Elvis rocks its way to the top of the chart, while The Black Phone gets more callers than expected.
As I mentioned last week, all of the summer season's limited counterprogramming--from Firestarter to Downton Abbey to Bob's Burgers--has, to some extent or another, flopped. While the three biggest films, Doctor Strange, Top Gun, and Jurassic World, have gobbled up well over a billion dollars worth of movie tickets between then, the rest of the film industry has more or less been left with crumbs.
That trend finally seemed to change this weekend, with the debut of two new films that both did better-than-expected business and provided some proof that not every film not designed to gross $300 million+ is destined to debut on a streaming service. Leading the charge this week is Elvis, the flashy biopic from flashy director Baz Luhrmann, starring the mostly unknown Austin Butler in the title role and the very well-known Tom Hanks as his Svengali-like manager Col. Tom Parker. No one who went to see the film was lonesome that night, as it opened to $31.2 million, by far the best opening for an adult-aimed drama in the pandemic era, as you have to go back to Ford vs. Ferrari in November 2019 for a comparable opening. Whether it can hit $100 million is up in the air, especially with a July that has several adult-aimed comedies and dramas going wide, but it gave itself a stellar start.
Continuing to soar high is Top Gun: Maverick, which came close to retaking #1 in its 5th weekend, before settling for 2nd and $29.6 million. It is now up to a staggering $520.8 million and is now 15th on the all-time domestic grosses chart, in between Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker and Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. It will take another $100 million to pass Star Wars: The Last Jedi and break into the all-time Top 10, but that seems almost certain to happen in the next few weeks. As the weekly grosses, as spectacular as continue to be, begin to fall back toward Earth, a finish line for the film begins to emerge. $700 million--and a spot in the all-time domestic Top 5--is doable, but by no means guaranteed.
After two weeks on top, Jurassic World: Dominion settles for 3rd and $26.7 million. That's enough for it to cross the $300 million mark, for a total of $303.1 million. It has now fallen off the pace of Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, which had $30 million more banked by the end of its third weekend. At this point, it seems likely that Dominion will fall short of $400 million, but could still get there if grosses stabilize in the coming weeks.
Debuting in fourth was the horror-thriller The Black Phone, which rung up an unexpectedly muscular $23.6 million. Given how poorly horror outside of January's Scream has done all year, this is a spectacular debut, especially given the film's R-rating. Word-of-mouth will dictate going forward if this weekend was just a flash in the pan or if the film could have decent horror legs, as it could finish anywhere between $45 and $75 million. Still, given that the film only cost about $15 million to make, it should prove solidly profitable.
In a good sign that people are coming out to see multiple films, rather than just the week's big blockbuster, this is the first weekend since the weekend of February 14, 2020 that five films made more than $10 million, and even more impressively, the first weekend since November 23, 2018 that four films made more than $20 million. Coming in 5th, below the $20 million cutoff at $18.2 million, is Pixar disappointment Lightyear, which now stands at $89.3 million. It should be over $100 million by next weekend, becoming only the second animated feature of the pandemic era to hit that number, but it is in danger of falling short of the $123.1 million that The Good Dinosaur, currently the lowest grossing Pixar film whose run wasn't curtailed by the pandemic, took in back in 2015. The arrival of a competing animated studio's next sequel this weekend won't help with that issue.
In sixth, Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness is the only other title to top $1 million for the weekend, taking in $1.8 million for a gross of $409.3 million. Bollywood movie Jugjugg Jeeyo debuted in 7th, taking in $0.6 million. Rounding out the Top Ten were Everything Everywhere All At Once, The Bob's Burgers Movies, and The Bad Guys. Grosses for the three are $66.1 million, $31 million, and $95.5 million, respectively.
This weekend sees two wide releases. Likely heading to #1 is Minions: The Rise of Gru, the sequel to the Despicable Me prequel that proved to be as popular as the original series back in 2015. It was supposed to arrive for the summer of 2020, but like Top Gun: Maverick, got bounced around the schedule before finally debuting two years later. The delay worked out pretty well for that film, so we'll see if Gru (which features a much bigger part for franchise star Steve Carell than the first Minions movie did) can set up similar box office fireworks over the long Independence Day weekend. Also arriving is Mr. Malcolm's List, an 1800's-set romcom that takes a lot of inspiration from the works of Jane Austen as well as following the similarly set Netflix show Bridgerton in colorblind casting (though, as Malcom is rated PG, don't expect the ample nudity and sex scenes the Netflix show provides). That one is aiming for a Top 5 debut. Can Minions make the weekend red, white, blue, and yellow by topping $100 million over the holiday? We'll find out next week.
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