Box Office Report

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'A Quiet Place Part II' makes serious Memorial Day noise with a $48.4 Million three-day bow; 'Cruella' is solid in second with $21.3 million
May 30, 2021 19:53 PDT - By Chris Nashawaty - Box Office News

Hollywood is finally back in business…and not a moment too soon. After 14 long months of darkened marquees and skittish moviegoers who opted to stay home and stream due to COVID-19, Memorial Day weekend arrived just in the nick of time.

In normal years, the holiday which unofficially kicks off summer has provided Hollywood with one of its biggest—and busiest—periods on the calendar. But the past year has been anything but normal, and few knew what to expect coming into the long weekend. Well, it turns out that the box office exceeded all industry expectations thanks to the one-two blockbuster punch of Paramount’sA Quiet Place Part II and Disney’s Cruella, which both had stronger-than-expected debuts. In fact, it was the first weekend in more than a year where the total domestic box-office take surpassed $100 million.

Winning the holiday weekend (by far) was the John Krasinski-directed follow-up to 2018’s surprise horror hit A Quiet Place. The eagerly anticipated sequel scared up $48.4 million in the three-day window between Friday and Sunday. Estimates for the PG-13 film’s four-day haul put its North American receipts at $58.5 million (with $5 million of that coming from IMAX screens), making it the biggest domestic opening of the pandemic era. The previous record holder was Warner Bros.’ Godzilla vs. Kong, which bowed to $32 million back in March 2021.

While early industry projections had the Emily Blunt-starring sequel landing in the $30-million range over its first three days, A Quiet Place Part II easily blew past those predictions and landed in the top spot with plenty of breathing space to spare. In fact, the movie’s Memorial Day weekend take nearly matched the original’s $50.2 million opening in 2018. The follow-up opened with a staggering $12,985 per-screen average in 3,726 theaters. And both critics and audiences seemed equally impressed with the film, giving it a 91% score on RottenTomatoes and an A- grade from CinemaScore.

Originally scheduled to hit theaters back on March 20, 2020, A Quiet Place Part II was one of the first major-studio pictures to be postponed due to COVID. And while many studios chose to steer their 2020 films over to various streaming platforms bypassing limited-capacity theaters, Paramount’s gamble to hold the film for a theatrical release until the pandemic began to recede seems to have paid off handsomely. Blunt and Co. should now have plenty of time to pad their film’s already-impressive numbers since it will be available solely on the big screen for 45 days before moving over to the Paramount+ streaming service.

In the runner-up spot was Disney’s Cruella, an origin story starring Emma Stone about the rise of 101 Dalmatians 's puppy-hating villain, Cruella de Vil. The PG-13-rated film also came out of the gate to solid numbers despite being available on Disney+ for an additional $30 fee. Cruella pulled in $21.3 million in the first three days of the long weekend, earning a $5,472 per-screen average in 3,892 locations. Its four-day gross is projected to hit $26.5 million. The film currently has a 72% score on RottenTomatoes and received a straight ‘A’ CinemaScore grade. One interesting footnote: female ticket buyers turned out to be a critical factor in the holiday weekend’s booming business, with women making up 53% of A Quiet Place Part II’s audience and 64% of Cruella’s.

In third place was Lionsgate’s horror flick Spiral, which took in just under $2.3 million over the weekend’s first three days in North America and an estimated $2.9 million for the four-day frame. The latest R-rated Saw installment saw its receipts fall off a steep -50.5% from the previous session while earning a $760 per-screen average in 2,991 theaters. Its three-week North American total now stands at $19.8 million. The ninth chapter in the splatter saga which kicked off in 2004 has tacked on an additional $6.8 million abroad to date, lifting its worldwide total to $27.2 million.

In fourth place was Jason Statham’s Wrath of Man. The United Artists’ action-thriller added $2.1 million domestically, which represented a -29.5% dip from the previous weekend (Its four-day projection is a little under $2.8 million). The R-rated film had a $698 per-screen average in 3,007 theaters. Its four-week North American total now sits at $22.1 million. However, Statham’s latest punch-‘em-up continues to translate well overseas, where it has accumulated $57.7 million in foreign markets, bringing the film’s combined worldwide gross to a hair under $80.5 million.

Rounding out the top five was Disney’s Raya and the Last Dragon. In its thirteenth (!) week, the PG-rated computer-animated adventure added just under $2 million domestically thanks to a +19.7% bump over the previous session (Its four-day projection is $2.6 million). Despite also being available on the Disney+ streaming platform for a $30 fee, the film had a $990 per-screen average in 2,015 theaters, bringing its domestic box-office total to $50.9 million. Overseas, Raya has racked up $77 million so far, pushing its current worldwide total to $128.5 million.

Meanwhile, the latest Fast and Furious sequel, F9, continues to burn rubber overseas. While the Vin Diesel-starrer will not cross the starting line on our shores until June 25, it has already zipped past the $200 million line in its first two weeks playing abroad. Its current international gross in just eight markets is a whopping $229 million and counting.

 

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The Latest 'Conjuring' chapter outscores 'A Quiet Place II" for top spot at the domestic box office with $24 million

The box office is becoming a scary place these days. And for the first time in a long time, it’s scary in a good way. Just a week after A Quiet Place Part II lured the horror faithful back into darkened multiplexes, the latest chapter in the hit husband-and-wife demonologist saga, The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It, scared its way to a No. 1 opening in North America with a stronger-than-anticipated $24 million debut weekend.

The latest film in Warner Bros. and New Line’s fright franchise is the third official Conjuring film starring Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga as married paranormal sleuths, but the eighth overall when you factor in such spin-offs as the Annabelle movies, The Nun, and La Llorona—which combine to make up what we’ll call The Conjuring Cinematic Universe. Together, they make up the top-grossing horror franchise of all time with $1.9 billion at the global box office. Made on relatively small-scale budgets, the films have found (and continue to find) favor with loyal lovers of scary movies who tend to turn out in large numbers on opening weekend. The Devil Made Me Do It continued the series’ hot streak, beating out early predictions that had the film being edged out by last week’s box-office champ, A Quiet Place Part II. In fact, by the time the weekend’s receipts were tallied up, The Conjuring was in first place by a comfortable margin.

Earning a solid ‘B+’ CinemaScore and a 60% fresh rating with critics on Rotten Tomatoes, the R-rated film unspooled in 3,102 theaters and earned a $7,740 per-screen average—which is especially impressive considering that it was also available on the HBO Max streaming service for no additional fee. And while Warner Bros. did not share the title’s streaming numbers with the press, it did manage to pad its box-office haul with another $33.1 million earned overseas, bringing its combined worldwide box-office total to $57.1 million.

