Whether it was the effects of Hurricane Harvey, the draw of the highly publicized boxing match between Floyd Mayweather and Conor McGregor, or simply a lack of appealing films at theaters, the August 25-27 box-office weekend was one of the worst in more than 15 years.
The weekend was led by a mere $10 million for action-comedy The Hitman’s Bodyguard, and the top 12 movies over the three-day span are expected to earn less than $50 million collectively. The total domestic box-office earnings for the weekend aren’t expected to pass $65 million.
Those low marks give the August 25-27 weekend the worst box office since the weekend of September 21-23 in 2001, when the total box office generated just $59 million overall and the top 12 films earned just $43.5 million. That weekend was led by Keanu Reeves’ sports drama Hardball. The previous low mark was set a year earlier when the top 12 films generated $37.9 million and the total box office tally was $53.7 million for the weekend of September 15-17, 2000.
| # | Title | Weekend | U.S. Total | Worldwide Total |
| 1. | The Hitman’s Bodyguard | $10M | $39.6M | $39.6M |
| 2. | Annabelle: Creation | $7.3M | $77.8M | $215M |
| 3. | Leap! | $5M | $5M | $63.2M |
| 4. | Wind River | $4.4M | $9.8M | $9.8M |
| 5. | Logan Lucky | $4.3M | $15M | $16M |
| 6. | Dunkirk | $3.9M | $172.4M | $412.1M |
| 7. | Spider-Man: Homecoming | $2.7M | $318.8M | $737M |
| 8. | Mayweather vs. McGregor | $2.6M | $2.6M | NA |
| 9. | Birth of the Dragon | $2.5M | $2.5M | $2.5M |
| 10. | The Emoji Movie | $2.3M | $76.4M | $144.1M |
While The Weinstein Company’s animated feature Leap! (known as Ballerina outside the U.S.) took advantage of the box-office lull to post a $5 million opening weekend, the weekend’s list of highest-grossing movies was particularly noteworthy for including the aforementioned Mayweather-McGregor boxing match. The event was shown in more than 500 theaters as part of a Fathom Events promotion, and earned approximately $2.6 million — averaging $4,884 per theater. That impressive per-theater total — even in the midst of a box-office lull — suggests we could be seeing more events like this down the road.
This upcoming weekend is likely to be another slow one in theaters,with no high-profile films arriving in theaters. The biggest draw is likely to be the raunchy comedy The Layover, which features Alexandra Daddario (True Detective) and Kate Upton (The Other Woman) as a pair of friends competing for the affections of the same guy during an unplanned layover in St. Louis.
