Box Office Report: ‘Beauty And The Beast’ Smashes, ‘Kong’ And Horror Holdover


Disney is flying high this year with a whopping new box office record by the live action Beauty and the Beast, which led the weekend to a record breaking smash of all other films in the distance.

According to data taken from Box Office Mojo, this weekend appears to be an anomaly that resembles summer box office numbers similar to movies like The Avengers and Star Wars: The Force Awakens, both also Disney movies. But this time, the smashing box office results that came out of the premiere for Beauty and the Beast(2017) shows that fans really cannot get enough of their Disney princesses, especially the kind that have made the transition from animation to live action film.

With Beauty and the Beast pulling in a whopping $170 million (domestic) box office haul in just three short days of a weekend, it is safe to assume that the film is a premature smash hit with audiences. Fans can also add an extra $180 million to that total from box office receipts taken from overseas sales, which brings the Beauty and the Beast worldwide total up to an astonishing $350 million. To top it off, that is only in the first three days of the film’s release. It is safe to assume that this movie will pass the $1 billion mark before it closes its box office run.

Scores of fans have watched over the years as animation has changed from one format to another, most of which has taken place within the Disney umbrella. Old-school animation transitioned with films like Toy Story that revolutionized the Pixar brand and became the trending new feature among children’s films. But lately, films like Beauty and the Beast, The Jungle Book, and Pete’s Dragon have also undergone radical changes to make the live action films that utilize CG technology to incorporate the animation and other such techniques.

It seems as though the advancement in technology has really been paying off for Disney at the box office since Beauty and the Beast has also broken a box office record. The previous March record-holder for an opening weekend at the box office was Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice, which opened at $166 million last year. Beauty and the Beast broke that box office record by $4 million and seems to have nothing but momentum moving forward with the film.

Some holdovers from the previous weekend at the box office include Logan, Kong: Skull Island and Get Out. The latter two are both part of the horror film genre and it has been performing surprisingly well for the first three months of 2017.

Kong: Skull Island pulled in another $28.8 million at the box office while Logan landed at $17.5 million. But the real story here is how the independent horror debut by Jordan Peele, Get Out, has performed at the box office, raking in another $13.2 million and bringing the freshman director to an impressive total of $133 million. An achievement like that is rare for a new director, but even more rare for a horror film. The genre has classically underperformed at the box office and left sequel opportunities in doubt.

But Get Out is performing on par with James Wan’s 2013 smash horror hit, The Conjuring, and will likely pass that movie’s total haul ($137 million) by Monday, if pacing is any indicator.

Horror has been one of the most ripe box office draws early this year, pulling massive box office results with movies like Get Out, Split, Resident Evil: The Final Chapter, and Rings. That is not unusual though, given that horror historically does well in the early winter months of January and February.

[Featured Image by Disney]

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