Weekend box office: Sonic The Hedgehog races to the top

Brad Sturdivant February 16th, 2020

When a film flops at the box office, a lot of box office pundits want to try and figure out why and analyze what went wrong. But this weekend, we have a different issue where a film is doing unusually well and given the drama around it, the film’s success deserves its own investigation. Right now, the film is on track to haul in about $54 million at the weekend box office, which is about $50 million more than I thought it would. Even without the issue of the filmmakers having to completely redesign the main CGI character after the disastrous first trailer, there was nothing going right for SONIC THE HEDGEHOG. The game is past its prime and Jim Carrey doesn’t draw a crowd like he used to, but somehow the film is finding success. It’s baffling, but I’m sure the folks at Paramount are pleased. And every year I complain that there aren’t any big romantic movies releasing on Valentine’s Day weekend, so maybe the folks behind THE PHOTOGRAPH realized they had an opportunity as the small film is doing very well with about $12 million.

Next week sees the release of CALL OF THE WILD, which for me, is a great example of everything that was wrong with the old 20th Century Fox. With a huge budget and awkward CGI, there was no chance this film was going to make money. At best, the studio can hope to recoup the budget through home video and streaming rights. So if you’re sad Disney is drastically scaling back production on Fox titles, just remember there’s a reason Fox wasn’t doing well. For all of their good decisions, they had at least five bad ones. I suspect SONIC THE HEDGEHOG will make it two in a row next weekend. Note: the numbers below will be updated as they become final.

1. Sonic the Hedgehog $54m

2. Birds of Prey $17.6m

3. Fantasy Island $12.9m

4. The Photograph $12.6m

5. Bad Boys For Life $5.5m

6. 1917 $7.8m

7. Jumanji: The Next Level $6.8m

8. Dolittle $6.2m

9. Parasite $5.5m

10. Downhill $5.3m

(Deadline)