It’s time. It’s time for the final Box Office Predictions of the year. It’s time to talk about the extremely underwhelming opening for Warner Bros.’ Justice League. And, finally, it’s time to talk about Star Wars: Episode VIII – The Last Jedi. It. Is. Time.
NORTH AMERICAN OPENING WEEKEND PREDICTIONS:
- Star Wars: The Last Jedi – Disney – December 15h, 2017 – $218 million
- Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle – Sony / Columbia – December 20th, 2017 – $42 million
- Pitch Perfect 3 – Universal – December 22nd, 2017 – $36 million
Move out of the way everyone. All we have to talk about is Star Wars. While it is tempting to go above and beyond anything The Force Awakens opened to just because it is a sequel to a popular film, I, ultimately, think that opening was a once in a decade kind of opening.
The Force Awakens almost opened to $250 million in North America, thus destroying the record for the biggest opening weekend of all-time. I’m going to go a little bit above Jurassic World‘s impressive opening, but The Last Jedi definitely could open much higher if the reviews are even stronger than they were for Episode VII.
MAJOR OPENING WEEKENDS – NOVEMBER:
- A Bad Moms Christmas – STX Entertainment – November 1st, 2017 – $16 million (-4)
- Thor: Ragnarok – Disney – November 3rd, 2017 – $122 million (+25)
- Murder on the Orient Express – Fox – November 10th, 2017 – $28 million (+5)
- Daddy’s Home 2 – Paramount – November 10th, 2017 – $29 million (+4)
- Justice League – Warner Bros. – November 17th, 2017 – $93 million (-52)
- Coco – Disney – November 22nd, 2017 – $50 million (-4)
Here’s a sentence I never thought I’d have to say: Justice League opened to less than Man of Steel, Batman v Superman, Wonder Woman, and Suicide Squad. How did this happen? Well, that’s a long story. But, ultimately, this is a damning opening weekend for Warner Bros. and DC Films. Somethings aren’t working for audiences.
The story this month is that Justice League severely underperformed, while Marvel Studios’ Thor: Ragnarok made almost $30 million more in its opening weekend than Justice League did. It is a good thing. A great Marvel sequel is being rewarded, while the underwhelming event film was given a scolding at the box office.
THE BILLION DOLLAR CLUB:
- Beauty and the Beast — Disney — $1,263 billion
- The Fate of the Furious — Universal — $1,235 billion
- Despicable Me 3 — Universal — $1,032 billion
Box office totals as of December 6th, 2017, according to Box Office Mojo.
The Last Jedi will, at the very least, make more than a billion dollars. So, soon a second Disney film will be on the 2017 list. The big talking point here, as for right now, is, obviously, Justice League. It should’ve made around a billion dollars, but it ended up being a colossal disappointment for those predicting that kind of box office total and Warner Bros. executives alike.
– Jeffrey Rex Bertelsen
I'm Jeffrey Rex 