As mentioned previously, A Quiet Place Part II took the runner-up spot, pulling in $19.5 million in its second weekend. Paramount’s PG-13-rated suspense sequel starring Emily Blunt dropped off a stiff -59% from the previous weekend, landing a $5,208 per-screen average in 3,744 locations. Its two-week domestic total now stands at $88.6 million. Should the film continue at its current pace, it stands an excellent chance of beating out Godzilla vs. Kong to become the first film to surpass the $100 million milestone in North America since the COVID pandemic began. Overseas, the nearly-silent thriller has racked up an additional $50 million to date, putting its current worldwide total at $138.6 million.

In third place was Disney’s Cruella, an origin story starring Emma Stone as Cruella De Vil, the infamous puppy-hating villain of 101 Dalmatians. The PG-13-rated film made $11.2 million in its second weekend, slipping -47.7% from the previous session. Cruella, which is also available on Disney+ for an additional $30 fee, earned a $2,866 per-screen average in 3,922 theaters. Its combined two-week domestic total is $43.7 million. Cruella has also piled on another $43.4 million internationally, bringing its cumulative worldwide box-office total to $87.1 million.

In fourth place was the weekend’s only other newcomer of note: Universal and DreamWorks Animation’s Spirit Untamed. The PG-rated animated adventure, which is technically a sequel to 2002’s Spirit: Stallion of Cimarron/link,] but is more closely connected to the Netflix series Spirit Rides Free, bowed to $6.2 million at the North American box office. Thanks to such starry voice talent as Jake Gyllenhaal, Julianne Moore, and Isabela Merced, the kids’ film had a $1,930 per-screen average in 3,211 theaters. It added $1 million from overseas markets, bringing its global box-office total to $7.2 million. For the record, Spirit: Stallion of Cimarron made a little more than $122.5 million at the worldwide box office during its original theatrical run nearly 20 years ago.

Rounding out the top five was Disney’s Raya and the Last Dragon. In its fourteenth (!) week, the PG-rated computer-animated adventure tacked on another $1.3 million domestically, sliding -44.2% from the previous frame. Some of that, no doubt, had to do with the fact that the film finally became available for no extra charge this week for Disney+ subscribers. Raya had an $868 per-screen average in 1,504 theaters, bringing its domestic box-office total to $53.5 million.

Meanwhile, the latest Fast and Furious sequel, F9, just keeps shifting into a higher and higher gear overseas. While theVin Diesel-starrer won’t hit North American theaters until June 25, it just zipped past the $250 million line in its first three weeks playing abroad. Its current international gross is $256 million and counting…

 

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After four weekends of horror films topping the box office -- a highly unusual occurrence in general and even more so in the summer -- we are moving into some lighter territory with this weekend’s two new wide releases. In The Heights and Peter Rabbit 2: The Runaway are both opening and hoping to pull in viewers looking for sunny, feel-good experiences as we continue to recover from the pandemic. We still have two weeks to go until we get a proper blockbuster release when F9 makes its stateside debut, but this weekend’s cheery offerings will hopefully continue to draw more moviegoers back to the theaters.

In The Heights looks to take the top spot this weekend as it finally hits theaters nearly a year after its originally scheduled date. Lin-Manuel Miranda and Quiara Alegría Hudes’ groundbreaking Broadway hit is given the big screen treatment by director Jon M. Chu, with Hudes writing the screenplay. Chu’s previous filmCrazy Rich Asians was a surprise hit, opening to $26.5 million and finishing with $174.5 million. Word of mouth gave CRA remarkably strong legs, with negligible second and third weekend drops, and similar enthusiasm from audiences could also propel In The Heights, which is at 97% on Rotten Tomatoes. This may be why Warner decided on a Thursday opening, getting word-of-mouth flowing for some extra opening weekend juice.

As with Warner’s other releases this year, it will hit HBO Max on the same day. How that impacts a film’s box office is hard to say, but we have seen strong box-office performances from other same-day HBO Max releases when the films have large benefits from the big screen experience, as Godzilla vs. Kong and The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It have proven. With the promise of large-scale, brightly-colored hip-hop-tinged musical numbers, In The Heights may be just the sort of film to compel some audiences back to the cinemas. Pre-release page views on IMDb don’t match up to either Crazy Rich Asians or this summer’s top grossers, putting it closer to the films that opened in the range of $10-20 million rather than $20-30 million.

In competition for second place this weekend are last weekend’s top two grossers (A Quiet Place Part II and The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It), as well as the other new wide release Peter Rabbit 2: The Runaway, which was pushed up a week following its success overseas. This gives Peter three weeks of the kid-friendly market mostly to itself before the July 2 release of The Boss Baby: Family Business. Overseas Peter Rabbit 2 has already racked up $45.8 million, the majority coming from the U.K. and Australia. As with the first Peter Rabbit, Will Gluck writes and directs, and critics felt the sequel, which is at 73% on RottenTomatoes, held up to the original.

The original Peter Rabbit opened to $25 million in February 2018 and had solid holds as it hopped to $115 million domestically. The sequel’s pre-release IMDb page views neither compare to the first film nor other live action/animated hybrids such as the Paddington films as they're considerably lower. Peter Rabbit 2 is also opening in China over the weekend, which should give its global box office a nice boost. China was the third largest territory for the original film after the U.S. and U.K., grossing $26.3 million. The film has yet to open in France, Germany, and Japan, all territories where the original earned over $10 million.\
Other than the two new wide openers, the weekend will have a significant milestone attached to it: A Quiet Place Part II should cross $100 million domestically, becoming the only film to do so since the pandemic began. Currently at $93.1 million, it will pass Godzilla vs. Kong as the pandemic’s top grosser. Godzilla Vs. Kong, at $99.2 million, also has a shot of hitting $100 million in the coming weeks, though it seems unlikely this weekend, having only made $521k last weekend.

There are also some titles of note in the limited release category. Menemsha Films is putting out the Hebrew film Asia, which was Israel’s entry to the latest Oscars. IFC is releasing the working class drama Holler, which boasts Paul Feig as an executive producer. Hidden Empire is debuting The House Next Door: Meet the Blacks 2, a sequel to Meet the Blacks which grossed $9 million in 2016. John Benjamin Hickey stars in Sublet from Greenwich Entertainment. Lastly, Vertical is launching Canada’s award-winning crime film Akilla’s Escape.

Source: Boxofficemojo.com

 

[Necro]

The box office has been in a strange in-between zone, no longer in the doldrums of the pandemic but not quite back to normal either. After Memorial Day weekend seemed to bring back America’s movie mania -- thanks to the openings of A Quiet Place Part II and Cruella -- things have stalled a bit since then, especially with the twin disappointments last weekend (In The Heights and Peter Rabbit 2). This weekend feels like something of a placeholder while Hollywood eagerly awaits F9, which has already brought in $292.1 million internationally, to kick off a season of blockbusters. Despite being a relatively uneventful Father’s Day weekend at the box office, the one big newcomer, The Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard, has held down the fort quite well.

