Civil War edges out Abigail, while The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare gets off to an inglorious start.
April has traditionally been a quiet month in the nation's multiplex, even after March emerged as a good month to release blockbusters. There's been a few attempts to jazz up April over the years, from Marvel releasing the last two Avengers films in the month's last weekend to some of the Fast and Furious series screeching to a halt in the timeframe to The Super Mario Bros. Movie dominating the month just last year. But with the post-pandemic slowdown in theatrical releases coupled with a calendar scrambled by last summer's Hollywood strikes, April was seen as a sacrificial lamb in order to ensure there were plenty of big movies for the summer.
Last weekend, Civil War looked like it could be a potential big hit, if not a blockbuster. Unfortunately, its second weekend brought the drama back down to earth, as it fell 56% to $11.2 million. War has a 10-day total of $45 million. At this point, the film looks to be heading to about $65-$70 million, a respectable total but one that still seems disappointing based on its solid opening from last weekend.
War narrowly stayed on top over newcomer Abigail, which opened to $10.3 million. The horror comedy, in which the title not-so-innocent little girl (Alisha Wier) turns the tables on her kidnappers, did all right, but didn't quite do as much as expected. We'll see if the film is able to pull down stronger legs than most horror titles are able to accomplish.
After a couple of weekend with steep drops, Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire seems to have stopped the bleeding, pulling down $9.6 million to bring its total to $171.7 million. It has one more weekend as the reigning big budget franchise movie before The Fall Guy kicks off summer.
The rather awkwardly titled The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare disappointed in fourth, opening to a meager $8.9 million. That's roughly what Wrath of Man opened to three years ago. That title finished at $27.5 million, which at this point would be a respectable final for Warfare.
The trend of feature film versions of popular anime titles getting a US release continues, as Spy x Family Code: White arrived with $4.8 million. The film, revolving around the titular spy family getting involved in a caper when the psychic young daughter accidently eats a piece of chocolate containing a top secret microfilm, didn't open as well as recent titles from Dragon Ball, One Piece, and Demon Slayer, but still did decent business. As anime titles tend to burn out very quickly, there's an excellent chance this will finish below $10 million.
The reigning family hit, Kung Fu Panda 4, continues to exhibit strong legs like previous long-running family titles like Wonka, Migration, Elemental, and Puss in Boots: The Last Wish did, as it earned another $4.7 million for a total of $180.1 million. With three more weekends until IF and four more until The Garfield Movie, Panda might just be able to leg it out to $200 million after all.
In its fifth weekend, Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire finally crawled past the $100 million mark, bringing in $4.5 million for a total of $103 million. Far more successful, Dune: Part Two took in $3 million for a total of $276.6 million.
Possible cult hit in the making Monkey Man wraps up its short and disappointing run with $2.3 million for a total of $21.8 million. Rounding out the Top 10, The First Omen earned $1.8 million for a total of $17.9 million.
Outside of the Top 10, neither of last weekend's openings The Long Game or the re-issue of Shrek 2 did much business in their second go-arounds. Ten-day totals for each are $2.3 million and $3 million, respectively.
The last weekend before the start of the summer movie season is frequently a dumping ground, but this year, it is surprisingly crowded with newcomers, though only one really has breakout potential. Challengers stars Zendaya as the wife and coach of tennis superstar Mike Faist, when, at a smaller tournament, they run into Josh O'Conner, his former best friend and her former boyfriend. This is easily the widest release of director Luca Guadagnino's career, and could, by the end of the weekend, have surpassed the entire gross of his biggest hit in North America, Call Me By Your Name, which finished with $18.1 million. Even if it doesn't quite hit that number this weekend, Challengers should easily pass it by next weekend, and is posed to open on top. Also opening is the latest Christian biomusical Unsung Hero, recounting the childhood of Christian superstar Rebecca St. James and her brothers Joel and Luke Smallbone, who front the popular Christian rock band For King and Country. This one is definitely an authorized biopic, as Joel both co-directs and plays his own father, opposite Daisy Betts, who plays their mother. This one doesn't quite have the star power that the gold standard of these types of movies, I Can Only Imagine had with Dennis Quaid, as the biggest name in this is former Full House Candace Cameron Bure. That said, its competition is not that film, but the two Christian movies from earlier this year, Cabrini and Ordinary Angels. Farther down the chart, expect to find the openings of Boy Kills World, an action comedy starring Bill Skarsgård as a deaf mute who seeks very bloody revenge against the gang that killed his family, The Mummy, the 25th anniversary re-release of the well-regarded action blockbuster starring Oscar winners Brendan Frasier and Rachel Weisz (to be fair, neither had their Oscar yet), and the 45th anniversary of Alien, back in theaters to help promote August's Alien: Romulus. Will Challengers become the new champion? Could Unsung Hero have its praises sung at #1? Might Civil War refuse to retreat? We'll find out next week.
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