Weekend Box Office: The Bad Guys Repeats on Top on Calm Weekend Before Doctor Strange Sequel Opens

From Bad to First

Heading into last weekend, Universal / DreamWorks’ animated The Bad Guys was projected to come in somewhere around third place with about $15M. Instead, it beat most expectations by debuting in first place with $23.9M.

With no serious competition this weekend, the title repeats atop the box office with a -33% decline to $16.1M – higher than some projections had it earning last frame for its opening weekend.

Compared to the sophomore frames for other animated titles from the past year, that’s a milder decline than:

• The Addams Family 2 (-42%)
• The Boss Baby: Family Business (-45%)
• Encanto (-52%)
• Sing 2 declined only -10% on its second frame because that was New Year’s weekend, but then dropped -42% on its third frame, with no holiday.

The Bad Guys follows five animals who team up to form a criminal gang: a tarantula voiced by Awkwafina, a wolf voiced by Sam Rockwell, a snake voiced by Marc Maron, a piranha voiced by Anthony Ramos, and a shark voiced by Craig Robinson.

The film has now earned $74.2M overseas and $118.7M globally, led by the U.K. ($12.8M), Australia ($9.8M), Spain ($6.5M), France ($5.4M), Germany ($5.2M), and Mexico ($5.1M). It also debuted in China this weekend in the runner-up spot with $4.5M, behind local title Stay With Me.

The Top Four

With no major new releases, last weekend’s second-, third-, and fourth-place films all repeated their ranks.

Paramount’s family action-comedy Sonic the Hedgehog 2 fell -27% to $11.3M.

After beating its 2020 predecessor’s opening by +26% and its sophomore frame by +11%, its third weekend fell -4% behind. Now in its fourth weekend, it once again retakes the lead, coming in +47% ahead of the original’s $7.7M frame.

With a $160.9M domestic total, the sequel is running +14% ahead of its predecessor through the equivalent point in release.

The film has earned $162.6M overseas and $323.5M globally, led by the U.K. ($28.1M), Mexico ($18.1M), France ($15.9M), Australia ($14.7M), Brazil ($10.0M)

Read Boxoffice PRO’s interview with Sonic the Hedgehog 2 director Jeff Fowler here.

Warner Bros.’ fantasy sequel Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore fell -41% to $8.3M.

With a $79.5M domestic total, it’s running -56% behind 2016’s Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them ($183.0M) and -40% behind 2018’s Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald ($134.5M) through the equivalent point in release.

The film has earned $250.0M overseas and $329.5M globally, led by Japan ($26.7M), Germany ($25.7M), the U.K. ($23.7M), and China ($21.4M).

Focus Features’ historical action-adventure The Northman fell -49% to $6.3M.

Compared with other medieval action movies, that drop was about even with (though slightly steeper than) 2018’s Robin Hood starring Taron Egerton and Jamie Foxx (-48%) and 2010’s Robin Hood starring Russel Crowe and directed by Ridley Scott (also -48%). However, it was milder than 2021’s The Last Duel (-57%)

The Northman has earned $18.8M overseas and $41.6M globally, led by the U.K. ($4.2M), Mexico ($2.4M), Australia ($1.7M), Spain ($1.6M), and Germany ($1.3M). 

Remember Me, Though I’ll Have to Say Goodbye

The weekend’s lone new wide release, Liam Neeson action thriller Memory from Briarcliff Entertainment / Open Road Films, began in eighth place with $3.1M, about in line with pre-release projections.

Compared to other Liam Neeson action films of recent years, that’s:

• -11% behind February’s Blacklight ($3.5M)
• About even with January 2021’s The Marksman ($3.1M, with an opening heavily affected by the pandemic)
• -14% behind October 2020’s Honest Thief ($3.6M, also heavily affected by the pandemic)
• +6% above director Martin Campbell’s prior action release, 2021’s The Protégé ($2.9M)

Weekend comparisons

Total box office this weekend came in around $65.2M, which is:

• -30% below last weekend’s total ($93.3M), when The Bad Guys led with $23.9M.
• +14% above the equivalent weekend in 2021 ($57.1M), as the box office was taking its first pandemic-era steps back to normalcy and Mortal Kombat led with $23.3M.
• -83% behind the equivalent weekend in the last pre-pandemic year 2019 ($402.0M), when Avengers: Endgame set a probably-unbeatable opening weekend record with $357.1M.

(The better apples-to-apples weekend comparison for 2019 will arguably be less so the current weekend and more so next weekend, when Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is poised to earn potentially one of the top 10 opening weekends of all time.)

YTD comparisons

Year-to-date box office stands around $1.93B. That’s:

• 4.4x this same point in the pandemic recovery year of 2021 ($432.4M).
• -43% behind this same point in 2019, the last pre-pandemic year ($3.43B).

Top distributors

As has been the case all year so far, the leading distributor in the domestic market remains Sony Pictures with $478.5M. Warner Bros. ranks a close second with $459.5M. 

Paramount currently claims third with $393.5M and Universal claims fourth with $197.9M. 

Disney seems poised to take the crown at some point this summer, on the strength of titles like Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, Lightyear, and Thor: Love and Thunder.

Sunday’s Studio Weekend Estimates: April 29 – May 1, 2022