Amid signs that the box office might be coming back to life, The Woman King has a solid opening.
It's been no secret that this has been a rough few weeks at the box office. Not that many new movies have opened and the ones that have haven't proved to be much of a draw. But for those ready to declare moviegoing dead--at least until Black Panther: Wakanda Forever arrives in November--there are a few faint signals that theatergoing does have a pulse, as evidenced by this week's #1.
Debuting in the top spot and outdoing expectations, The Woman King turned in an impressive $19.1 million over the weekend. This is the best performance by any movie since Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero debuted to $21.1 million a month ago. Unlike that film, which blew through almost its entire audience immediately and is already a distant memory, it is likely that Woman King will be sticking around for a while, both because the film had a nice bump from Friday to Saturday and because it got an A+ from CinemaScore. That should indicate excellent word of mouth, meaning that at least $60 million is likely, and perhaps quite a bit more.
Holding up strongly in second, last week's champ, Barbarian had an excellent hold for a horror-thriller, slipping less than 40% to $6.5 million. That puts its ten-day total at $21.1 million. Barbarian should easily finish above $30 million, and might even approach $40 million.
Opening in third is Pearl, an instaprequel to spring slasher flick X. Pearl doesn't quite live up to X's opening, but given that the prior film finished with just $11.8 total, a $3.1 million debut for this one isn't bad at all. Pearl will likely struggle to reach $10 million, but it and X should be cult classics in short order.
Coming in fourth is See How They Run, a British comedy-mystery starring Sam Rockwell and Saoirse Ronan as detectives investigating a murder in a London theater. It's $3 million start has to be seen as a disappointment, but like Pearl, this one seems likely to eventually become a cult hit.
In fifth is long-running Bullet Train, which picked up another $2.6 million to bring its total to $96.4 million. Even longer-running Top Gun: Maverick finished sixth, pulling up $2.2 million for a total of $709.1 million.
DC League of Super-Pets barked up another $2.2 million, to bring its total to $87.9 million. The Invitation brought in $1.8 million, for a total of $21.5 million. Minions: The Rise of Gru continues to stick around, taking in $1.4 million for $364.2 million.
Debuting at #10 is the rare documentary to make the Top Ten. Moonage Daydream, an exploration of the life and career of David Bowie, rode its IMAX popularity to $1.2 million and the best per-screen in the Top Ten.
Outside the Top Ten, Bollywood action flick Brahmastra Part One: Shiva, which managed a #2 debut last week, lost roughly 3/4th of its business to fall to $1.1 million in its second weekend, meaning a ten-day total of $6.8 million. Lifemark fell under a million, for a ten-day total of $4.3 million. Clerks III largely played a limited release schedule, but still has earned $2.2 million since its Tuesday debut, though it should be noted that roughly half of that total came from Tuesday night, suggesting that director Kevin Smith was right to sell the distribution to Fathom rather than to a distributer that would have pushed for the traditional five-shows-a-day model. At least it did better than Running the Bases, which had one of the worst-ever debuts for a film opening on more than $1000 screens, finishing with $0.5 million. Also opening poorly in limited release are God's Country, Confess Fletch, and The Silent Twins.
This looks to be a relatively quite weekend at the movies. Likely competing with Woman King for #1 is Don't Worry Darling, a thriller staring Florence Pugh as a housewife who begins to question the rather stifling conformity that is demanded of them. Co-starring Harry Styles and Chris Pine, this one has been beset by controversary. Will all that buzz, good or bad, lift Darling to the Top? Or will Woman remain King of the hill? We'll find out next week.
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