Box Office: 'Birth of the Dragon' Takes $200K Thursday

Sony's 'All Saints,' which earned $70K in previews, and animated film 'Leap!' also open on a sleepy August weekend.

A quiet August weekend kicked off Thursday night with the martial arts movie Birth of the Dragon taking in $200,000, and All Saints, a faith-based film from Sony's Affirm label that is starting off with a smaller release, taking in $70,000. Weinstein Co.'s animated Leap! also opens wide this weekend.

This weekend is expected to be one of the sleepier of the summer, with all three new films opening behind holdover The Hitman's Bodyguard, Lionsgate's action comedy starring Ryan Reynolds and Samuel L. Jackson. The pic should have no problem repeating a No. 1 finish in its second weekend.

Birth of the Dragon, from Blumhouse's microbudgeted genre label BH Tilt, is aiming for a debut in the $3 million range. Playing in 1,600 theaters, the film is is a fictionalized account of when Bruce Lee challenged kung fu master Wong Jack Man to a fight in the mid-1960s in San Francisco.

The movie stars Hong Kong-born actor and martial artist Philip Ng, Xia Yu, Billy Magnussen, Qu Jingjing, Jin Xing and Simon Yin.

Leap! is tracking to gross the most of the three, with a $4 million to $5 million domestic debut. The film, about an orphan girl who flees to Paris with dreams of becoming a ballerina, is opening in approximately 2,575 theaters. Eric Summer helmed the film that features the voices of Elle Fanning, Dane DeHaan and Carly Rae Jepsen.

All Saints, helmed by Steve Gomer, has decided to roll out slowly. It opened at 7 p.m. in just 773 locations, and will expand to 846 screens Friday. The $2 million film is based on the real-life story of Michael Spurlock, a salesman-turned-pastor who, along with a group of refugees from Southeast Asia, risks everything to save his tiny church. John Corbett, Cara Buono, Myles Moor and Nelson Lee star.