Lowest box-office weekend since 2001 puts Mayweather vs. McGregor in top 10

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.

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.