Nope has the best opening for a completely original film since Jordan Peele's last film.
That Hollywood circa 2022 is dominated by franchises is not exactly a secret. Of the 20 highest-grossing films of 2019, the last pre-pandemic year, only three titles could accurately be described as "original", and two of them were based (however loosely) on real-life events. The only one that could be described as completely original was the horror movie Us, directed by Jordan Peele, who has quickly established himself, much like Spielberg, Scorsese, and Tarantino before him, as a director who is the biggest star of the movies he directs. Nothing against Us star Lupita Nyong'o, whose performance nearly got her an Oscar nomination, an exceedingly rare honor for the star of a horror movie, but most people who went to see the film that March were going because it was from the director of Get Out.
Peele's unique cinematic vision returned this weekend with his latest, the sci-fi/horror mash-up Nope, which got a big "yep" from audiences, opening to $44.4 million. That's the best opening of the year for a non-franchise cog, edging out Uncharted's $44 million launch in February. It's also the best opening for both a horror film and an R-rated movie since Halloween Kills last October. It's the best opening for a film not part of a previously established cinematic universe since Sonic The Hedgehog in February 2020. And it's the best opening for a film not based on any prior source material since the aforementioned Us. Unless the film has a Morbius-like collapse in the coming weeks, it should pass both The Black Phone and Scream to become the year's highest-grossing R-rated film, and is very likely to become the first R-rated film to top $100 million since 1917 and Bad Boys For Life.
With no other movies going wide or even semi-wide--not even Bollywood films--the rest of last week's Top 10 merely slid down exactly one slot. Coming in 2nd was two-time champ Thor: Love & Thunder, which did a not-shabby $22.6 million for a total of $276.7 million. While the God of Thunder is losing altitude faster than Disney would probably like, it's still running well ahead of Thor: Ragnarok, and is still on pace to top that film's $315 million final.
Another film outdoing its predecessor is Minions: The Rise of Gru, which has established itself as the family hit of the summer. The animated comedy brought in $18 million for a total of $298.2 million. Indeed, after posting near identical grosses for the first three weeks with Minions'15, Gru is now beginning to pull away and, like Thor, is on track to beat its predecessor.
Where the Crawdads Sing held up decently in its second weekend, bringing in $10.4 million for a ten-day total of $38.4 million. The film looks to be heading for a final gross north of $60 million, and maybe even $70 million.
Celebrating its ninth (and possibly final) weekend in the Top 5 is Top Gun: Maverick, which flew away with another $10.3 million to bring its year-leading total to $635.8 million. It still seems likely that this will finish below $700 million, but as we've seen before, it is unwise to write off Maverick. At any rate, the film has now passed The Avengers for #9 on the all-time domestic chart, and has Jurassic World and Titanic in its sights.
Elvis continues its run as the adult hit of the summer, earning $6.6 million for a total of $118.7 million. It looks to leave the building north of $130 million.
Holding up unexpectedly well was Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank, which probably says more about the lack of kid-friendly options at the multiplexes than anything about the movie. The animated action comedy took in $3.9 million for a ten-day total of $13.8 million. It looks to finish around $20 million.
The Black Phone edges closer to the final number of Scream, earning $3.5 million for a total of $78.6 million. While it will pass the January movie's $81.6 million in the coming days, it's an open question if it can do it (and so be able to reign, however briefly, as the year's highest-grossing horror movie and R-rated film) before Nope passes them both.
Jurassic World: Dominion continues to chug along, taking in $3.1 million for a total of $365.7 million. In tenth, your grandmother's favorite movie of the summer (if she bothers to go to the theater) Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris, has a good hold, but not good enough to overcome its poor opening last weekend. The comedy brought in $1.4 million for a ten-day total of $4.7 million.
Two new movies open wide this weekend. Likely taking the top spot from Nope will be DC League of Superpets, an animated action-comedy in which its up to Superman's dog and Batman's dog to save the world. They're voiced, respectively, by Dwayne Johnson (who will star in his own live-action DC movie later this year with Black Adam) and Kevin Hart, in their fifth cinematic team-up (if you count Hart's cameo in Hobbs and Shaw). This one is looking for a debut somewhere between $45 million and $55 million (if its closer to the latter, it will beat out the opening of Lightyear, in yet another embarrassment for Disney). Hoping for a Top 5 debut will be the comedy-mystery Vengeance, written and directed by The Office's B.J. Novak, who also stars as a New York podcaster whose trip to rural West Texas to attend the funeral of an ex becomes a quest to figure out exactly how she died. Will Superpets have a supercharged opening? We'll find out next week.
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