OPENINGS: TERRIFIER 3 (Cineverse) broke through to a mainstream audience with an $18.3M weekend, which is more than the entire $10.6M run of 2022’s Terrifier 2 (that one’s highest weekend was $1.9M). The new entry in the unrated, ultra-violent slasher series accomplished this with not just a low production budget, but reportedly a miniscule amount […]
OPENINGS: Amazingly, the 58% first weekend plunge from $96.2M for 2019’s Joker to $40M for JOKER: FOLIE A DEUX (DC/Warners) understates how much audiences hated the new film. For that, you have to look to the respective Friday-to-Saturday drops, after word of mouth had a chance to set in: 44% compared to 18%, which […]
OPENINGS: THE WILD ROBOT (DreamWorks Animation/Universal), aided by strong reviews, started above expectations with $35M. It has the family audience almost to itself until mid-November, and should pass $100M in the US. It’s thus far in only 29 international territories, and has $18.1M after a $9.9M weekend. Since the source material is a series […]
OPENINGS: TRANSFORMERS ONE (Hasbro/Paramount) underdelivered vs projections by about 20%, and its dim $25M start didn’t even give it the weekend’s #1 ranking at the box office. Paramount was taking a calculated risk by rebooting the franchise via PG-rated animation, and it doesn’t seem to have worked out. It faces direct competition next weekend […]
OPENINGS: A variety of studios threw product at the Labor Day weekend wall. None of them broke through, but REAGAN (ShowbizDirect) zeroed in on its target audience–reportedly nearly 2/3 of the audience was over 55 years old, and 3/4 were white–for $7.4M over the 3-day weekend ($9.2M with Monday). Although films appealing to older […]
OPENINGS: None of the weekend’s wide arrivals found much of an audience. BLINK TWICE (MGM/Amazon) led the weak group with $7.3M, and given its relatively low $20M+ production costs, it might hit breakeven, depending on how much the studio spent on marketing. It was equally slow overseas with $6.7M in 73 markets. The Christian […]
OPENINGS: ALIEN: ROMULUS (20th/Disney) became the latest franchise product to hit big this summer, arriving at the high end of expectations with $41.5M. That was higher than 2017’s Alien: Covenant ($36.2M), although below 2012’s Prometheus ($51.1M). The film was also solid overseas, with a $66.7M start sparked by $25.7M from China. Romulus was budgeted […]
OPENINGS: IT ENDS WITH US (Wayfarer/Columbia/Sony) roared past expectations with a remarkable $50M. That studio estimate comes with a couple of asterisks–it includes an unspecified amount from wide Wednesday screenings, and assumes an extremely strong Sunday hold–but even so, it’s a great start for a drama that may not even have $75M in production/worldwide […]