The sequel to 2017’s The Hitman’s Bodyguard (both directed by Patrick Hughes) sees Samuel L. Jackson, Salma Hayek, and Ryan Reynolds return as the Hitman, the Wife, and the Bodyguard, respectively. If that wasn’t enough star power for you, Morgan Freeman and Antonio Banderas are also in the newest entry. The film grossed $11.7 million this weekend following its Wednesday opening and paid previews, and its cume is $17 million.

The Lionsgate film was originally slated for August 28, 2020, which would have given it a similar late August frame as the first film had when it opened to $21.4 million. Pitting the Fri-Sun grosses against each other gives you a nearly 50% drop for the sequel, but its Wed-Sun plus previews total puts it around 20% below the first film’s opening weekend. The Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard’s ‘B’ CinemaScore is just a notch below the original’s ‘B+’, but regardless of its word of mouth, the release of F9 next week makes it is doubtful it will have legs like the first film, which topped the charts for three weeks and had a 3.5x multiplier.

Internationally, the film debuted in Mexico and the U.K. Its $2.2 million opening in the U.K. was only 12% below the first film. The Hitman’s Bodyguard grossed $101.1 million internationally for a $176.6 million worldwide total.

Breathing down The Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard’s neck in second place is A Quiet Place Part II, down only 21.7% in its fourth weekend with another $9.4 million. Its domestic cume is $125 million, 16% lower than the first film in the same time frame. Internationally, the film has made $96.7 million, and it runs 15% ahead of the original film when compared territory by territory over the same time frame. It has yet to open in 20 countries, but it is already looking like one of the few unqualified successes we’ve seen since February 2020.

Third place went to Peter Rabbit 2: The Runaway with $6.1 million, down 40% in its second weekend. While the drop isn’t bad, the $20.3 million total is 59% down from the first film after its second weekend. The film’s box office is also more than 50% behind the original in the U.K., the film’s second largest territory, but China tells a different story. The first film took home $26.3 million total in China, making it the third largest country for the film, while the sequel is at $17.2 million after two weekends. Peter Rabbit 2 has tallied up $90.8 million worldwide.

The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It came in fourth place with $5.2 million, down 50% from last weekend. With $53.6 after its third weekend, it is running only 12% behind Annabelle Comes Home, the previous film in the Conjuring universe. Considering the circumstances of the late-stage pandemic and the film’s availability on HBO Max, performing in line with franchise expectations is a positive sign. The film’s global total is $142.8 million.

Cruella takes fifth place with $5.1 million, a strong hold down only 24.3% in its fourth weekend. The Disney film now has a domestic total of $64.7 million, making it the third film since the pandemic began to cross $60 million. It could end up close to the $77 million domestic gross of Alice Through the Looking Glass. Its worldwide cume is $159.9 million.

If there's a bit of bad news at the box office this weekend, it comes from In The Heights. After a disappointing first weekend, many hoped it would at least hold strong in its second weekend as the positive word about the film spread. This was not to be. Dropping 63% to $4.2 million, it ended up in sixth place this weekend and has a total of $19.7 million.

Warner may be disappointed with how their much hyped musical performed, but they at least have the satisfaction of crossing a pandemic milestone. Godzilla vs. Kong is down in the charts at number 13 with only $250,000, but it is worth noting as it has finally crossed $100 million, the only film other than A Quiet Place Part II to do so since the pandemic began. The fact that the film was available on HBO Max since its opening day makes this all the more impressive. With $442.5 million worldwide, it is Hollywood’s biggest hit of the pandemic.

There are some more under the radar successes to take a look at. In eighth place was 12 Mighty Orphans from Sony Pictures Classics, which expanded to a semi-wide release this weekend. Starring Luke Wilson, the sports drama took in $870k from 1,047 screens for a total of $1.3 million. Another limited release that expanded was The House Next Door: Meet The Blacks 2, earning $604k from 539 screens for a cume of $2 million.

The widest and highest grossing of the new, limited releases was Focus Features’ Edgar Wright-directed documentary The Sparks Brothers. It came in 12th place this weekend, scoring $265k from 534 screens.

 

[Deezy]

Theaters are dead

 

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The summer blockbuster is back! And that sound you just heard is Hollywood letting out its collective breath. After more than a year of delays, Universal’s latest entry in the money-minting Fast & Furious cycle, F9: The Fast Saga, burned rubber out of the gate with a massive $70 million domestic debut. The opening not only left all previous pandemic-era box-office records in the dust, but also marked the biggest North American bow since 2019’s Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.

Originally slated to hit multiplexes over Memorial Day weekend in 2020, F9 was one of the most high-profile tentpoles to be put on hold when the COVID-19 pandemic brought the theatrical movie business to a screeching halt more than a year ago. For adrenaline junkies, the long wait only intensified interest in the tenth installment of the stunt-happy, muscle-car franchise, which brought back series regulars Vin Diesel and Michelle Rodriguez. Even with only 80% of the country’s theaters fully reopened, F9 managed to roar past the most recent chapter in the speed-demon saga – the spin-off Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw, which opened to $60 million in August 2019 and went on to earn $173 million domestically and $759 worldwide. Prior to F9’s triumphant weekend, the previous pandemic-era opening-weekend record holder was A Quiet Place Part II, which bowed to a $47.5 million during its three-day Memorial Day frame.

Directed by returning series veteran Justin Lin, the PG-13-rated F9 unspooled in 4,179 locations and scored a fuel-injected $16,750 per-screen average. Overseas, where the film bowed earlier, the movie has already surpassed the $300 million mark. Its current $334.9 million international haul brings its worldwide gross to $404.9 million, putting it on track to become the first film to race past $500 million in global receipts since The Rise of Skywalker. With its $6.3 billion over the span of its 10 chapters, the Fast & Furious series is now the fifth highest-grossing film franchise of all time.

While the blockbuster failed to click with critics, who gave it a 59% green splat on Rotten Tomatoes, moviegoers were more revved up, giving it an 84% fresh rating and a ‘B+’ CinemaScore. Speaking of F9’s audience, the demographic break-down of first-weekend ticket buyers revealed that 60% of the film’s audience was male; 51% were under 25; and a sizable 37% were Latino. The $5.5 million grossed by F9 on IMAX screens was also the biggest domestic total for the format since Bad Boys for Life in 2020.

With no other new wide releases this weekend, the rest of the top five was basically the same old, same old in just a slightly different order. In the runner-up spot was A Quiet Place Part II, which is still making noise with $6.2 million in its fifth frame. Paramount’s PG-13-rated suspense sequel starring Emily Blunt fell off -31.8% from the previous weekend, scoring a $1,984 per-screen average in 3,124 theaters. Its domestic total now stands at $136.4 million. Overseas, the film has racked up $112 million to date, putting its current worldwide total at $248.5 million.

