This Valentine’s Day weekend’s top grossing movie is that little blue creature from a video game. Sonic the Hedgehog dominated the lovers weekend at the box office, grossing $58 Million for Paramount, making it one of the best holiday weekends ever for a video game film.
Sonic beat out the 2019 ‘Detective Pikachu for the biggest beginning showing for a video game adaptation. Video-game adaptations usually do not do well with movie goers. The first trailer release for Sonic had so much backlash from fans that director Jeff Fowler had to go back to the drawing board. Proved to be a smart move for the film makers. For three months the movie was postponed for the redesign of the title character. Ben Schwartz is the voice for the blue furry creature, who teams up with a local sheriff played by James Marsden. The two team up to defeat the evil Dr. Robotnik played by Jim Carrey. The movie has exceeded audiences expectations, which is a testament to Jim Carrey, James Marsden and the rest of the cast.
In the number two spot over taken by the little blue guy is Birds of Prey. Bringing $17.3 million in this week with an overall $59.4 for the first two weeks. The super hero adventure portrayed by Margot Robbie went down in ticket sales by 48%, but still enough to secure second place.
On its first week out Fantasy Island came in third despite terrible reviews and weak audience reactions. We’ll see how poor word of mouth will impact the film next week. The horror remake of the late 70’s show has a $7 million price tag, yet it still brought in $12.4 million domestically. The most complaints the movie has is that Tattoo wasn’t in the movie and it didn’t come off as scary as the trailer.
With four new movies out this weekend three came in the top five. In fifth place with $12.2 million is The Photograph. A great start for the film that cost $15 million to produce. Starring Issa Rae and LaKeith Stanfield was written and directed by Stella Meghie and produced by Will Packer. (Girls Trip, and Ride Along) Rotten Tomatoes audience gave the movie 75%. A nice start for the Valentines weekend movie.
Will Smith and Martin Lawrence’s action comedy is still bringing in the money with Bad Boys for Life. In at 5th place, grossing $11.5 million this weekend. The boys are now over the $180 million dollar mark.
Universal’s 1917 which has been out for eight weeks now now is still in the top ten, dropping down to 7th place. The World War II drama may not have won the Oscars best picture but has become a commercial hit with $8 million over the weekend and grossing $322 million world wide.
Speaking of best picture from the Oscars, Parasite moved back up into the top ten coming in 7th place. Looks like that boost is going to help bring the movie to the fourth highest grossing foreign language film.
Jumanji the Next Level got bumped down to 8th place after holding the number five spot for three weeks. Ten weeks out and Mr. Johnson and crew are still bringing in the money with $5.5 million this week and overall $305 million.
Dolittle is still hanging on in the top ten coming in 9th place. Despite reviews people are still going to see the movie and showing this movie is better than what the critics gave it.
Finally in 10th place is the fourth film out this week Downhill. Starring Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Will Ferrel starring as a married couple. Their family on a ski vacation barely escapes an avalanche in the Alps. They are then forced to reevaluate how they feel about each other and their lives. Rotten Tomatoes audiences gave it 30%, which is probably why it came in last for its first week out.
Ticket Sales were up 21% from last years Valentines Day / Presidents Day weekend. The four day domestic estimated to be around $185.6 million. Not enough though to compete with the 2018 record of $364.5 million when Black Panther came out.
Mamma, Mimi, Michele, call out any one of those names and I will answer. There are several hats on my shelf. My passions are photography, being outside, movies, tv, pop culture and anything haunted or spooky. People are my other interest, I love meeting new people and socializing. When I lived in Savannah GA I worked as a tour guide both haunted and historical tours. I met people from all over the world, that was the best part of the job. All of this I can write about too, that’s the beauty of being a writer.
