic is Faster than a Speeding Pikachu
- Friday Estimates: Sonic Laps the Competition
- Thursday Night Previews: Sonic Speeds its way to $3 million
- Weekend Predictions: Will Audiences Love Sonic and the Other New Releases
- Theater Counts

- Biggest Single Day for a Video Game Adaptation
- Biggest Weekend Day for a Video Game Adaptation

Filed under: Weekend Wrap-up, Bad Boys For Life, Sonic The Hedgehog, Fantasy Island, Birds of Prey (And the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn), Downhill, The Photograph