Box Office Discussion: "Raya" of Light

 Led for the third week in a row by Raya and the Last Dragon, the box office saw most movies either have a slight dip or even a rise.

Family movies continue to dominate, with the Top 2 and three of the Top 5 being partially or completely animated PG-rated films.  Leading the charge is Disney's Raya and the Last Dragon, which fell a scant 10% from last weekend to come in at $5.1 million.  The film's gross now stands at $23.4 million, which puts it less than a million dollars behind where The Croods: A New Age was at the same point in its run.

In second, for the third weekend in a row is Tom & Jerry, which slid an even smaller 7% to $3.8 million and is up to $33.7 million.  With Peter Rabbit 2 getting bumped from early May until July 4, the next scheduled movie aimed at families is now Cruella on May 28 and Vivo on June 4, meaning that both Raya and Tom have almost no competition except each other until then.

In third is sci-fi actioner Chaos Walking, which fell only 14% to $1.9 million.  Its gross now stands at $9.7 million, more than the grosses of Freaky and Let Him Go, and it should pass Come Play and News of the World in the coming weeks.  The film isn't a success, but given the environment, I don't think we can call it a flop, either.

Opening in fourth was the well-received Cold War drama The Courier.  It earned $1.8 million, which isn't bad given how lightly promoted the film was, but it's unlikely to top $5 million.  In 5th, jumping 15% is the aforementioned Croods, which took in $0.6 million to bring its gross to $55.3 million, or only about $2.6 million behind Tenet.

Coming at 6th was Boogie, now up to $3.3 million, followed by The Marksman, which now stands at $14.3 million, Wonder Woman 1984, at $45.6 million, and The Little Things, at $14.7 million.

Rounding out the Top 10 was The Father, which despite picking up 6 Oscar nominations, actually fell 28%.  Its total is now just under $1 million.  Other Oscar contenders had better weekends, as Minari, Judas and the Black Messiah, Nomadland, and Promising Young Women saw higher grosses than last weekend.

This week sees one big new release, which is likely to challenge Raya for the top slot.  Nobody stars Bob Odenkirk, in what appears to be his first lead role in a major movie ever, playing a man with a particular set of skills who has gone underground as a mild-mannered family man.  When his former employer finds out where he lives, he has to once again use all those skills to protect his family.  Will Nobody be a somebody, and take the top spot, or will Raya prevail again, or could Tom & Jerry re-emerge to win the weekend?  We'll find out next week.