OPENINGS: The only wide opening of the week was the Christian-aimed action movie INFIDEL (Cloudburst), the first release from that studio. The official estimate is $1.5M from 1724 theatres, or a bit less than $900 per-theatre for the weekend, but that number assumes a very strong Sunday, so we’ll see if it holds up. On the one hand, films targeted to Christian audiences tend to do well on Sundays, but on the other, action movies have to compete with NFL games on that day, so it isn’t clear how it will play out. In any case, even with minimal production and marketing costs, a $1.5M start doesn’t suggest much of a destination for Infidel.
HOLDOVERS: With no new significant openings, the films in current release held quite well by pre-pandemic standards, but at such low numbers that none of them can be considered a success. The only A-level picture in the market remains TENET (Warners), which dropped 30% to $4.7M. Its current trajectory still puts it around $50M in the US, although eventual NY/LA openings will give that a bump, and it will benefit from the lack of other product. It continues to be much stronger overseas, with a $214M current total after a $25M weekend in most major territories (now including Japan) and about 25 mostly smaller markets still to open.
THE NEW MUTANTS (20th/TSG/Disney) dipped 23% to $1.6M in its 4th weekend, and with this level of hold it might reach $25M instead of $20M, but that won’t put much of a dent into its losses. It also has $17.3M overseas.
Spearheaded by an older male target audience, UNHINGED (Solstice) lost just 14% for $1.3M in its 5th weekend, also on its way to $20-25M domestically. Its international numbers are actually the more disappointing at $12M to date.
Last week’s opener THE BROKEN HEARTS GALLERY (TriStar/Sony) dropped 30% to $800K, and won’t get much past $5M in the US.
THE PERSONAL HISTORY OF DAVID COPPERFIELD (Searchlight/Disney) fell 23% to $150K, and won’t see $3M.
MULAN (Disney) remains a theatrical release only in territories that don’t have Disney+, and it has a $57M total, $36.2M of that from China, where it started low and collapsed in its 2nd weekend by 72%.
NEXT WEEKEND: There are no wide releases scheduled.
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