Everything was not awesome for The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part this weekend.
The animated sequel from Warner Bros. took in $34.4 million in its opening weekend, falling significantly short of the first film's $69 million debut in 2014 and The Lego Batman Movie's $53 million debut in 2017, per Box Office Mojo. It did, however, surpass The Lego Ninjago Movie's $20 million opening. But The Second Part was expected to make as much as $55 million this weekend, as reported by Variety last month.
With an 84 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes, reviews don't explain the film falling short of expectations. But this could be a classic example of oversaturation, with Warner Bros. releasing four Lego movies since 2014 without letting audiences grow hungry for more. There's also the fact that the most recent Lego movie prior to The Second Part, The Lego Ninjago Movie, was poorly received by critics and fans alike and may have depressed turnout.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Variety reports that the audience for The Second Part was on average younger than that of the original, so it seems the sequel hasn't been able to generate the same excitement from adults as its predecessor.
It's possible that positive word of mouth will help give the film a boost in the coming weeks, but one problem for Warner Bros. is that it will soon have some competition from another animated sequel, DreamWorks' How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World, which will target the same audience as The Second Part and hits theaters on Feb. 22.
-
Fannie Flagg’s 6 favorite books that sparked her imaginationFeature The author recommends works by Johanna Spyri, John Steinbeck, and more
-
Google: A monopoly past its prime?Feature Google’s antitrust case ends with a slap on the wrist as courts struggle to keep up with the tech industry’s rapid changes
-
Patrick Hemingway: The Hemingway son who tended to his father’s legacyFeature He was comfortable in the shadow of his famous father, Ernest Hemingway
-
New York court tosses Trump's $500M fraud fineSpeed Read A divided appeals court threw out a hefty penalty against President Trump for fraudulently inflating his wealth
-
Trump said to seek government stake in IntelSpeed Read The president and Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan reportedly discussed the proposal at a recent meeting
-
US to take 15% cut of AI chip sales to ChinaSpeed Read Nvidia and AMD will pay the Trump administration 15% of their revenue from selling artificial intelligence chips to China
-
NFL gets ESPN stake in deal with DisneySpeed Read The deal gives the NFL a 10% stake in Disney's ESPN sports empire and gives ESPN ownership of NFL Network
-
Samsung to make Tesla chips in $16.5B dealSpeed Read Tesla has signed a deal to get its next-generation chips from Samsung
-
FCC greenlights $8B Paramount-Skydance mergerSpeed Read The Federal Communications Commission will allow Paramount to merge with the Hollywood studio Skydance
-
Tesla reports plummeting profitsSpeed Read The company may soon face more problems with the expiration of federal electric vehicle tax credits
-
Dollar faces historic slump as stocks hit new highSpeed Read While stocks have recovered post-Trump tariffs, the dollar has weakened more than 10% this year
