OPENINGS: The box office may not have hit bottom yet (see “Next Weekend” below), but it’s getting close, with the horror movie THE INVITATION (Screen Gems/Sony) topping the weekend at a painful $7M. Things were no better overseas, where the film opened at $1.6M in 19 markets. Despite these numbers, The Invitation may still make its way to breakeven on production costs of $10M and relatively minimal marketing. (As to the latter, it’s worth noting that despite the tirades of some box office pundits, movie studios aren’t actually in the business of losing money for the benefit of theater owners, and sinking more into the advertising for this one would likely have just moved it from possible breakeven to definite red ink.)
Unlike The Invitation, THREE THOUSAND YEARS OF LONGING (United Artists/MGM/Amazon) carried a $60M pricetag for production alone, and with a $2.9M start, the only question is how many tens of millions it’s going to lose. (UA won’t even get the benefit of filmmaker George Miller’s good will in indulging his passion project, as his next Mad Max franchise epic Furiosa will be for Warners.) Longing hasn’t yet opened internationally, but overseas release is unlikely to rescue it.
The Sundance picture BREAKING (Bleecker Street) opened at 902 theaters with a quiet $1M weekend.
HOLDOVERS: BEAST (Universal) fell 58% to $4.9M from last week’s premiere and may not get past $35M in the US, with $16.1M to date overseas.
Anime is typically a front-loaded genre, but the 78% plunge of DRAGON BALL SUPER: SUPER HERO (Crunchyroll/Sony) to $4.6M made the 70% drop for Demon Slayer look modest. Dragon Ball may end up barely doubling its $21.1M opening weekend. Overseas, it has $26.4M after a $4.2M weekend in 34 territories.
BODIES BODIES BODIES (A24) was unable to find a mainstream audience, and lost 55% to $1.1M in its 4th weekend, unlikely to reach $15M in the US, and with minimal international release thus far.
The rest of the holdovers looked much like the chart has looked for weeks now, with the veteran titles on track to earn another $5-20M before they’re done:
BULLET TRAIN (Columbia/Sony) down 30% to $5.6M and hoping to stretch to $100M in the US, with $95.4M overseas.
TOP GUN: MAVERICK (Paramount) down 20% to $4.8M, as its makes its way to $700M in the US, with $731.2M overseas after a $6.7M weekend in 64 markets.
LEAGUE OF SUPER-PETS (DC/Warners, also on VOD) down 26% to $4.2M, on track for $90M in the US, with $72.4M overseas.
MINIONS: THE RISE OF GRU (Illumination/Universal) down 26% to $2.7M, possibly able to reach $365M in the US, and with $514.1M overseas.
THOR: LOVE & THUNDER (Marvel/Disney) down 34% to $2.7M, on track for $345M in the US, and with $410.1M overseas.
WHERE THE CRAWDADS SING (Columbia/Sony) down 27% to $2.3M and heading for $90M in the US, but with a more subdued $24.7M overseas.
NOPE (Universal, also on VOD) down 38% to $2.3M, likely to cross $125M in the US, but with just $31M overseas after an $8.2M weekend in 78 territories.
ELVIS (Warners, also on VOD) down 26% to $1.5M, still on its way to $150M in the US, and with $129.3M overseas.
LIMITED RELEASE: A re-release of ROGUE ONE: A STAR WARS STORY (Lucasfilm/Disney) to tie in with the upcoming Andor Disney+ show drew $1.1M in 255 large-format theaters. THE GOOD BOSS (Cohen Media) opened at 13 with a $2K weekend per-theater average. THE TERRITORY (Picturehouse) expanded to 115 with a $400 average.
NEXT WEEKEND: Even in robust years, Labor Day marks the low-water mark for holiday box office weekends, and that won’t change this year, with the only scheduled wide release being the Sundance premiere HONK FOR JESUS. SAVE YOUR SOUL (Focus/Universal). As in the earlier pandemic days, re-releases of JAWS (Universal) and SPIDER-MAN: NO WAY HOME (Marvel/Columbia/Sony) will attempt to fill some seats.
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