Father's Day/Juneteenth weekend saw both The Flash and Elemental underperform, setting off a fresh round of panic in Hollywood.
For the past four weeks, the box office, at least among expensive franchise films, was looking up, as four straight movies opened to over $60 million, the first time that has ever happened. Most people were confident that the streak would be extended another week, as one of the summer's most anticipated superhero movies sped into theaters, and Thursday night previews hinted at an opening above $70 million.
Alas, those numbers proved to be an illusion as The Flash ended up spending the rest of the weekend crashing and burning, as the Ezra Miller-starring actioner could only scrape up $55 million. That's well below what Black Adam, which largely killed the current incarnation of the DCU dead, made when it launched last October. While the film should hit the century mark in the next couple of weeks, and will likely get better weekday numbers than Adam did, this is not what Warners was hoping, especially after all the hype about the return of Michael Keaton as Batman for the first time in three decades. At least the studio won't have to worry about how to incorporate the troubled Miller into future superhero films.
There were few studios more reliable, in both quality and box office, than Pixar, which for years dominated mid-June. But has Disney killed the golden goose? There was the increasing reliance on sequels, not to mention the studio's decision to send three straight Pixar titles to Disney+, even though both Luca and Turing Red would have likely done just fine with a theatrical release. Last year's return to theaters with Lightyear ended up being a disaster, though not nearly as big of one as Elemental turned out to be. The romcom between a flame and a waterdrop could only burn through $29.6 million. By comparison, Onward opened to $39.1 million, even though it arrived just as Covid panic was beginning to set in. Indeed, this is the worst opening weekend for a Pixar movie since the original Toy Story, which had opened on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, and of course came out in 1995. With school out, Elemental should be able to do solid weekday business, but we'll see if its enough to avoid becoming the first non-pandemic-affected Pixar film to miss $100 million.
Nearly swinging in front of Elemental, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse continues to be the animated film of the summer, bringing in another $27 million for a total of $279.6 million. It has now passed both of the Andrew Garfield movies and seems likely to move past Spider-Man 3 and Spider-Man: Homecoming before the end of its run. Can it spin its way to $400 million? It's too early to know for sure, but it has a chance to, at least.
Last week's champ, Transformers: Rise of the Beasts, fell a predictable 66% to $20.7 million for a ten-day total of $101.3 million. It still seems likely to make it past Bumblebee and Transformers: The Last Knight by the end of its run, but it may not be the franchise-reviver that Paramount was hoping for.
After largely swimming with Aladdin the last three weeks, The Little Mermaid seems to have gotten caught in a rip current, as it took in $11.1 million for a total of $253 million. That puts it over $10 million behind Aladdin at the same point in its run. Mermaid still seems likely to make it to $300 million, but will almost certainly fall short of Aladdin's $355 million.
Horror spoof The Blackening had a so-so debut in sixth, coming in with $6 million. If word of mouth is good, this could defy the usual trajectory of horror titles, but most likely this is heading for a final gross of around $15-$20 million.
In a sign of how the year is going for films that aren't part of established franchises, the Stephen King adaption Boogeyman is currently the summer's top "original" film, even though it has grossed only $32.6 million after a $3.7 million weekend. Elemental will likely surpass it by the time you read this, but the relatively low-budget horror movie will likely be profitable.
Fast X is racing toward the exit as it drove off with $2.1 million for a total of $142.5 million. It has yet to surpass the gross of the 2001 original, and will likely not finish much above it. It's a good thing the movie is a smash overseas, so at least we know the cliffhanger ending will be resolved.
Rounding out the Top 10 is the latest eccentric comedy from Wes Anderson, Asteroid City. It broke in despite only playing at 6 theaters, and has a total of $0.9 million. The film is likely to move higher on the chart with its wide release this weekend, though even with its all-star cast (which includes Tom Hanks, Scarlett Johansson, Steve Carell, and Margot Robie), along with seemingly every Anderson regular outside of the Wilson brothers and Bill Murray, it may not make a ton more money than it did this weekend.
Joining Asteroid City in multiplexes this weekend is No Hard Feelings. In this raunchy, R-rated comedy, Jennifer Lawrence, who hasn't had a wide release since 2018's Red Sparrow (her only two films since then have been Netflix's Don't Look Up and the limited release Causeway), plays a down-on-her-luck woman who is hired to bring a nerdy, introverted recent high school graduate (relative newcomer Andrew Barth Feldman) into manhood by the kid's parents, only to discover that deflowering the boy isn't going to be quite that easy. Lawrence's box office record is mixed outside of the Hunger Games movies, and this is way outside of her usual wheelhouse. And raunchy comedies definitely have been a mixed bag lately, with the last real hit one being Good Boys and the last $100 million-grossing one being Girls Trip. Early reports are suggesting this could only open around $10 million, but this also has a chance of becoming a sleeper if a lot more people show up than expected. Could Feelings land hard on top of the box office this weekend? Could the Flash race back to the top? Or could Spider-Man swing back up there in weekend #4? We'll find out next week.
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