Monday Mixer: 'Bourne' is back

Posted Monday, August 1, 2016 at 11:08 AM Central

by John Couture

What a weekend. Bourne is back and those Moms are being bad, which is all great news for the box office. Did anything else happen this weekend? Oh yeah, there was a comment explosion on a story from last week.

My good friend Tim used to say, it's a good policy not to talk politics and religion on our site and I agree with him. Apparently, I upset some folks by using a current event as a touchstone to make our progress in time and understanding. If you were upset, I do apologize, it was not my intent to upset anyone with a silly little observation.

And yet, it does say something that it is now the story that has garnered the most comments in our history. It seems that I hit a nerve, or at least gave people the urge to actually post their disagreement. I think that's great. We always hoped that by having a comments section we could foster conversation on the site.

I hope that it continues and just know that whether you agree or disagree with what I or others post, your voice will be protected here. We tend to keep it civil. That being said, it's time to get back to what we do best around here, talk about the box office and films being released on DVD and Blu-ray.

This first week in August is overflowing with new releases and you will get a taste of them as we have three reviews coming down the pipe, also a new record for one week for us. So, let's sit back and get back to enjoying this little thing we call entertainment.

Box Office 411

Despite middling reviews and lackluster audience buzz, the new Jason Bourne film is a hit with fans. The return of Matt Damon to the franchise that made him an action star netted a very nice $60 million opening, which was in line with Universal's expectations. It is the second largest Bourne opening ever, behind only Damon's last entry in the franchise, Bourne Ultimatum.

The Bourne franchise has had an up-and-down run at the box office, but Jason Bourne looks to continue in the trend that Matt Damon had going before he stepped away from the series. If it holds up well next week, there's a good chance that it will become just the second Bourne film to surpass $200 million at the box office. Of course, there's a pretty good chance that Suicide Squad will erode its audience considerably. That being said, I still think that Jason Bourne will squeak past the $200 million mark, barely.

The R-rated comedy Bad Moms debuted in third place with an opening weekend of $23.4 million. The Mila Kunis/Kristen Bell-starrer was a hit with female audiences which contributed to the film's strong debut. It was consistent with pre-release expectations and it will be interesting to see what effect Suicide Squad will have on it this weekend. On the one hand, Margot Robbie is being singled out for her performance as Harley Quinn, but Suicide Squad is still targeting a predominantly male audience.

Will Bad Moms be hurt by Suicide Squad or will it thrive as a counter-programming alternative to the action and violence? Time will tell, but this weekend should go a long way in telling the box office story for Bad Moms. If it drops considerably, the film will struggle to reach $60 million, however, if it thrives, I can see a final box office number closer to $80 million.

Last week's champ Star Trek Beyond turned into this week's chump with a measly $24 million in second place. The film's total broke $100 million, but the steep drop off is a huge concern given Suicide Squad will undoubtedly eat into its audience even more this weekend. Given this week's numbers, I don't think there will be enough juice for the film to reach $200 million.

This week's other new entry Nerve debuted slightly below where Lionsgate was hoping with a $9 million weekend and $15 million since its Wednesday release. The truth-or-dare without the truth movie was hoping for a $20 million opening despite a rather uneven critical response. It seems that audiences were more kind in their reviews this week and it could actually crawl its way to a $40 million box office.

Quick Hitters

• In a tribute to this week's big new release, here is the Honest Trailer for the Bourne trilogy. It's hilarious and also serves as a nice primer to get you ready for the new film.