Weekend box office: The Circle struggles while The Fate of the Furious stays on top

Brad Sturdivant April 30th, 2017

This was a bit of a strange weekend for new movies as none of the bigger films seemed to resonate with audiences, which gave way for some smaller films to sneak into the top ten. I don’t think anyone expected THE CIRCLE to do much at the weekend box office, but it wasn’t even able to crack the top ten. And since THE FATE OF THE FURIOUS was in its third weekend, that opened the way for HOW TO BE A LATIN LOVER to come in with about $11 million, which is pretty good for a niche comedy. But the biggest surprise came with BAAHUBALI 2: THE CONCLUSION, which cracked the top 5. BAAHUBALI 2 is a Bollywood production and is, of course, a sequel to BAAHUBALI: THE BEGINNING. I know nothing about these films, but my understanding is that the first Baahubali was a huge international success and ended with a massive cliffhanger, setting up the success of the sequel. I’m not sure this is a start of Bollywood films getting US theatrical releases, but it’s another sign of how diverse the domestic audience truly is.

Next week will belong to GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY 2. It’s not a question of whether or not the film will beat the original’s $94 million opening, but whether or not it will break any major records in the process. Looking out over the rest of the summer, I’m not sure there’s another film that’s going to be able to beat Guardians. SPIDER-MAN: HOMECOMING will have a shot, but that’s probably it. So Guardians should be the biggest movie of the summer and the biggest movie until Star Wars in December. Note: the numbers below will be updated as they become final.

1. The Fate of the Furious $18.4m

2. How to be a Latin Lover $11.2m

3. The Circle $9.2m

4. Baahubali 2: The Conclusion $8.8m

5. The Boss Baby $8m

6. Beauty and the Beast $6.3m

7. Going in Style $3.4m

8. Gifted $3.1m

9. Smurfs: The Lost Village $2.9m

10. Born in China $2.3m

(Deadline)