OPENINGS: The theatrical box office continued to pick itself up off the floor this weekend with two high-performing R-rated action movies, which thrived despite an overlapping target audience and the availability of one on a streaming service. MORTAL KOMBAT (Warners, also on HBO Max) emerged the victor with $22.5M for the weekend, and could be headed for $60M+ in the US, likely a profitable investment on a $55M production budget and perhaps $25M in worldwide marketing costs, low by pre-pandemic standards. (That marketing covers the HBO Max release as well, of course, although we have no data for how it’s doing online.) Overseas, it’s at $27.6M after a $6.3M weekend in 36 markets.
DEMON SLAYER THE MOVIE: MUGEN TRAIN (Funimation) was a bit behind for the weekend at $19.5M, but it was at a little more than half the theatres as Mortal Kombat (1600 vs. 3073), so its per-theatre average was much higher, $12K vs $7K. Demon Slayer was actually in the lead on Friday, but it was heavily frontloaded with fans, so it fell 32% on Saturday whlie Mortal Kombat was down just 5%. The movie’s US success comes on top of a mammoth box office take in Japan, where it’s earned $365.1M (plus $23.2M in the rest of the world).
On a much smaller scale, the indie comedy TOGETHER TOGETHER (Bleecker Street) opened at 665 theatres with a mild $520K.
HOLDOVERS: GODZILLA VS. KONG (Warners, also on HBO Max) fell 47% to $4.2M on its 4th weekend, and it’s now a tossup whether it will reach $100M in the US. Overseas, it’s at $320M ($183.1M of that from China) after a $5.7M weekend in 41 territories.
NOBODY (Universal, also on VOD) dropped 26% to $1.9M in its 5th weekend, on its way past $35M in the US. It’s also brought in $16.5M overseas.
RAYA & THE LAST DRAGON (Disney, also on Disney+) dipped just 13% to $1.7M in its 8th weekend, and should go beyond $45M in the US. It has $72.1M overseas.
THE UNHOLY (Screen Gems/Sony) lost 32% to $1.4M in its 4th weekend, on track to pass $15M in the US. with $4.7M to date overseas.
NEXT WEEKEND: The only scheduled wide opening is the horror movie SEPARATION (Open Road).
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