Dropping into third place was last week’s top dog, The Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard, which scored $4.9 million in its second weekend. The Lionsgate action-thriller starring Salma Hayek, Ryan Reynolds, and Samuel L. Jackson, fell a steep -57.2% in its sophomore frame, earning a $1,450 per-screen average in 3,361 theaters. The R-rated sequel to 2017’s The Hitman’s Bodyguard now has a combined two-week domestic box-office total of $25.9 million. So far, the film has pulled in another $5.5 million from overseas, bringing its cumulative worldwide gross to $31.4 million.

Hopping into fourth place was Peter Rabbit 2: The Runaway. Sony’s PG-rated family film, featuring the voice of James Corden, nibbled just under $4.9 million in its third week in North American theaters. The sequel dipped -20.3% from the previous frame, earning a $1,456 per-screen average in 3,331 locations. To date, the film has racked up $28.9 million at home, but a far more impressive $79 million from overseas, bringing its worldwide box-office total to $107.9 million.

Rounding out the top five was Disney’s Cruella. The live-action origin story of 101 Dalmatians villain Cruella De Vil made $3.7 million in its fifth weekend. The PG-13-rated film, which is also available on Disney+ for a $30 premium charge, slid -22.8% from the prior frame. Cruella had a $1,320 per-screen average in 2,820 theaters. The movie’s domestic now total stands at $71.3 million while its international take is $112.5 million, bringing its cumulative worldwide total to $183.8 million.

Making smaller ripples below the top ten were two new indie arrivals: IFC’s R-rated videogame adaptation, Werewolves Within, debuted in twelfth place with $223,000 in 270 theaters for a $825 per-screen average; while Sony Pictures Classics’ R-rated immigration-drama I Carry You with Me (which also stars Michelle Rodriguez) entered the chart in seventeenth place with $20,049 in just four theaters for a $5,012 per-screen average. Neither has opened internationally yet.

 

[Necro]

F9: The Fast Saga kept the pedal to the metal over the Fourth of July weekend and kept its pole position at the North American box office, outracing a trio of newcomers that included a sequel to The Boss Baby, the latest installment in the Purge franchise, and a buzzy indie based on an epic Twitter thread. Thanks to its continued box-office success overseas, F9 became the first Hollywood film to roar past the global $500 million mark since the pre-pandemic blockbuster Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.

A week after it came roaring off the starting line with a whiplash-inducing $70 million debut, the tenth chapter in Universal’s muscle-car cycle, which stars Vin Diesel and Michelle Rodriguez, racked up another $24 million over the three-day holiday frame (it’s estimated to pull in $32.7 million by the end of Monday). Originally slated to hit multiplexes over the 2020 Memorial Day weekend, F9 was one of the most high-profile tentpoles to be put on hold when the COVID-19 pandemic brought the theatrical movie business to a screeching halt more than a year ago. Now it seems as if it may be that same industry’s savior.

Even so, the PG-13-rated speed-demon sequel dropped of a hefty -65.7% from the previous frame, which may sound like a fairly steep nosedive but is actually in line with the second-week performances of the franchise’s previous installments. F9 unspooled in 4,203 locations and scored a $5,710 per-screen average in its sophomore session. Its total domestic box office after two weeks currently stands at $125.9 million. Overseas, where the film bowed earlier than it did in the U.S., F9 has raked in $374.4 million, bringing its worldwide gross to $500.3 million.

F9 wasn’t the only cause for a victory lap over at Universal headquarters this weekend. Thanks to two other rookies, the studio had a hammerlock on the top three spots in North America over the red-white-and-blue frame. In second place was The Boss Baby: Family Business—a follow-up to Uni’s 2017 kiddie smash, The Boss Baby, again featuring the voice of Alec Baldwin. The PG-rated sequel debuted with $17.3 over its first three days (and is estimated to get its sticky little fingers on $23 million by the end of Monday). And while that doesn’t quite measure up to the original’s $50.2 million bow back in 2017 (the first film ended up making $528 million worldwide), it’s likely a much more solid roll-out than it seems since the movie also premiered simultaneously on NBCUniversal’s new streaming platform, Peacock, and should convince some new subscribers to sign up. In its rookie frame, Boss Baby 2 scored a $4,747 per-screen average in 3,644 theaters. To date, it has added a meager $1.5 million from overseas, bringing its global cume to $24.5 million. Audiences gave the film an ‘A’ CinemaScore. Critics, needless to say, did not.

The third of Universal’s top-three finishers, and the holder of third place this weekend, was the latest entry in Blumhouse’s lucrative Purge franchise, The Forever Purge. The R-rated dystopian horror sequel scared up a hair under $12.8 million over its first three days (and is estimated to grab $15.9 million by the end of Monday). It marked the lowest debut in the five-film saga—the previous chapter, The First Purge, earned $17.4 million in its first three days back in 2018. Still, with a budget pegged at just around $18 million, The Forever Purge doesn’t need to score especially massive numbers to make its way into the black. The new film earned a $4,178 per-screen average in 3,051 theaters. It tacked on a little under $3.6 million overseas, bringing its global total to $19.4 million.

In fourth place was the box-office stalwart A Quiet Place Part II, which is still managing to make some noise with $4.2 million over the first three days of its sixth weekend in multiplexes. Paramount’s PG-13-rated suspense sequel fell off -31.8% from the previous frame, scoring a $1,495 per-screen average in 2,826 theaters. Its domestic total now stands at $144.4 million. Overseas, the film has added $112.1 million to date, putting its current worldwide total at $257.9 million after the long holiday weekend’s numbers are factored in.

Rounding out the top five was The Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard, which scored $3 million over the first three days of its third weekend. The Lionsgate action-thriller dipped -38.2% from the prior session, earning an $892 per-screen average in 3,361 theaters. The R-rated sequel to 2017’s The Hitman’s Bodyguard now has a combined three-week domestic box-office total of just a little under $31.4 million. So far, the film has pulled in another $15.6 million from overseas, bringing its cumulative worldwide gross to $47.9 million after the long holiday weekend’s numbers are tallied.

Also of note this weekend was the semi-wide opening of A24’s Zola. A twisty (and twisted) road-movie thriller based on an epic Twitter thread about a pair of strippers (played by Taylour Paige and Riley Keough) who head to Florida where their trip goes haywire the R-rated indie bowed in tenth place with $1.2 million over the three-day weekend (since its debut on Wednesday, it has made $2 million). Hailed by critics after its premiere at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival, Zola’s first weekend frame delivered an $837 per-screen average in 1,468 locations. It has not opened internationally yet.

Up next week: Marvel’s Black Widow hits theaters.

 

[Necro]

It wouldn’t be a proper summer movie season without an offering from the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), and after a delay of over a year, and two years since the last MCU film, Black Widow is hitting theaters. With potential to be the summer’s biggest film, it is also a test for the box office in the pandemic recovery era, just as F9: The Fast Saga was when it opened two weeks ago. A big Marvel blockbuster may be the push many need to return to theaters, though how the film performs compared to others in the series will help let us know where we stand.

