OPENINGS: With little else new around, DRAGON BALL SUPER: SUPER HERO (Crunchyroll/Sony) seized the weekend with $20.1M, a bit lower than the studio’s Dragon Slayer: Mugen Train, which opened with $21.2M at about half the number of theaters. Dragon Ball, like most anime titles, was heavily skewed to the M18-34 audience, and it may be headed for a steep drop next weekend, as Demon Slayer fell 70% in its Weekend 2. Dragon Ball also has $25.1M overseas, of which $18.1M is from Japan.
The older-skewing BEAST (Universal) was weaker at $11.6M, within low expectations. Beast probably carries about $100M in production and worldwide marketing costs, so it has a long road ahead to find breakeven. Overseas, it has $10.3M to date.
ORPHAN: FIRST KILL (Paramount, also on VOD/Paramount+) launched with $1.7M at 498 theaters, a better per-theater average than Beast could manage. It also has $500K overseas.
HOLDOVERS: BULLET TRAIN (Columbia/Sony) dropped another 40% to $8M in its 3rd weekend and might reach $90M in the US, with $81M overseas thus far.
TOP GUN: MAVERICK (Paramount) continued its flight to $700M in the US, down a slim 17% to $5.9M in its 13th weekend, and with $720M overseas after an $8.7M weekend in 63 territories.
LEAGUE OF SUPER-PETS (DC/Warners) held well in its 4th and last pre-VOD weekend, down 18% to $5.8M, on its way to $85M in the US, and with $62.9M overseas.
THOR: LOVE & THUNDER (Marvel/Disney) dipped 25% to $4M in its 7th weekend, and might reach $345M in the US. Its international total is $405M.
NOPE (Universal) dropped 34% to $3.5M, headed for $125M in the US. Its overseas total is only $19.3M.
MINIONS: THE RISE OF GRU (Illumination/Universal, also on VOD) was down 30% to $3.5M, now above $350M in the US, and with $483.6M overseas.
WHERE THE CRAWDADS SING (Columbia/Sony) lost 21% to $3.1M in its 6th weekend, and might reach $90M in the US. However, its international total thus far is just $20M.
Despite nearly doubling its theater count, BODIES BODIES BODIES (A24) declined by 23% to $2.4M for the lowest per-theater average in the Top 10. It doesn’t seem likely to get much past $15M in the US, and hasn’t yet launched overseas.
ELVIS (Warners, also on VOD) was down 25% to $2M in its 9th weekend, on its way to $150M in the US, and with $125M off-shore.
FALL (Lionsgate) dropped 47% to $1.3M from last week’s opening, and may not even hit $10M in the US, with negligible overseas release thus far.
LIMITED RELEASE: FIRE OF LOVE (NatGeo) expanded to 67 theaters with a $900 per-theater weekend average. A LOVE SONG (Bleecker Street) widened to 107 and averaged $500. THE TERRITORY (Picturehouse) opened at 7 with a $3800 average.
NEXT WEEKEND: Things don’t get any easier for the box office with the arrival of the horror movie THE INVITATION (Screen Gems/Sony), and festival titles BREAKING (Bleecker Street) and 300 YEARS OF LONGING (UA/MGM).