Box Office Breakdown for Weekend of 9/15/24

Movies

What’s up, Geeks + Gamers? It’s ODIN!

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice Holds Strong and is Profit-Bound

After a massive opening weekend of about $111 million domestically, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice was able to see a very strong second-weekend hold of about 54%, adding another $51.6 million to its total. By having a second weekend total of about $224,033,392, we can now project that the film will make somewhere between $320,047,703 and $448,066,784 by the end of its box office run. With a budget of about $100 million, this means that Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is probably going to walk away with between $50-$100 million in net profits. Though this is not likely to be the biggest box office of the year, the fact that the film is receiving a lot of mixed reactions from hardcore fans and yet is still performing well shows that there is a lot of love for this movie regardless of how anyone might feel about it.

The key reason Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is not set to make more money even though it is killing it domestically is that it is not doing much of anything internationally. While the Beetlejuice universe might be more of an American IP, there is always a chance for a movie like this to catch fire in other markets. As of this weekend, that does not seem to be the case, and it is unlikely that it will happen. The one benefit to having these kinds of numbers without the international presence is that studios get much more money back domestically than they do internationally… this is likely why we are still talking about the film possibly seeing close to $100 million in net profits. 

According to the-numbers.com, the top 5 this weekend domestically were:

1. Beetlejuice Beetlejuice (54% drop in 2nd weekend)
2. Speak No Evil ($11.5 million as a new release)
3. Deadpool & Wolverine (26% drop in 8th weekend)
4. Am I Racist? ($4.75 million as a new release)
5. The Killer’s Game ($2.6 million as a new release)

Am I Racist? Sees Decent Opening, But Well Below Projections

Going into the weekend, the new Daily Wire documentary Am I Racist? was projected to make about +$8 million domestically. As the first theatrical release for The Daily Wire, this would have been a very solid start. The reality, unfortunately, is that the movie only made $4.75 million at a little over 1500 screens. There were a few reports that were reposted by members of the Daily Wire crew referring to a few showings of the film being canceled due to threats and some other posts of online communities planning to cause a scene or even actively boycott the movie. To say that these stories are why Am I Racist? came in at about half of what was being projected is not very realistic. The fact is that there is no reporting of widespread cancellations or issues that could have resulted in the millions of dollars Am I Racist? was originally thought to have a chance at making. Unless and until this happens, to say that it had a profound impact on its box office would be disingenuous. 

Some may try to spin even the $4.75 million as somehow being a massive weekend opening for a company’s theatrical debut with the kind of movie Am I Racist? is. One need only go back to films that were released by Dinesh D’souza to see that this number is quite low by comparison. Considering how many people listen to The Daily Wire on a daily basis and the large support group they have, there is no reason the number for this weekend should be as low as it is. The only fair argument one could make would be that the limited release kept the film out of some more rural or “conservative” areas that could have accounted for a massive boom in the numbers. But unless someone has numerical data to prove that, this opening ends up being mediocre at best. It would not surprise me if a lot of Daily Wire subscribers either didn’t know Am I Racist? would be released in theaters or refused to go theatrically even out of principle because the film realistically should have had a day and date release on their streaming service. Even if you want to support what The Daily Wire is doing and you want to expand its reach with a theatrical debut, to leave your dedicated subscribers (especially those that pay the yearly rate) not even a vague idea of a date when it would be available to stream on the platform they are already playing for feels wrong. 

Check out my channel for the latest box office HERE.

If you want further analysis on these or any other films, check out the full charting I do over at my website. Have a wonderful rest of your day, and, as always, God bless! 

(If you ever want further insight into my methodology, see my previous articles HERE and HERE, and the RCC method I use to break down movies internationally HERE.)

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