SATURDAY PM: Sony’s Bullet Train will have a softer second weekend ease than expected at -56% with $13.3M at No 1 in a low wattage August frame that is around $64M for all movies, -2% off of the same weekend a year ago. Even worse, this is the lowest grossing weekend of summer 2022 so far. The May 20-22 frame, when Downton Abbey opened to $16M, repped the previous weekend low of this summer with all titles grossing $75.6M.
That’s not great when you consider how this summer’s weekend-to-weekend box office has rallied over last year’s. But, again, that’s not because nobody wants to go to the movies. It’s because there isn’t a movie that’s intriguing enough which merits a trip to the cinema.
A24/Stage 6 Films A24 opted to go wider, but not super wide on Bodies Bodies Bodies which has a lower Rotten Tomatoes audience score at 78% and only 3 stars/63% on CinemaScore/Screen Engine’s PostTrak. That indicates another divide by the studio between moviegoers and critics (90% certified fresh) who love this horror social satire. The Pete Davidson title still has a shot at $3M for the weekend at 1,285 theaters after a $960K Saturday that’s 27% down from Friday’s $1.3M. The guy skewing R-rated movie at 52% men, and 78% between 18-34 played best in the cities, i.e. LA, NY, San Francisco, Chicago, Dallas, Austin, DC, Boston and Seattle and fared quite well in the Alamo Drafthouses which notched seven of the pic’s top ten runs. Diversity demos were 48% Caucasian, 23% Latino and Hispanic, 13% Black, and 16% Asian/other.
Lionsgate While Lionsgate did have something to offer to exhibition during this theatrical dry period, they didn’t go wide on their YA title Fall, which actually did earn a B CinemaScore, but lower PostTrak at 69% positive and a 44% recommend. Those who showed up for Fall were 53% guys 56% between 18-34. The pic’s most notable business was in the South and West but didn’t wow with less than 100 theatres of its 1,548 run cracking $1K on Friday. Saturday grossed $835K, -10% from Friday’s $923K, in what looks like a $2.3M opening. The pic is vying for No. 10 with Universal’s second weekend of Jo Koy’s Amblin family comedy, Easter Sunday.
Paramount has the Hindi Forrest Gump remake Laal Singh Chaddha from Advait Chandan Booked at 516 theaters in 154 markets, the pic has good numbers in Toronto, Vancouver, and some solid figures in NYC, San Francisco, Houston and Seattle. $580K on Saturday, +33% over Friday’s $435K, will get this movie to a $1.47M weekend and $1.8M over 5-days. Twenty five reviews on Rotten Tomatoes are so-so at 60% fresh.
Universal’s Imax re-release of E.T. is seeing $310K on Saturday, -37% from Friday’s $490K for a $1M take over FSS.
Gravitas Ventures’ Diane Keaton-Taylour Paige comedy, Mack & Rita, didn’t impress with a D+ CinemaScore and 61% PostTrak and low 46% recommend. Pic made $370K on Saturday for a $988K opening at 2,000 theaters. Those who dared to spend very little money were in the West and Southeast.
Typically mid-August is a prime place to launch a horror movie that carries the domestic box office over into the fall, i.e. Don’t Breathe ($89.2M) or Annabelle Creation ($102M). Perhaps Universal’s campy Idris Elba lion hunt movie, Beast, does the trick next weekend.
Weekend estimates:
1.) Bullet Train 4,357 theaters, Fri $3.8M, Sat $5.5M, 3-day $13.3M (-56%)/Total $54.4M/Wk 2
2.) DC League of Super-Pets 3,803 (-529) theaters, Fri $1.955M, Sat $2.9M 3-day $6.8M (-38%)/Total $57.9M Wk 3
3.) Top Gun: Maverick (Par) 3,181 (+421) theaters, Fri $1.94M, Sat $2.8M, 3-day $6.7M (-4%), Total $673.3M/Wk 12
4. ) Nope (Uni) 2,760 (-256) theaters, Fri $1.56M, Sat $2.2M/3-day $5.3M (-38%)/Total $107.5M/Wk 4
5.) Thor: Love and Thunder (Disney) 3,175 (-225) theaters, Fri. $1.4M, Sat $2.2M, 3-day $5.2M (-33%)/Total $325.2M/Wk 6
6.) Minions: Rise of Gru (Uni) 3,068 theaters (-120), Fri $1.37M, Sat $2.1M, 3-day $4.9M (-30%), Total: $343.7M/Wk 7
7.) Where the Crawdads Sings (Sony) 3,164 theaters (-362), Fri $1.2M, Sat $1.6M, 3-day $4M (-29%)/Total $72.1M/Wk 5
8.) Bodies Bodies Bodies (A24) 1,285 (+1,279) theaters, Fri $1.3M, Sat $960K, 3-day $3M (+1223%), Total $3.3M/Wk 2
9.) Elvis (WB) 2,211 (-200) Fri $740K, Sat $1M, 3-day $2.5M (-36%), Total $141.2M/wk 8
10.) Fall (LG) 1,548 theaters, Fri $923K, Sat $835K, 3-day $2.3M/Wk 1
10.) Easter Sunday (Uni/DW) 3,176 (+1) theaters, Fri $660K, Sat $900K , 3-day $2.3M (-58%)/Total $9.8M/Wk 2
Notables:
Laal Singh Chaddha (Par) 516 theaters, Fri $435K, Sat $580K, 3 day $1.47M, Total $1.8M/Wk 1
E.T. (Uni) 389 theaters, Fri $490K, Sat $310K, 3-day $1M/Total $483.2M/Wk 1 of re-release
Mack & Rita (Grav) 2,000 theaters, Fri $400k, Sat $370K, 3-day $988K/Wk 1
FRIDAY PM: Those cricket noises you’re hearing are the sounds of the summer box office slowing down.
