Weekend box office: Pokémon opens strong, Avengers still prevail

Weekend Box Office May 10-12, 2019

SALT LAKE CITY (KUTV) — It seemed to be a foregone conclusion that “Avengers: Endgame” would find itself in first place at the end of its third weekend, but a larger-than-expected push by “Pokémon Detective Pikachu” and a steeper drop for “Endgame” saw “Detective Pikachu” earning $20.7 million on Friday while the Marvel Cinematic Universe capstone finished the day with only $16 million.

When the dust cleared, “Detective Pikachu” snagged $58 million. “Endgame” finished with $63 million. The film has now earned $723 million in North America and $2.4 billion worldwide. That’s only $300 million behind “Avatar.” What once seemed impossible, is now looking more and more probable. Within the next month "Endgame" will be the all-time champion at the box office (assuming you're willing to look past the tickets sold or

“Detective Pikachu” had a strong showing overseas where it added $103 million for a worldwide total of $170 million (it opened in Japan last week where it brought in $10 million).

The sky might have been falling this weekend, but not in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. For two weeks in a row STX Entertainment saw its release greeted with mostly-empty theaters as “Pom,” stumbled its way through the weekend en route to $5.1 million. That’s the worse opening for a film opening in 2,700 or more theaters this year.

Maybe “Poms” tripped over last week’s “UglyDolls” debacle. The animated film opened to $8.6 million, a total so low that the chief operating officer at STX felt the need to step down. “UglyDolls” fell 54% from last weekend for a second weekend total of $3.9 million. The film, which cost $45 million to make, has now earned $14 million.

“The Hustle,” a remake of 1988’s “Dirty Rotten Scoundrels” with Anne Hathaway and Rebel Wilson taking over the roles originally played by Michael Caine and Steve Martin, was met with indifferent and negative reviews from critics, but audiences responded slightly more favorably propelling the film to a $13.5 million opening weekend. Internationally the film did $12.7 million for a worldwide total of $27.2 million.

In its second weekend, the Charlize Theron and Seth Rogan comedy “Long Shot” made $6.1 million for a domestic total just below $20 million.

“Tolkien,” the fantasy biopic of J.R.R. Tolkien that I found to be more enjoyable than it is actually good or factual thanks to solid performances from Nicholas Hoult and Lily Collins, came and went with hardly a sound as it earned $2.1 million from 1,495 theaters; a ninth place finish. That’s not exactly how Disney wanted to kick off the release of its newly acquired Twentieth Century Fox titles.