Scarlett Johansson headlines in Black Widow, the first standalone film for the character who was introduced in Iron Man 2 in 2010. The film also stars Florence Pugh, David Harbour, O-T Fagbenle, William Hurt, Ray Winstone, and Rachel Weisz. Directed by Australian filmmaker Cate Shortland, known for her acclaimed films Somersault, Lore, and Berlin Syndrome, Black Widow takes place after Captain America: Civil War and acts as a prequel to Avengers: Infinity War and Endgame. The film, which was originally slated for May 2020, is the first MCU release since Spider-Man: Far From Home just over two years ago. It is also the first of four MCU releases scheduled for this year, with Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings coming in September, Eternals in November, and Spider-Man: No Way Home in December.

Black Widow is opening in 4,100 theaters domestically, and it is also debuting in most major international territories with the exception of China, which is the largest international market for the series, as well as most of Southeast Asia, where many theaters are currently closed. After a patchwork global rollout for F9, this looks like the first major release this summer to open in most of the world at the same time. The film opened Wednesday in 11 territories and set pandemic era records in many countries, including France and the U.K.

Right now, the pandemic opening weekend record to beat is F9’s $70 million. If Black Widow matches that number, it would be the lowest grossing opening of an MCU film since Ant-Man ($57.2 million) in 2015. Of the last 10 Marvel films, only two have opened to under $100 million (excluding Spider-Man: Far from Home, which had a Tuesday opening ahead of July 4th, and would have surpassed $100 million with a Friday opening). Doctor Strange opened to $85 million in 2016, and Ant-Man and the Wasp opened to $75.8 million in 2018. It is hard for us to say whether or not in “normal times” Black Widow would have opened closer to those films or closer to films such as Captain Marvel ($153.4 million) or Thor: Ragnarok ($122.7 million). For the current situation, though, breaking pandemic records seems good enough, even if it puts Black Widow at the lower end of recent MCU films.

What may depress the gross somewhat is its day and date release on Disney+. The film is available for subscribers to purchase via Premier Access for $29.99, a strategy Disney used for Cruella and is doing for the upcoming Jungle Cruise as well, though future MCU films are theatrical exclusive as of now. The critical response to Black Widow has been positive (81% on RottenTomatoes), as is typical for MCU films, so it should continue with the strong word of mouth the series has.

While Black Widow is the main item of interest this week, it should not be ignored that the weekend is likely to exceed $100 million in the overall box office. This feat was narrowly missed two weeks ago when F9 opened, with the weekend gross totaling $98.7 million, and we haven’t had a single total weekend gross cross that threshold since March 6-8, 2020. For comparison’s sake, there were only four sub-$100 million weekends in 2019, and all but three May through July weekends that year were above $150 million.

One other pandemic era milestone to hit is the $150 million domestic gross, which A Quiet Place Part II has a good chance of crossing this weekend. It still lags behind the original film both domestically and internationally, but it remains the top domestic grosser of the year, though with F9 catching up and Black Widow opening it will likely be dethroned within a few weeks.

This is a lighter than usual weekend for limited releases. The most significant is Summertime, directed by Carlos López Estrada (Blindspotting, Raya and the Last Dragon). The film premiered at Sundance in 2020 and is being released by Good Deed Entertainment. Kelly Marie Tran executive produced the spoken-word poetry themed film, which is a theatrical exclusive and will expand next weekend.

 

[Necro]

Superheroes aren’t usually caught napping. Nor are box-office prognosticators. But neither party saw this weekend’s surprising slam dunk at the multiplex coming. All early projections had Marvel’s Scarlett Johansson-led tentpole, Black Widow, repeating in the top spot for a second straight weekend. But NBA legend LeBron James and a bunch of double-dribbling Looney Tunes characters spurred Warner Bros.’ family-friendly Space Jam: A New Legacy to a box-office upset thanks to a surprisingly robust $31.7 million domestic bow.

A follow-up to 1996’s live-action/animated hybrid Space Jam (starring Michael Jordan), A New Legacy rocketed past its pre-weekend $20 million forecast to take in just under $31.7 million at the domestic box office. It was the biggest opening for a kids-targeted film since the COVID-19 pandemic began in earnest 16 months ago. Unspooling in 3,965 theaters, the PG-rated movie earned a $7,982 per-screen average in its debut frame. The result was especially impressive considering that A New Legacy was also available free of charge to HBO Max subscribers and also because it fared dismally with critics, who gave the hoops comedy a 31% green splat on Rotten Tomatoes. Audiences, however, were in a more forgiving mood, giving it an ‘A-‘ CinemaScore grade. For comparison’s sake, the first Space Jam bowed to $27.5 million in 1996 and went on to gross $90.4 million domestically and $230.4 million at the worldwide box office.

The weekend’s doubletake-inducing finish left Black Widow licking its wounds in the runner-up spot, where the superhero tentpole pulled in a hair less than $26.3 million in its sophomore session. The PG-13-rated Disney/Marvel tentpole suffered a steep -67.3% drop from the previous weekend, when it smashed the pandemic-era domestic box-office record with an $80 million bow. In its second frame, Black Widow scored a $6,140 per-screen average at 4,275 locations. To date, the film has racked up $132 million in North America and has added $100.7 million from overseas markets, bringing its cumulative worldwide gross to $232.7 million.

Black Widow, which cost an estimated $200 million to produce, is also available on Disney Plus for a $30 surcharge, where it did very well in its first weekend. Still, adding insult to injury is the fact that China, traditionally one of Marvel’s most lucrative foreign markets, has still not fixed a firm release date for the film. After that is sorted out, the big question mark for Disney and Marvel is how its next release, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, will fare when it hits theaters on September 3.

In third place was Sony’s chiller-thriller Escape Room: Tournament of Champions. The PG-13-rated sequel to 2019’s Escape Room was originally scheduled to hit theaters back in April 2020. But it quickly became one of the many major-studio films to have its released put on indefinite hold as COVID shuttered theaters in the U.S. and elsewhere. Tournament of Champions, which pits six unlucky people in an escape room, pulled in $8.8 million domestically in its debut weekend, playing in 2,815 theaters for a $3,126 per-screen average. The sequel pulled in an additional $4.5 million in 18 foreign territories, bringing its first-week worldwide cume to $13.3 million. The first Escape Room opened in January 2019 to $18.2 million and went on to rack up $57 million in North America and $155.7 million globally.

In fourth place was the fading heavyweight, F9: The Fast Saga, which earned $7.6 million in its fourth weekend in domestic theaters. The tenth chapter in Universal’s muscle-car cycle, which stars Vin Diesel and Michelle Rodriguez, dropped off -33.4% from the previous frame. The PG-13-rated speed-demon sequel played in 3,368 theaters and scored a $2,262 per-screen average. Its total domestic box office now stands at $154.8 million. Overseas, where the film bowed earlier than it did in the U.S., F9 has piled up $436.4 million, bringing its worldwide gross to $591.3 million.

