Weekend Projections: ‘Split’ Repeats w/ $25M; ‘A Dog’s Purpose’ Lands $19M; ‘Resident Evil: The Final Chapter’ Eyes $13.4M; ‘La La Land’ Rides Oscar Buzz to $12M

Saturday Update: For the first time since the fourth and fifth weekends of 2002’s Signs, M. Night Shyamalan will reign atop the box office for a second consecutive weekend. Split grabbed another $7.9 million yesterday — down just 46 percent from last Friday’s opening day, a remarkably impressive hold for the genre that suggests word of mouth remains very strong for the filmmaker’s latest project. It stands at $59.6 million through just eight days of play. Based on past trajectories, the film should net around $25 million this weekend to remain ahead of the pack.

As for this weekend’s openers: A Dog’s Purpose bowed with $5.3 million on Friday, a fairly healthy sum that could lead to around $19 million over its opening frame; Resident Evil: The Final Chapter scored $5.1 million yesterday, likely translating to roughly $13.4 million this weekend; and Gold took in $1.155 million for what should be around $3.6 million through Sunday.

Hidden Figures continues to perform well with another $3.775 million yesterday, bringing it to $93.8 million overall domestically as it aims to cross $100 million by weekend’s end. We’re projecting around $13.5 million for the FSS period.

Likewise, La La Land — fresh off its record-tying 14 Oscar nominations and a full wide release expansion into 3,136 theaters — earned $3.45 million yesterday for a new haul of $97.9 million. On top of a probable $12 million domestic weekend, Lionsgate is also projecting an $18 million international weekend, which would bring the hit musical sensation’s global tally past the $200 million mark by the end of Sunday.

Our key weekend projections are in the chart below. Official studio weekend estimates will be published on Sunday.

WIDE (1000+)

# TITLE WEEKEND LOCATIONS AVG. TOTAL WKS. DIST.
1 Split $25,000,000 -38% 3,199 161 $7,815 $76,730,090 2 Universal
2 A Dog’s Purpose $19,000,000 3,058 $6,213 $19,000,000 1 Universal
3 Hidden Figures $13,500,000 -14% 3,351 -65 $4,029 $103,521,694 6 Fox
4 Resident Evil: The Final Chapter $13,400,000 3,104 $4,317 $13,400,000 1 Sony / Screen Gems
5 La La Land $12,000,000 42% 3,136 1271 $3,827 $106,459,372 8 Lionsgate / Summit
6 xXx: The Return of Xander Cage $7,200,000 -64% 3,651 0 $1,972 $32,437,750 2 Paramount
7 Sing (2016) $6,200,000 -31% 2,702 -491 $2,295 $257,391,375 6 Universal
8 Rogue One: A Star Wars Story $5,100,000 -29% 2,049 -554 $2,489 $520,025,573 7 Disney
9 Monster Trucks $4,000,000 -43% 2,496 -623 $1,603 $28,035,147 3 Paramount
10 Gold (2016) $3,600,000 2,166 $1,662 $3,600,000 1 The Weinstein Company / Dimension
11 Patriots Day $2,800,000 -51% 1,847 -1273 $1,516 $28,331,241 6 CBS Films / Lionsgate
12 Moana $2,600,000 -4% 1,894 598 $1,373 $240,290,596 10 Disney
13 The Founder $2,400,000 -29% 1,115 0 $2,152 $7,227,067 2 Weinstein Company
14 Sleepless $1,600,000 -54% 1,055 -748 $1,517 $17,663,495 3 Open Road
15 Arrival $1,300,000 304% 1,221 1041 $1,065 $97,155,199 12 Paramount
16 The Bye Bye Man $1,100,000 -68% 1,127 -1093 $976 $21,798,650 3 STX Entertainment

LIMITED (100 — 999)

# TITLE WEEKEND LOCATIONS AVG. TOTAL WKS. DIST.
1 Lion $2,300,000 30% 575 0 $4,000 $19,669,872 10 Weinstein Company
2 Fences $1,400,000 15% 880 187 $1,591 $50,779,609 7 Paramount
3 Passengers $1,000,000 -55% 625 -931 $1,600 $96,291,217 6 Sony / Columbia
4 Un Padre No Tan Padre $820,000 312 $2,628 $820,000 1 Lionsgate / Pantelion Films.
5 Jackie $675,000 78% 508 269 $1,329 $12,193,848 9 Fox Searchlight
6 Silence $635,000 -46% 316 -1264 $2,009 $6,429,378 6 Paramount
7 Hacksaw Ridge $375,000 380% 502 377 $747 $65,908,329 13 Lionsgate
8 Why Him? $350,000 -69% 365 -669 $959 $58,728,017 6 Fox
9 Trolls $300,000 -11% 231 -12 $1,299 $152,752,834 13 Fox / DreamWorks Animation
10 Assassin’s Creed $180,000 -47% 210 -113 $857 $54,114,763 6 Fox
11 Doctor Strange $100,000 -26% 104 -28 $962 $231,631,133 13 Disney

 

===

Friday Report: Sony’s sci-fi action sequel Resident Evil: The Final Chapter earned $1 million from Thursday evening showings. That’s higher than the previous installment, 2012’s Resident Evil: Retributionwhich earned $665 thousand in its Thursday night previews. That film went on to open with $21.0 million and earn $42.3 million total. However, the Boxoffice Pro weekend forecast for The Final Chapter is still a bit below the opening weekend for Retribution, despite the former’s higher Thursday evening gross.

Universal’s family drama A Dog’s Purpose started with $455 thousand on Thursday evening. Boxoffice Pro is currently projecting the film to run neck-and-neck with Resident Evil this weekend, but the difference in Thursday night grosses might likely give Evil the edge. This may be in part due to controversy surrounding possible animal abuse on set of Purpose.

Weinstein Company’s Gold started with $125 thousand in Thursday night previews.

Editor’s Note: A previous version of this story erroneously reported that Boxoffice Pro was projecting A Dog’s Purpose and Resident Evil: The Final Chapter to run neck-and-neck following Thursday night’s grosses.