Last weekend’s No. 1 hit, Predator: Badlands, takes a huge dive in its second weekend at the box office with a 68% drop in domestic ticket sales.
The ninth film in the Predator film franchise — which includes two Alien vs. Predator movies — Predator: Badlands earned $40 million in its opening weekend frame Nov. 7-9 from 3,725 North American theaters.
Directed by Dan Trachtenberg (Prey and the animated Predator: Killer of Killers), Predator: Badlands follows the plight of Dek (Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi) — an ostracized member of a Predator clan on the planet of Yautja Prime — who becomes allies with the heavily damaged synthetic Thia (Elle Fanning) on the remote planet of Genna.
While hunting down a massive creature from the Kalisk species on Genna, Dek and Thia find themselves at odds with Thia’s “sister” synthetic, Tessa (also Fanning), of the Weyland-Yutani Corporation — which has its own plans for the beast.
While Predator: Badlands set a record for the biggest box office opening for a Predator movie in the franchise’s history — before inflation — with its $40 million opening at the domestic box office, the film’s ticket sales took a massive dive in the film’s second weekend.
According to weekend estimates reported on Sunday by The Numbers, Predator: Badlands earned only $13 million from 3,725 North American theaters in its second weekend frame from Nov. 14-16, which marks a 68% drop from its opening weekend ticket sales.
As such, the 20th Century Studios release dropped to No. 3 at the domestic box office. Predator: Badlands to date has earned $66.3 million domestically and $70 million in international ticket sales for a worldwide box office tally of $136.3 million.
The Numbers reported that Predator: Badlands had a $105 million production budget before prints and advertising costs.
‘Now You See Me: Now You Don’t’ Wins Box Office Battle Over Fellow Newcomer ‘The Running Man’
Lionsgate’s Now You See Me: Now You Don’t — the third film in the Now You See Me film series starring Jesse Eisenberg —finished at No. 1 in its opening weekend at the domestic box office, earning $21.3 million from 3,403 North American theaters.
At No. 2 is Paramount Pictures’ The Running Man — the second big-screen adaptation of Stephen King’s novel of the same name — which had an opening weekend take of $17 million from 3,534 theaters.
Starring Glen Powell as Ben Richards — who was first played by Arnold Schwarzenegger in the 1987 film version — The Running Man’s box office fell short of Deadline’s pre-release projection of a $20 million-plus opening.
The Running Man’s estimated take also falls on the low end of Box Office Pro’s projection for the film going into the weekend, which pegged an opening of anywhere between $15 million and $25 million domestically.
Coming in at No. 4 domestically after Predator: Badlands was the Paramount Pictures romantic drama Regretting You, which earned $5 million from 2,709 North American theaters to boost its domestic tally to $45.9 million.
Universal Pictures’ horror thriller Black Phone 2 rounded out the domestic top five with an estimated $2.6 million in ticket sales from 2,419 venues. Black Phone 2 has earned $74.6 million domestically to date.
The final numbers for this weekend’s box office will be released on Monday.