Rounding out the top five was Universal’s The Boss Baby: Family Business—a follow-up to Uni’s 2017 The Boss Baby kiddie smash, , which again features the voice of Alec Baldwin. The PG-rated sequel earned $4.7 million in its third weekend, slipping 46.8% from the prior session. Boss Baby 2 scored a $1,368 per-screen average in 3,449 theaters, bringing its three-week domestic box-office total to $44.6 million. So far, the family film has added a lackluster $3.7 million from overseas, pushing its global cume to $48.3 million. The film is also playing on NBCUniversal’s streaming platform, Peacock.

Meanwhile, just below the top five were a pair of impressive indie debuts. Focus Features’ Roadrunner: A Film About Anthony Bourdain—a documentary about the late celebrity chef and travel-show personality Anthony Bourdain, who committed suicide in 2018, opened in eighth place with $1.9 million domestically (the best start for an independent film in 2021). It played in 927 theaters and earned a $2,049 per-screen average despite an online controversy surrounding the film’s questionable manipulation of Bourdain’s voice. And in tenth place was Neon’s character-driven thriller, Pig, starring Nicolas Cage as a bearded truffle forager whose favorite pig goes missing. The rapturously-reviewed film bowed to $945,000 in 552 theaters, which was good enough for a $1,711 per-screen average. Neither indie has opened abroad yet.

 

[Necro]

As far as brand names go, it looks like G.I. Joe is no match for M. Night Shyamalan. Many were expecting the weekend to be won by Snake Eyes, which is essentially a reboot of the G.I. Joe series, but Old, the latest from Shyamalan, snuck past it, despite not setting the box office on fire itself. With big declines from both Black Widow and Space Jam: A New Legacy, this weekend had the lowest overall gross since before F9: The Fast Saga opened a month ago (though it’s neck and neck with July 2-4, so the actuals may change that). It is hard to say whether this is due to a lack of enticing new content to draw people in, renewed fears of Covid due to the Delta variant and rising cases, or many of the top films being available for streaming, and it is likely that all three played some role.

Old took home $16.5 million for the weekend from 3,355 theaters. The film cost $18 million and is the fourth low-ish budget self-financed film from M. Night Shyamalan (following The Visit, Split, and Glass, all distributed by Universal) after his disappointing flirtations with blockbusters (The Last Airbender, After Earth). Old, which is based on the graphic novel "Sandcastle," by Pierre Oscar Levy and Frederik Peeters, also took home another $6.5 million internationally, with some of its top markets including Russia/CIS, U.K., Ireland, Mexico, Italy, and France. The film opens this upcoming weekend in Brazil, Germany, and Spain, with South Korea and Japan following next month.

Falling below Lady in the Water’s $18 million opening, Old takes the claim of being Shyamalan’s lowest wide opening, and it ends the hot streak he has had since going indie. Still, considering its relatively low budget, its lack of stars (the biggest name is Gael Gabriel Garcia), and of course the pandemic, all in all it’s not a bad opening, even if the C+ Cinemascore and 52% Tomatometer don’t give hope for great legs. Old is the seventh number one for the writer/director, and it does have one feather in its cap worth bragging about: It is the first non-sequel to top the box office since Wrath of Man in early May. If anything, this tells us that Shyamalan’s name still has pull with audiences.

A name that seems to have less pull is G.I. Joe. Paramount’s Snake Eyes, which has the subtitle “G.I. Joe Origins,” trailed the other films in the series, opening to only $13.4 million compared to G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra’s $54.7 million opening in 2009 and G.I. Joe: Retaliation’s $40.5 million opening in 2013. To be clear, nobody was expecting Snake Eyes to come close to the previous films, which were larger budget, had bigger name casts, and weren’t released in a shaky pandemic marketplace, but even when adjusting those variables it is hard to put a positive spin on this opening.

Directed by Robert Schwentke, Snake Eyes stars Henry Golding in what is his first lead role in a big budget ($88 million) affair after garnering attention for his low-to-mid budget dramas and comedies, most notably Crazy Rich Asians. Snake Eyes received a B- Cinemascore and 42% on RottenTomatoes, and 13.5% of the domestic gross came from IMAX. It took in $4 million internationally with around 70% of territories yet to open, and like the other big films of recent weeks, it awaits a release date in China.

Black Widow came in third grossing $11.6 million, down 55% from last weekend and surprisingly displacing Space Jam: A New Legacy. It crossed $150 million on Saturday, making it the fastest film to do so since before the pandemic, and it is now at $315 million worldwide. Outside of the U.S., its top market to date has been South Korea with $23.1 million, though the China release is still pending.

Space Jam: A New Legacy was in fourth with $9.6 million, down 69% for a cume of $51.3 million. Despite the big drop, it remains ahead of the original Space Jam which finished its second weekend with a total of $48 million, though it likely won’t keep that lead up. In fifth place was F9, grossing $4.7 million and pushing past the $160 million mark domestically and also $600 million worldwide, the only non-Chinese film to manage that since 2019.

Sixth place was Escape Room: Tournament of Champions with $3.4 million and a cume of $16 million. After two weekends, its overall gross is still behind the original film’s $18.2 million opening. The Boss Baby: Family Business came in seventh place with $2.7 million, putting its total at $50.1 million after four weekends, around $66k behind the original’s opening weekend. The Forever Purge was in eighth place with $2.3 million and a cume of $40.3 million after four weekends, thankfully well ahead of any opening for a Purge film. A Quiet Place Part II came in 9th place in its 9th weekend with $1.3 million, and unlike most films this summer it compares fairly well to its predecessor, with a cume of $158 million domestic and $291 worldwide. The first film finished at $188 domestic and $341 worldwide.

In tenth place was Roadrunner: A Film About Anthony Bourdain, which remains one of the year’s biggest arthouse successes. In its second weekend, the doc from Focus Features and director Morgan Neville (Won’t You Be My Neighbor?) brought in $830k for a cume of $3.7 million. In 11th place was Roadside Attractions’ new limited release Joe Bell, which stars Mark Wahlberg in a rare indie role. The film grossed $707k from 1,094 screens. Neon’s Nicolas Cage starrer Pig came in 12th with $565k, crossing $2 million in two weekends.

 

[Necro]

After the runaway success of the Pirates of the Caribbean series, it’s surprising that it took Disney 18 years to turn another beloved theme-park ride (2015's Tomorrowland is a land, not a single ride) into a potential blockbuster movie franchise. However, after the long-awaited arrival of the studio’s splashy, E-ticket adventure Jungle Cruise, the jury is still out on whether the long wait was worth it. Yes, the family-friendly, white-water spectacle easily debuted in the top spot with a $34.2 million haul at the domestic box office (plus another $30 million from premium rentals on its Disney Plus streaming service). But considering its steep $200 million production budget and the fact that it’s top-lined by, literally, one of Hollywood’s biggest movie stars, Dwayne Johnson, the result can’t help but feel a little lackluster.

