OPENINGS: THE EXPEND4BLES (Lionsgate) had a disastrous start with $8.3M, about half of both expectations and the $15.9M opening of Expendables 3 in 2014. Expend4bles may only total $20M in the US, and while the franchise makes most of its revenue overseas (82% on Expendables 3), it still seems unlikely to break even on […]
OPENINGS: THE EQUALIZER 3 (Escape Artists/Columbia/Sony) performed both within expectations and at around the same level as its predecessors, with $34.5M for the 3-day weekend compared to $36M for Equalizer 2 and $34M for the first in the franchise. (The Monday holiday is projected to bring the total to $42M.) Also like the previous […]
OPENINGS: Although BLUE BEETLE (DC/Warners) won the weekend over a tiring Barbie, it landed at the low end of expectations with $25.4M–and given the heavy 15% Friday-to-Saturday drop (much steeper than the 4%/6% drops for the Shazam movies), not to mention the Sunday West Coast weather, that studio estimate may be optimistic. The international […]
OPENINGS: THE LAST VOYAGE OF THE DEMETER (Universal) stirred little interest from critics or audiences, and set sail with a flat $6.5M. It hasn’t yet opened overseas, but will have a difficult time trying to recoup $100M or so in production/marketing costs. The tiny JULES (Bleecker Street) launched for some reason at 780 theaters, […]
OPENINGS: The 3-day weekend in the US went narrowly to MEG 2: THE TRENCH (CMC/Warners) with $30M. That was down more than 1/3 from the $45.4M start for The Meg in 2018, which would ordinarily be concerning for a film with $250M in production/marketing costs, but Meg 2 overperformed internationally even more strongly than […]
OPENINGS: After last week’s Barbenheimer fireworks, the box office for new movies returned to earth–with a thud in the case of HAUNTED MANSION (Disney), which was at the bottom of projections at $24.2M. With the exception of Guardians 3, it’s been a tepid summer for Disney, and Haunted Mansion carries production/marketing costs in the […]
OPENINGS: The most hyped box office weekend of the year delivered and then some. BARBIE (Mattel/Warners) burst into theaters with $155M, technically the best of the year (although the $146.4M for Super Mario Bros came after a Wed-Thurs start that had already brought in $58.3M). Among the many records set by the blockbuster were […]
OPENINGS: There had been an expectation, or at least a hope, that MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE – DEAD RECKONING PART I (Skydance/Paramount) would get a boost from the spectacular performance of Top Gun: Maverick, but that didn’t come to pass, and Mission 7 performed in line with others in the franchise. That meant $56.2M over the […]