Movies

After Making Millions In China, 'The Great Wall' Flops In US Theaters

Despite three new films premiering this weekend, Matt Damon's "The Great Wall" was the only one to crack the top three at the box office.

After Making Millions In China, 'The Great Wall' Flops In US Theaters
Universal Pictures / "The Great Wall"
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With a "Fifty Shades of Grey" sequel, a trippy horror flick and a movie entirely about Legos all in theaters, this weekend had something for everybody. But please don't get your movie theaters mixed up.

Holding on to the No. 1 spot for the second week in a row is "The Lego Batman Movie," bringing in an estimated $34 million. That pushes Bruce Wayne and company past $98 million in domestic ticket sales.

Unfortunately for Lego Batman, he still trails the wildly successful original Lego movie, which after two weeks had more than $130 million in U.S. ticket sales.

Speaking of sequels trailing the original, "Fifty Shades Darker" held on to the No. 2 spot this week with almost $21 million.

And while this sequel has a long way to go to catch up to the original romantic thriller, it’s still dominating overseas.

"Fifty Shades Darker" made about $89 million this weekend in foreign ticket sales pushing the worldwide total past $276 million. And remember, this movie only cost the good folks at Universal Pictures $55 million to make.

In other words, a sequel is on the way, and movie critics can go kick rocks.

Live-Action 'Lion King' Casts Simba And Mufasa
Live-Action 'Lion King' Casts Simba And Mufasa

Live-Action 'Lion King' Casts Simba And Mufasa

Director Jon Favreau made the announcement on Twitter.

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Just barely making it to third place this weekend is "The Great Wall," bringing in an estimated $18 million — a domestic opening that would be fine if "The Great Wall" didn't come with a $150 million price tag.

From the whitewashing accusations to lousy reviews — Matt Damon and legendary Chinese director Zhang Yimou have had a rough rollout in the U.S.

"This is a really good monster movie for 8-year-olds," Alonso Duralde said during "What the Flick?!"

Fortunately, though, China, the world's second largest movie market, seems to be picking up the slack. "The Great Wall" has pulled in $170 million in China alone since its December debut, and the worldwide total sits just below $245 million without any U.S. money.

As for next week, it's "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner" but a little more frightening —  "Get Out."