OPENINGS: ELVIS (Warners) opened at the higher end of low expectations with $30.5M. That technically put it into a dead heat with Top Gun: Maverick for the weekend crown, although that’s misleading because like virtually all big-studio openings, Elvis essentially had a 4-day opening, while Maverick‘s weekend didn’t get to count any of its Thursday ticket sales. Elvis drew in the elusive older female audience, but it was also front-loaded–its Sunday number was 25% below Maverick. Among recent rock biopics, the $30.5M opening was considerably under Bohemian Rhapsody‘s $51.1M, but better than Rocketman‘s $25.7M. Elvis should benefit from next week’s July 4th holiday, and may pass $100M in the US. However, it bears around $175M in production/marketing costs, and may find tougher sledding overseas, where it opened to an unexciting $20M in 52 territories.
THE BLACK PHONE (Blumhouse/Universal) launched with $23.4M, a solid start for a non-franchise horror entry. Combined with $12.4M in 45 international markets, that should put it on the road to moderate profitability.
THE PHANTOM OF THE OPEN (Sony Classics) expanded to the narrowest possible “wide release” with a jump to 501 theaters. It’s not clear what the strategy was here, since the result was under $150K, an awful $300 weekend per-theater average.
HOLDOVERS: TOP GUN: MAVERICK (Paramount) continued to hold beautifully, down 32% to $30.5M in its 5th weekend, and seemingly capable of hitting an amazing $600M in the US, which would put it in the top dozen US releases of all time. It’s almost as massive overseas, where it’s reached $484.7M after a $44.5M weekend in 65 territories. Maverick has now passed $1B worldwide, the biggest hit by far of Tom Cruise’s 4-decade career, and it’s not close to being done.
JURASSIC WORLD: DOMINION (Universal) is quickly running out of steam, down 55% to $26.4M in its 3rd weekend, and it will be the lowest-grossing of the Jurassic World trilogy with around $375M–which to be sure is still a lot of dinosaur eggs. Overseas, it has $443.9M after a $43M weekend in 72 markets. (Notably, it’s one of the very few Hollywood blockbusters this year to receive distribution in China, where it’s earned $114M of that total.)
LIGHTYEAR (Pixar/Disney) has been largely rejected by audiences, down a sharp 65% to $17.7M after last week’s subpar opening. It may not even reach $150M in the US, which among Pixar releases would put it above only The Good Dinosaur and the truncated-by-Covid Onward. Things are no better overseas, where it has $63.6M after a $19.3M weekend in 43 territories.
DOCTOR STRANGE IN THE MULTIVERSE OF MADNESS (Marvel/Disney) dropped 61% to $1.7M in its 8th weekend, losing about 1/3 of its theaters, and may reach $415M in the US, putting it at #8 among MCU titles. It has $537.8M overseas.
LIMITED RELEASE: The weekend’s Indian-language arrival was JUG JUGG JEEYO (Coconut), which had a $2300 weekend per-theater average at 318. MARCEL THE SHELL WITH SHOES ON (A24) had an impressive per-theater start, averaging $28.3K at 6. OFFICIAL COMPETITION (IFC) widened to 26 and averaged $1900. FLUX GOURMET (IFC) averaged $300 at 19.
NEXT WEEKEND: All the non-family holdovers get a free holiday weekend, as the only wide opening is MINIONS: THE RISE OF GRU (Illumination/Universal). Limited releases include MR MALCOLM’S LIST (Bleecker Street) and THE FORGIVEN (Roadside).
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