“Sonic the Hedgehog” Has a Super Four-Day

By: Keaton Marcus

Diving into the weekend, video-game adaptation Sonic the Hedgehog had a record-breaking performance, surpassing expectations and easily topping. Otherwise, Birds of Prey continued its average run, and topped two new releases dubbed Fantasy Island and The Photograph, which marginally beat Bad Boys for Life, rounding out the top five. R-rated comedy Downhill also opened, but with limited success in tenth.

Topping the charts was Paramount’s Sonic the Hedgehog, which despite all odds, has been released, and just killed it in the box office. The live-action children’s picture earned a massive 58M from 4,167 locations, averaging $13,918 per-screen, giving way for 70M over the four-day President’s Day weekend. The movie surprisingly beat its 40M pre-weekend expectations, and provides a much-needed smash hit for Paramount. Comparatively, it even managed to take the record for the biggest opening for a video-game adaptation ever, topping Detective Pikachu (54.3M), also, its ahead of Dumbo (45.9M) and The LEGO Batman Movie (53M). For the finish, the three films above create an average multiplier of 2.8x, meaning a finish of about 160M, but the word-of-mouth may suggest much higher.

Internationally, Sonic the Hedgehog opened in 40 material markets with an estimated 43M, contributing to a global launch of 113M. Leading the pack was a 6.7M debut in Mexico, followed by the UK (6.2M), France (4.3M), Germany (3.3M), Brazil (3M), Australia (2.8M), Spain (2M), Italy (1.9M), Ukraine (1M) and Columbia (1M). Next week, Sonic will be released in Russia, and a March release for Japan, followed by an unknown date for China.

Review wise, critics shockingly thought it was passable, while audiences adored the movie, and named it near-perfect. Sweet and Sour has the film at 70/100 “sweet/sour” saying that its “familiar, but is a visually dazzling adaptation with Jim Carrey.” RottenTomatoes has it at an approval rating of 64% “Fresh” based on 148 reviews with a consensus of: “Fittingly fleet and frequently fun, Sonic the Hedgehog is a video-game inspired adventure the whole family can enjoy - and a fine excuse for Jim Carrey to tap into the manic energy that launched his career.” Audiences were much warmer, giving it a 94% rating on RT to go along with an excellent A CinemaScore, which bodes well for a good, perhaps long run.

In runner-up was WB and DC’s Birds of Prey which earned an estimated 17.3M on its sophomore session, dropping a respectable 48% from last weekend, and generating 19.8M over four days for a domestic total of 62M after 11 days in release. Internationally, it added another 23M from 78 markets for a foreign gross of 83.6M and a worldwide bout of 145.6M.

Thirdly, Sony’s horror reboot of the classic 1970’s TV show Fantasy Island grossed an estimated 12.4M from 2,784 locations, averaging a so-so $4,436 per-screen, also garnering 14M in four days. This is a little behind the 15M pre-weekend expectations, but it’s still the biggest opening for a horror film this year. Reviews, however, were still scathing and audiences gave it a mediocre C- CinemaScore, which isn’t exactly good either.

Overseas, Fantasy Island kicked off in 35 markets with just 7.6M, contributing to a worldwide opening of 21.6M, not terrific, but with a 7M budget, it will be fine. France led the way with a 1.3M opening, followed by Indonesia (950K), Australia (700K). Next week it’s set to be released in Germany followed by Russia (Mar 5), the UK (Mar 6), Mexico (Mar 27), Brazil (Apr 16) and South Korea (May 14).

In fourth place, we saw Universal’s new romance drama The Photograph which scrapped up 12.2M in three days, and 13.2M in four from 2,516 theaters. This isn’t a fiery debut, but it beat the 10M pre-weekend predictions, and with some good word-of-mouth, it’s a hit.

Rounding out the top five was Sony’s Bad Boys for Life which clambered to 11.4M, sliding just 5% from last weekend and reaching 12.9M for the four-day, capping 183M domestically. Internationally, the pic added another 11.1M, topping 187M foreignly and 370M worldwide. The movie will open in Italy next week.

The final new release was Fox Searchlight’s R-rated comedy Downhill which wasn’t until tenth place, where it earned just 4.6M from 2,301 theaters, also earning 5.1M over four days. The critical response was pretty mixed-to-negative and audiences hated it, giving it a lackluster D CinemaScore.

Next weekend, we see two new nationwide releases hitting theaters. First off, 20th Century Studio’s The Call of the Wild will be released (15-20M expectations) and STX’s horror sequel Brahms: The Boy II will also hit theaters (5-8M expectations).

TOP FIVE:

Sonic the Hedgehog
Birds of Prey
Fantasy Island
The Photograph
Bad Boys for Life