Sony’s No. 1 movie from a week ago, David Leitch’s Bullet Train, will hold the top spot again this weekend in a session that technically doesn’t have any uber-wide releases backed by a multimillion-dollar major studio campaign spend. The Brad Pitt action title is looking at $12.6 million for the frame, off 58% week over week, after a $3.75M Friday at 4,357 theaters.
The pic by the end of the weekend is eyeing $53.6M through 10 days, with some rival distributors believing it has a shot at $100M by the end of its run, and that it might even hold better than what we’re seeing here this weekend.
Pete Davidson in “Bodies Bodies Bodies” A24 A24 is going wide with their Pete Davidson horror comedy Bodies Bodies Bodies, but not super wide as it stokes word of mouth; it stands at 85% on Rotten Tomatoes’ audience score with a 90% certified fresh rating. The millennial meltdown movie is eyeing $1.3M today at 1,275 venues for a second weekend of $3M in what looks like a sixth-place rank, +1,224% from last weekend and good for a 10-day total of $3.3M. (A24’s Everything Everywhere All at Once in the spring expanded to around 1,200 runs in its third weekend, grossing $6M after a first weekend in 10 theaters and a second in 38 locations.)
Lionsgate has the Scott Mann-directed YA movie Fall on 1,548 theaters. It’s an experimental release for the studio: a pic not exactly prime for streaming but that tested well with audiences and intended for a big-screen release. The thriller is currently at 71% among critics on Rotten Tomatoes with an 84% audience score.
Lionsgate’s “Fall” Lionsgate Logline: For best friends Becky (Grace Caroline Currey) and Hunter (Virginia Gardner), life is all about conquering fears and pushing limits. But after they climb 2,000 feet to the top of a remote, abandoned radio tower, they find themselves stranded with no way down. Now their expert climbing skills will be put to the ultimate test as they desperately fight to survive the elements, a lack of supplies, and vertigo-inducing heights. No m.g. on the movie from the producers of 47 Meters Down franchise (Jamie Harris and Mark Lane) and a low $4M P&A spend on a 46-day window; a title for exhibition in what is the start of a 2 1/2-month desert on the marquee. Fall is looking like $800,000 today and anywhere between $1.75M-$2M on the lower end of the top 10 chart.
RelishMix noticed on social media that the buzz for Fall “runs mixed-leaning positive as fans are wondering the extent and the complexity of the storyline — or if it’s a one note, with a predictable outcome. Fans are very intrigued with the outrageous visual hook of the trailers, while some are questioning the CGI. Chatter is onboard the reminder that “Fall drops into theatres on August 12th.” RelishMix also noticed, “On an 8 week digital ramp-up for Fall since the first trailer drop, the studio has 5 videos which have clocked moderate counts and moderate viral reposting. Page engagement on Facebook and Instagram for the show are also on the light side for the genre.”
Universal has the exclusive Imax 40th anniversary re-issue of E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial which is seeing $430,000 today at 389 auditoriums for a $1M three-day and $438.2M running total. The pic’s 20th anniversary release in 2002 racked up $35.3M domestic, $69M worldwide. It’s the first time the Steven Spielberg-directed movie is being presented in Imax. Jaws is also hitting Imax and RealD on September 2
“Mack & Rita” Gravitas Premiere All the way down the chart is Gravitas Ventures’ femme comedy Mack & Rita starring Taylour Paige, Diane Keaton and Elizabeth Lail with an estimated $300K today, and three-day of $865K. Thirty-nine critics on Rotten Tomatoes are at 26% Rotten, with audiences not wowed at 46%. “Awareness tracks light on social networks with few materials in rotation and light engagement momentum across Facebook, Instagram and YouTube,” observes RelishMix, which indicates social media chatter saying “been there, done that” as the pic looks like Big and 13 Going on 30.
In the movie, a 30-year-old self-proclaimed homebody Mack Martin (Lail) reluctantly joins a Palm Springs bachelorette trip for her best friend Carla (Paige), and her inner 70-year-old is released — literally. The frustrated writer and influencer magically transforms into her future self: Aunt Rita (Keaton). Freed from the constraints of other people’s expectations, Rita comes into her own, becoming an unlikely social media sensation, sparking a tentative romance with Mack’s adorable dog-sitter Jack (Dustin Milligan).
