Box Office: ‘Paddington 2’ Lands Softly In States, ‘Condorito’ Finds Its Flock
Paddington 2, a film that has amazingly maintained its 100% positive rating on Rotten Tomatoes after 150-plus reviews, opened in 5th place over the Martin Luther King Jr. Day holiday. The live-action film with a cg animation star grossed just $15 million over four days, a drop of 41% from the original Paddington, which opened with $25.5 million on the same holiday weekend in 2015.
The film’s soft opening could be attributed in part to The Weinstein Company (TWC) scandals, since that company was the original distributor of the film. Following the revelations of Harvey Weinstein’s deviant sexual harassment and abuse, TWC quickly unloaded the film before filing for bankruptcy protection, with Warner Bros. buying the film’s U.S. rights just two months ago. But even with the marketing might of a major studio like WB, it’s hard to execute a proper promotional campaign for a wide release in a couple months’ time.
The other notable animation release last weekend was the Peruvian animated feature Condorito: The Movie, which launched in 153 theaters through Lionsgate and Pantelion Films, and grossed a solid $288,187.
Condorito’s per-theater gross of $1,884 is surprisingly strong for a subtitled children’s film that had no mainstream press coverage or promotion. Like Pantelion’s earlier release of the Mexican animated feature Un Gallo con Muchos Huevos, the respectable opening of Condorito shows that animated features targeted at Spanish-speaking audiences can be a successful niche in the U.S. marketplace.
Here are some other notable hybrid and animated feature weekend totals for the U.S.:
Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle held the #1 spot for the second weekend in a row, grossing $35.2 million. The film has grossed $291.3m to date.
Fox/Blue Sky’s Ferdinand added $4.9m in its fifth frame, for $76.9m to date.
Disney-Pixar’s Coco picked up $4.6m in its eighth frame for $198.2m to date.
GKIDS’ Birdboy: The Forgotten Children picked up $6,961 from 8 theaters. After five weekends, its total is $20,119.
GKIDS/Cartoon Saloon’s The Breadwinner grossed $6,355 from 10 theaters. After nine weekends, its total is $237,168.
