Summer Movie Season Closes with a Whimper

Summer 2017 closed like the last few weeks that preceded it: terribly. The Hitman's Bodyguard remained in first place for a third straight week, becoming only the third movie of the year to pull off that feat. (The other two? Split and Fate of the Furious, neither of which are even in the top 5 biggest movies of the year.) You'd think a movie that holds its own for so long would have at least crossed $60 million, especially with Deadpool and Nick Fury in it, but that's just how bad August has been.

Annabelle: Creation stayed at No. 2, one of the most incredible holds for a horror movie ever. (Split held even better, but that was back in January and directed by one of the masters still on his comeback tour.) It's now likely to top $100 million, which not even Alien: Covenant, Power Rangers or The Mummy could manage.

Wind River and Leap! switched places, which must make the Weinsteins happy, especially considering their bungled prestige release Tulip Fever debuted all the way down at No. 23. The former is churning along. It's already made $20 million, and will pass last year's Oscar nominee Hell or High Water (also written by Taylor Sheridan) in the next few weeks. And because it's been so slow, the low-performing Logan Lucky has almost stuck around long enough to make back its budget. It still has a little bit to go, but considering its week-to-week drops haven't been so big, it's become a little movie that could.

Outside the top 5:

• This Weekend's Indie Champ: Beside Bowie, a documentary on guitarist Mick Ronson. The behind-the-scenes look at the man backing up one of the most important musicians of all time averaged $23,000 on its pair of screens.
• The 40th anniversary re-release of Steven Spielberg's Close Encounters of the Third Kind blew away all its competitors. It earned $2.3 million, far exceeding other re-releases like Terminator 2.
• Anticipating a lull in the way of animated films, Disney decided to put Cars 3 back in 2,200 more theaters, pushing it over $150 million. Still, it's finished well below its predecessors.

Next week:

Fall movie season kicks off with what's sure to be a record-breaker. It, the highly-anticipated Stephen King adaptation, will absolutely be the No. 1 movie. But just how high? That's hard to say. Most horror movies don't have barn-storming openings. But this one has more hype than your run-of-the-mill slasher. That's why I'm anticipating It becomes the first September release to debut with more than $50 million, which would also be the biggest debut for a Stephen King property ever.