Originally slated for release in July 2020, Jungle Cruise was one of the most high-profile theatrical casualties of the COVID-19 pandemic. Finally hitting multiplexes after sitting for a year on shelves, the PG-13-rated tentpole (which costars Emily Blunt) bowed amidst a new spike in coronavirus cases spurred by the Delta variant. And while Disney’s hopeful franchise-starter outperformed box-office predictions that had it opening between $25-$30 million, the large number of viewers who opted to watch the film at home on Disney’s streaming service for a $30 upcharge raised questions about whether the studio’s hybrid-release model was cannibalizing its titles’ theatrical prospects. A legal dispute raised by Black Widow star Scarlett Johansson last week about this very question only served to highlight the issue.

Nevertheless, Jungle Cruise’s $34.2 million debut weekend at the North American box office made it, hands down, the most noteworthy opening during a weekend frame that featured three major roll-outs (the other two were A24’s The Green Knight and Focus Features’ Stillwater). Despite Cruise's mixed reviews from critics (63% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes), the action-heavy cross between Raiders of the Lost Ark and The African Queen scored far better with audiences, who gave it an A- CinemaScore grade. Jungle Cruise earned a $7,935 per-screen average in 4,310 locations. Its performance was less impressive overseas, where it pulled in $27.6 million in 47 international markets, bringing its cumulative worldwide theatrical total to $61.8 million. Considering its lofty budget, Jungle Cruise has a long, upriver journey ahead of it if it wants to get into the black.

Meanwhile, the battle for the runner-up spot this weekend remained a tight one as of press time. Based on early projections, the second-place finish appears to be tilting toward indie studio A24’s The Green Knight. The R-rated medieval fantasy starring Dev Patel bowed to $6.78 million at the domestic box office, where it scored a $2,431 per-screen average in 2,790 theaters. An ethereal reinterpretation of the famous Arthurian adventure about Sir Gawain, The Green Knight is yet to open abroad. However, it has caused critics to swoon, giving the film a 89% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

Just below, in third place, was director M. Night Shyamalan’s supernatural chiller, Old. The PG-13-rated release from Universal took in $6.76 million in its sophomore session, falling off -59.9% from the previous weekend. The film, which opened in first place last weekend and traces the mysterious aging process of a group of visitors to a seemingly idyllic stretch of sand and surf, earned a $2,000 per-screen average at 3,379 locations, bringing its two-week domestic total to $30.6 million. To date, Old has added $17.9 million from international ticket buyers, bringing its worldwide cume to $48.5 million.

In fourth was Disney’s latest Marvel extravaganza Black Widow, which racked up $6.4 million in its fourth weekend in theaters. The PG-13-rated superhero stand-alone starring Scarlett Johansson fell another 44.7% from the previous frame, scoring a $1,912 per-screen average in 3,360 theaters. After a month, its domestic box-office take stands at a hair under $167.1 million. Factoring in its $176.5 million haul from overseas markets, the film’s worldwide cume rests at slightly less than $343.6 million. As with Jungle Cruise, it remains difficult to say just how much of an impact the film’s availability on Disney Plus Premiere Access has eaten into its theatrical performance during a pandemic with no precedent.

Rounding out the top five was the weekend’s only other major bow of note, Focus Features’ Stillwater. The R-rated thriller starring Matt Damon as a desperate father trying to free his daughter from prison overseas debuted with $5.1 million. The movie, which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival last month, is director Tom McCarthy’s first feature since his Best Picture winner Spotlight was released in 2015. With mostly upbeat reviews (75% on Rotten Tomatoes), Stillwater certainly benefited from Damon’s star wattage as he pushed the movie to $2,022 per-screen average in 2,531 theaters. Stillwater has not yet opened in theaters overseas.

 

[Necro]

Five summers ago, the DC supervillain extravaganza Suicide Squad had a massive $133.7 opening weekend at the North American box office. Despite those eye-popping numbers, critics and audiences were left unimpressed by the film. This weekend, the complete opposite happened: critics and audiences loved its big-budget follow-up, The Suicide Squad, but its theatrical receipts were underwhelming, pulling in just $26.5 million in its debut weekend. In the age of COVID, it appears that up is down, black is white, and blockbusters just ain’t what they used to be.

Heading into the weekend, the Warner Bros. tentpole about a ragtag band of super-villains joining forces was forecast to earn somewhere in the vicinity of $30 million. But due to heightened concerns about the increased spread of the virus’ Delta variant and the fact that The Suicide Squad was simultaneously available to HBO Max subscribers for no additional cost, the film fell well short of those box-office predictions. Despite earning a 92% fresh rating from critics on Rottentomatoes.com and a solid B+ CinemaScore grade from pleased ticket buyers, the R-rated wannabe-blockbuster starring Margot Robbie (as the returning Harley Quinn), Idris Elba, John Cena, Joel Kinnaman, and the bellowing shark voice of Sylvester Stallone earned a $6,621 per-screen average in 4,002 theaters. Overseas, the movie has added $45.7 million to date, bringing its worldwide cumulative gross to $72.2 million.

While it’s still unclear how many HBO Max customers watched the film at home—and how many more were enticed to sign up for the streaming service—it is clear that the film’s $185 million production budget is going to be tough to turn into the sort of huge moneymaker that comic-book movies were guaranteed to be prior to the pandemic. While the first Suicide Squad’s ultimate global box-office haul of $746.8 million seems way out of reach for the new film, Warner Bros. would probably be tickled pink if The Suicide Squad finished somewhere close to Robbie and Harley Quinn’s 2020 spin-off Birds of Prey, which pulled in $201.9 worldwide just as the world began closing down.

With The Suicide Squad as the weekend’s only new wide release, the rest of the top five looked vaguely familiar from last weekend. The previous session’s box-office champ, Jungle Cruise, was knocked down a peg to second place, where it racked up just under $15.7 million. Disney’s PG-13 white-water adventure starring Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt fell off -55.2% from last weekend, managing a $3,641 per-screen average at 4,310 locations. Those second-week numbers now bring the movie’s domestic box-office total to $65.3 million, while its $56.5 million in international receipts push its worldwide tally to $121.8 million. While Disney said that Jungle Cruise brought in an additional $30 million in premium VOD rentals on Disney Plus last weekend, it has not updated those streaming-revenue figures for the film’s second weekend.

In third place was director M. Night Shyamalan’s supernatural chiller, Old. The PG-13-rated release from Universal took in $4.1 million in its third frame, falling off -39.7% from the previous weekend. The film, which traces the mysterious aging process of a group of visitors to a seemingly idyllic stretch of sand and surf, earned a $1,319 per-screen average at 3,138 locations, bringing its three-week domestic total to $38.5 million. To date, Old has added a hair less than $26.7 million from international audiences, bringing its worldwide cume to $65.2 million.

