Weekend Estimates: ‘Crazy Rich Asians’ Paces Strong ($30M+ 5-Day); ‘The Meg’ Adds $20M+; ‘Mile 22’ Modest ($14M+); ‘Alpha’ Eyes $9M+

Saturday Update: Warner’s Crazy Rich Asians continued its excellent early performance with another $7.26 million earned on Friday, giving the strongly reviewed rom-com a running three-day tally of $16.03 million.  With very positive word of mouth and minimal competition in tow, we’re projecting the film to land around $23.6 million for the three-day weekend, which would give it close to $32.4 million for its overall five-day launch — an excellent start for what should be a leggy run into the Labor Day corridor, and well ahead of expectations a few short weeks ago.

WB claimed the runner-spot on Friday as well with The Meg adding another $5.8 million, down an expected 65 percent from opening day last week and bringing its eight-day domestic total to $68.4 million. Its sophomore frame is on pace to net around $20.5 million.

STX’s Mile 22 debuted in third place yesterday with an estimated $5.26 million. That’s a bit below key comparison titles like Den of Thieves ($5.634 million) and American Assassin ($5.784 million), even more notable given the late summer debut. Given mixed reviews, it remains to be seen if weekend matinee business will uptick enough for the thriller to meet weekend expectations, but our projections now stand in the conservative range with a landing around $14.2 million.

Alpha, meanwhile, came in a bit ahead of expectations with $3.362 million on Friday. While coming in below the $4.37 million first day of Max three summers ago, that’s still a better showing than final pre-release tracking had indicated would be the case. A weekend between $9-10 million appears likely.

Last but not least, Mission: Impossible – Fallout rounded off the top five yesterday with $3.0 million and an updated domestic haul of $173.2 million. Although down from last Friday a bit more than expected, the strongly received blockbuster continues to outpace its predecessor, Rogue Nation, and is on course for a fourth weekend tally in the realm of $11.5 million.

Early weekend estimates are below. Studio estimates to follow on Sunday.

Early Weekend Estimates (Domestic)
FRI, AUG. 17 – SUN, AUG. 19

WIDE (1000+)

# TITLE WEEKEND LOCATIONS AVG. TOTAL WKS. DIST.
1 Crazy Rich Asians $23,600,000 3,384 $6,974 $32,366,769 1 Warner Bros.
2 The Meg $20,500,000 -55% 4,118 0 $4,978 $83,109,062 2 Warner Bros.
3 Mile 22 $14,200,000 3,520 $4,034 $14,200,000 1 STX Entertainment
4 Mission: Impossible – Fallout $11,500,000 -41% 3,482 -406 $3,303 $181,738,721 4 Paramount
5 Disney’s Christopher Robin $9,400,000 -27% 3,602 0 $2,610 $67,417,410 3 Disney
6 Alpha $9,100,000 2,719 $3,347 $9,100,000 1 Sony / Columbia
7 BlacKkKlansman $7,000,000 -35% 1,788 276 $3,915 $23,009,490 2 Focus Features
8 Slender Man $4,400,000 -61% 2,358 0 $1,866 $20,176,579 2 Sony / Screen Gems
9 Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation $3,600,000 -31% 2,187 -402 $1,646 $153,793,700 8 Sony / Columbia
10 Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again $3,500,000 -40% 2,270 -542 $1,542 $111,317,490 5 Universal Pictures
11 The Equalizer 2 $2,800,000 -48% 1,888 -485 $1,483 $94,718,884 5 Sony / Columbia
12 The Spy Who Dumped Me $2,800,000 -57% 2,409 -702 $1,162 $30,181,015 3 Lionsgate
13 Ant-Man and the Wasp $2,600,000 -37% 1,520 -343 $1,711 $208,345,650 7 Disney
14 Incredibles 2 $2,300,000 -33% 1,238 -307 $1,858 $594,098,848 10 Disney
15 Dog Days $800,000 -69% 2,387 -55 $335 $5,860,823 2 LD Entertainment / Mirror

LIMITED (100 — 999)

# TITLE WEEKEND LOCATIONS AVG. TOTAL WKS. DIST.
1 Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom $1,100,000 -45% 814 -423 $1,351 $411,697,365 9 Universal
2 Solo: A Star Wars Story $100,000 -24% 152 -18 $658 $213,461,662 13 Disney
3 Avengers: Infinity War $99,000 -48% 148 -24 $669 $678,589,869 17 Disney
4 Uncle Drew $98,000 19% 147 29 $667 $42,184,438 8 Lionsgate / Summit
5 Teen Titans GO! to the Movies $75,000 -96% 590 -847 $127 $26,626,352 4 Warner Bros.

PLATFORM (1 — 99)

# TITLE WEEKEND LOCATIONS AVG. TOTAL WKS. DIST.
1 Blindspotting $101,000 -55% 47 -91 $2,149 $4,014,007 5 Lionsgate / Summit

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Friday Update: Warner Bros. reports that Crazy Rich Asians added an estimated $3.76 million on Thursday, its second full day of release, to stand at $8.77 million since its mid-week opening.

Debuting last night, Mile 22 scored an estimated $1.0 million. By comparison, that bests the $950,000 of Den of Thieves earlier this year, as well as American Assassin‘s $920,000 last fall.

Meanwhile, Alpha posted $525,000 from shows beginning at 5pm yesterday. Comparisons are rough at this time, but that’s similar to the $500,000 midsummer Thursday start of Max three years ago, while falling shy of Ben-Hur‘s $900,000 two Augusts ago.

Follow Boxoffice throughout the weekend for further updates.