{"id":152499,"date":"2018-02-12T04:26:02","date_gmt":"2018-02-12T09:26:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=152499"},"modified":"2018-02-12T04:26:02","modified_gmt":"2018-02-12T09:26:02","slug":"fifty-shades-freed-commands-38-8-million-to-top-charts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2018\/02\/12\/fifty-shades-freed-commands-38-8-million-to-top-charts\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Fifty Shades Freed’ commands $38.8 million to top charts"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"(Photo:<\/a>
“Fifty Shades Freed” managed to take the top spot on the charts (Photo<\/a>: Fifty Shades Freed\/Facebook<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

LOS ANGELES — Newcomers like \u201cFifty Shades Freed,\u201d \u201cPeter Rabbit\u201d and \u201cThe 15:17 to Paris\u201d breathed some fresh life into a marketplace that has for weeks been dominated by \u201cJumanji: Welcome to the Jungle,\u201d \u201cThe Greatest Showman\u201d and various Oscar contenders. But it’s all just setting the stage for \u201cBlack Panther,\u201d which opens next week.<\/p>\n

\u201cFifty Shades Freed\u201dmanaged to take the top spot on the charts in North American theatres. Universal Pictures estimated Sunday that the final chapter in the Christian Grey and Anastasia Steele saga earned $38.8 million over the weekend — down significantly from the first film’s $85.2 million debut and even the sequel’s $46.6 million opening, but enough to bump the three-film franchise over $1 billion globally. Women once again made up the vast majority (75 per cent) of the opening weekend audience.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are exhilarated with the results,\u201d said Jim Orr, Universal’s president of domestic distribution. \u201cTo have a trilogy engineered primarily for a female audience that we were then able to broaden out into a billion-dollar franchise is just a fantastic result.\u201d<\/p>\n

The studio expects a healthy mid-week bump on Valentine’s Day and to serve as counter-programming over the holiday weekend against \u201cBlack Panther.\u201d<\/p>\n

The steamy romance outdid other new competitors like Sony’s CG and live-action update of \u201cPeter Rabbit,\u201d featuring the voice of James Corden, and Clint Eastwood’s \u201cThe 15:17 to Paris,\u201d starring the real men who thwarted an attack on a Paris-bound train in the summer of 2015.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeter Rabbit,\u201d which cost around $50 million to produce, hopped to second place with a solid $25 million and an A- CinemaScore.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe 15:17 to Paris\u201d pulled into third place with $12.6 million. Eastwood’s dramatic thriller about the true story was not well-received by critics or audiences, who gave the film a poor B- CinemaScore.<\/p>\n

Two films that just won’t quit rounded out the top five: \u201cJumanji: Welcome to the Jungle\u201d fell to fourth place with $9.8 million and \u201cThe Greatest Showman\u201d took fifth with $6.4 million.<\/p>\n

Overall the marketplace is still down around 1.8 per cent for the year and around 27 per cent from the same weekend last year which, comScore senior media analyst Paul Dergarabedian notes, saw the launch of \u201cThe Lego Batman Movie,\u201d \u201cFifty Shades Darker\u201d and \u201cJohn Wick: Chapter 2,\u201d all of which opened over $30 million.<\/p>\n

But the box office will pick up next weekend with \u201cBlack Panther,\u201d which some analysts are pegging for a $150 million start.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is the calm before the Marvel storm,\u201d Dergarabedian said. \u201c’Black Panther’ is going to supercharge this marketplace when it opens later this week. I think it’s going to break records and spark a huge conversation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theatres, according to comScore. Where available, the latest international numbers for Friday through Sunday are also included. Final domestic figures will be released Monday.<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. \u201cFifty Shades Freed,\u201d $38.8 million ($98.1 million international).<\/li>\n
  2. \u201cPeter Rabbit,\u201d $25 million.<\/li>\n
  3. \u201cThe 15:17 to Paris,\u201d $12.6 million ($5.3 million international).<\/li>\n
  4. \u201cJumanji: Welcome to the Jungle,\u201d $9.8 million ($7.5 million international).<\/li>\n
  5. \u201cThe Greatest Showman,\u201d $6.4 million ($8.7 million international).<\/li>\n
  6. \u201cMaze Runner: The Death Cure,\u201d $6 million ($23.5 million international).<\/li>\n
  7. \u201cWinchester,\u201d $5.1 million ($860,000 international).<\/li>\n
  8. \u201cThe Post,\u201d $3.5 million ($5.9 million international).<\/li>\n
  9. \u201cThe Shape of Water,\u201d $3 million ($3.1 million international).<\/li>\n
  10. \u201cDen of Thieves,\u201d$2.9 million ($4.4 million international).<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    ——<\/p>\n

    Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at international theatres (excluding the U.S. and Canada), according to comScore:<\/p>\n

      \n
    1. \u201cFifty Shades Freed,\u201d $98 million.<\/li>\n
    2. \u201cMaze Runner: The Death Cure,\u201d $23.5 million.<\/li>\n
    3. \u201cPad Man,\u201d $8.9 million.<\/li>\n
    4. \u201cSecret Superstar,\u201d $8.7 million.<\/li>\n
    5. \u201cThe Greatest Showman,\u201d $8.7 million.<\/li>\n
    6. \u201cLes Tuche 3 (The Magic Tuche),\u201d $7.9 million.<\/li>\n
    7. \u201cCoco,\u201d $7.8 million.<\/li>\n
    8. \u201cJumanji: Welcome to the Jungle,\u201d $7.5 million.<\/li>\n
    9. \u201cDetective K: Secret Of The Living Dead,\u201d $6.9 million.<\/li>\n
    10. \u201cTill The End Of The World,\u201d $6.9 million.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      ——<\/p>\n

      Universal and Focus are owned by NBC Universal, a unit of Comcast Corp.; Sony, Columbia, Sony Screen Gems and Sony Pictures Classics are units of Sony Corp.; Paramount is owned by Viacom Inc.; Disney, Pixar and Marvel are owned by The Walt Disney Co.; Miramax is owned by Filmyard Holdings LLC; 20th Century Fox and Fox Searchlight are owned by 21st Century Fox; Warner Bros. and New Line are units of Time Warner Inc.; MGM is owned by a group of former creditors including Highland Capital, Anchorage Advisors and Carl Icahn; Lionsgate is owned by Lions Gate Entertainment Corp.; IFC is owned by AMC Networks Inc.; Rogue is owned by Relativity Media LLC.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      LOS ANGELES — Newcomers like \u201cFifty Shades Freed,\u201d \u201cPeter Rabbit\u201d and \u201cThe 15:17 to Paris\u201d breathed some fresh life into …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":152501,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,106],"tags":[19765,46486,44244,46487,46488,46489],"class_list":["post-152499","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","category-hollywood","tag-black-panther","tag-fifty-shades-freed","tag-jumanji-welcome-to-the-jungle","tag-peter-rabbit","tag-the-1517-to-paris","tag-the-greatest-showman","mauthors-lindsey-bahr","mauthors-the-associated-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/152499","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=152499"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/152499\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/152501"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=152499"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=152499"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=152499"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}