In fourth was Disney and Marvel’s Black Widow, which tacked on $4 million in its fifth weekend in theaters. The PG-13-rated superhero stand-alone starring Scarlett Johansson dipped -38.1% from the previous session, scoring a $1,292 per-screen average in 3,100 theaters. The movie’s domestic box-office take now stands at $174.4 million, which pushed it past the latest Fast and the Furious installment, F9: The Fast Saga, to snag the crown as the top-grossing film of the year in North America. Factoring in Black Widow’s $185.4 million haul from overseas markets, the film’s worldwide cume now rests at $359.8 million. As with The Suicide Squad and Jungle Cruise, it remains difficult to say just how much of an impact the film’s availability via streaming has eaten into its theatrical business.

Finally, in fifth place was Focus Features’ Stillwater. The R-rated indie thriller starring Matt Damon as a desperate father trying to free his daughter from an overseas prison fell off -44.9% from its opening weekend, adding just under $2.9 million in its sophomore frame. The movie, which barely edged out both The Green Knight and Space Jam: A New Legacy for top-five honors, earned a $1,095 per-screen average in 2,611 theaters, bringing its two-week North American box office total to $10 million. Stillwater still hasn’t opened internationally.

 

[Necro]

On a weekend that saw the arrival of three new major releases, moviegoers said “Hello, Ryan Reynolds” and “Adios, Suicide Squad” as Free Guy, the irreverent action comedy from 20th Century Studios and Disney, dominated a crowded field, landing at No. 1 at the domestic box office with a stronger-than-expected $28.4 million haul. As for last week’s champs—that ragtag band of DC Comics antiheroes? They fell off a cliff.

Going into the weekend, expectations for ticket sales were guarded at best. With reported COVID cases spiking higher than they’ve been at any point in the past six months, box-office prognosticators skewed conservative with their predictions. Would any of the session’s trio of new titles—Free Guy, the Aretha Franklin biopic Respect, and the horror sequel Don’t Breathe 2 —prove muscular enough to topple The Suicide Squad? Or would folks avoid masking up and steer clear of multiplexes all together? In the end, it turned out that they did show up for the most part, but just not for the films the experts thought.

Originally slated to hit theaters back in July of 2020 before the pandemic forced it back onto the studio’s shelves to gather dust, Free Guy was the frame’s biggest question mark. After all, the title was an unusual box-office unicorn in an era of sequels, prequels, and pre-existing franchise extensions—it was an original concept with a not-insignificant $100 million price tag attached which could only be seen in theaters. Not to mention that movies revolving around video games have historically been a tough sell. Early guess-timates for the film had it finishing in the $15-$19 million range. But when all was said and done, Free Guy soared past all of those low-ball predictions, racking up an impressive $29.4 million in North America.

The PG-13-rated film, which costars Killing Eve’s Jodie Comer and tells the story of a background character in a videogame racing to save his virtual universe before its real-world developers shut it down, earned a healthy $6,818 per-screen average in 4,165 theaters and added another $22.5 million overseas, bringing its first-week worldwide total to $50.9 million. Strong reviews from critics and a straight ‘A’ grade from audiences via CinemaScore certainly helped. But, no doubt, so did the fact that Free Guy could only be seen on the big-screen for its first 45 days unlike so many other recent blockbusters, which have followed a hybrid release where titles are rolled out simultaneously in theaters and at-home through streaming platforms. In fact, it was the studio’s first wide theatrical exclusive of 2021. And Disney was so pleased with the film’s early numbers that it is already talking about putting a sequel in the works.

In the runner-up spot was Screen Gems’ belated horror sequel, Don’t Breathe 2. The R-rated follow-up to 2016’s kick-off home invasion thriller (which then, as now, stars Stephen Lang) pulled in $10.6 million in its opening frame. While horror films have continued to fare well at the box office during the pandemic, Don’t Breathe 2’s numbers have to be considered especially solid in light of the fact that the film’s budget was only $15 million and that critics gave the film a woeful 51% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Still, it fell short of the first chapter’s $26.4 million bow five years ago. That film wound up topping out at $89.2 million domestically and at $157.8 million globally. Don’t Breathe 2 scared up a $3,527 per-screen average at 3,005 locations and tacked on an additional $3.4 million overseas, bringing it one-week worldwide take to $14 million.

In third was Disney’s Jungle Cruise, which added $9 million in its third weekend. The PG-13-rated white-water adventure starring Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt slid -43.1% from the previous weekend, managing a $2,307 per-screen average at 3,900 locations. Those third-week numbers now bring the movie’s domestic box-office total to $82.1 million, while its $72.2 million in international receipts pushes its worldwide tally to $154.3 million. Jungle Cruise is also available to Disney Plus subscribers for a $30 surcharge.

In fourth was the weekend’s third and final major rookie, Respect. MGM’s PG-13-rated biopic of Aretha Franklin, which stars Jennifer Hudson as the Queen of Soul, bowed to $8.8 million at domestic theaters. The movie played in 3,207 theaters, which translated to a $2,745 per-screen average. Respect’s numbers have to be a bit of a let-down for MGM considering the film’s $55 million budget. But, while reviews were mixed, the movie did manage an ‘A’ grade from CinemaScore. There were also some interesting demographic nuggets from the film’s first-week turnout: 48% of its audience was Black and two-thirds of its ticket buyers were over age 35.

Rounding out the top five, in what has to be considered a disappointment by any metric, was last weekend’s box-office heavyweight, The Suicide Squad. Warner Bros.’ R-rated wannabe-blockbuster about a motley crew of colorful antiheroes suffered a freefall drop-off of -70.4% from the previous session, pulling in just under $7.6 million in its sophomore weekend. While the film is also available on HBO Max, which certainly contributes to the film’s poor week-two performance in theaters, it only was able to grab a $1,928 per-screen average in 4,019 locations. To date, The Suicide Squad has accrued $42.9 domestically and $75.2 internationally, bringing its global box-office total to $118.1. The film’s reported budget was $185 million.

Finally, one dilemma that will be worth keeping an eye on in the days and weeks ahead is how studios will react to the pandemic’s new wave of Delta-variant infections. Will they keep their titles scheduled for late summer and early fall in place, or will they start reshuffling their release dates like they did during the pandemic’s first wave? Some early games of musical chairs are already underway as Sony just bounced its Venom: Let There Be Carnage from Sept. 4 to Oct. 15 and Paramount pulled the Sept. 7 release of its Clifford The Big Red Dog from the calendar all together.

 

[Swamps]

Are the factoring in how much the movies are making on streaming services too? I know that hurt Scarlett Witches box office.

 

[Necro]

Are the factoring in how much the movies are making on streaming services too? I know that hurt Scarlett Witches box office.

These numbers are strictly from box office, and don't include streaming.