‘LEGO Batman’ wins stateside, ‘Fifty Shades Darker’ dominates the world

Weekend Box Office for Feb. 10-12, 2017

SALT LAKE CITY (KUTV) - The estimates are in and “The LEGO Batman Movie” sits atop the domestic box office charts with an estimated $55.6 million. That’s well short of the $69 million that “The LEGO Movie” opened to in 2014, but still a respectable total. Overseas the film added $37 million, putting its worldwide total at $92 million. Budgeted at $80 million, “The LEGO Batman Movie” will need to earn more than $180 million to be considered a success. Getting halfway there after just three days is a great start.

In second place is “Fifty Shades Darker” with $46.7 million. That’s nearly $40 million less than “Fifty Shades of Grey’s” opening in 2015. Despite being destroyed by critics, audiences gave the film a CinemaScore of “B-.” It will be interesting to see what impact Valentine’s Day will have on its totals. However, the real story here is that the film opened to $100 million overseas. With nearly $150 million worldwide, “Fifty Shades Darker” easily outlasts “The LEGO Batman Movie.” Any hopes that the film would bomb can be thrown out the window.

While the Fifty Shades and LEGO franchises were unable to match the opening weekends of their predecessors, the Keanu Reeves action thriller “John Wick: Chapter Two” managed to double the opening weekend of its first film with a total estimated to be $30 million. The action thriller also opened to $10 million overseas - that covers the film’s production budget. Hopefully we’ll see the film hold well over the next couple of weeks and gain some momentum internationally. A third film is already in the works.

Fourth place goes to “Split” with $9 million for a domestic total of $112 million. Worldwide numbers have the film finishing the weekend with $170 million. That’s a massive total when you consider the film was made for $9 million.

Another success story can be found in fifth place, as “Hidden Figures” brought in $8 million. Its domestic total is now $131 million against a $25 million budget. International numbers are pretty slight with current totals sitting just below $9 million, but I doubt Fox was expecting much abroad.

It’s also interesting to note that “xXx: The Return of Xander Cage” opened huge in China, bringing in $60 million in its opening weekend. In America the film has only earned $43 million after 24 days. Worldwide the film’s total is pushing $300 million.