Here’s what strong word-of-mouth looks like: Even though the opening weekends (plus previews) of “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3” and “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” were nearly the same, that’s where the similarity ends for Marvel titles. First 10 days for “GOTG3” in US/Canada totals $213.2 million; “Ant-Man” made $213.9 in its entire domestic run.
This is a huge relief for Disney. “GOTG3” fell below the $292.6 million gross of “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness” in the same period last year, but that film was down 67% in its second weekend. The decline of “GOTG3” accounted for 49 percent.
It helps that it’s a feast-or-famine weekend, with ‘The Super Mario Bros. Movie’ (Universal) in second place with over $7 million. James Gunn’s latest MCU film totals $528 million worldwide so far. Whether it can reach the $1 billion level sometimes seen before the pandemic is uncertain, especially against upcoming stiff competition from “Fast X” (Universal). The “Fast” franchise is as big as Marvel titles overseas.
“SMB” in its sixth weekend was down just 30 percent. Now at $536 million, it won’t be challenged by “Guardians” as the best domestic release so far this year.
The absence of new major-studio releases (last time that will happen for a while) has seen lesser results across the board. The best was “Book Club: The Next Chapter” (Focus), which came in third place with $6.5 million. That’s below projections and accounts for half of the opening weekend for Paramount Pictures’ 2018 entry. That was before the pandemic, of course, and the lesser achievement isn’t surprising in context. His audience was 77% female, nearly half of whom were over the age of 55. A film with that limited appeal can’t expect to do much better these days.
After bringing “Air” to a total of $60 million, Ben Affleck won’t do the same for “Hypnotic” (Ketchum), which opened to under $2.4 million at more than 2,000 theaters. Robert Rodriguez’s ill-fated $70 million thriller about a father searching for a missing daughter was originally slated for the now-defunct Solstice Studios. It had a small marketing allocation and bad audience response with a C+ Cinemascore.
Three other films had more limited theatrical releases, several hundred. The best among them was “BlackBerry” (IFC), with $740,000 (tied for ninth place) in 627 theaters. The story of the first smartphone, with very positive reviews and starring Jay Baruchal, saw 35 percent of its takings come from Canada. “Knights of the Zodiac” (Sony), a $60 million live-action manga adaptation, grossed $535,000 in 586 theaters. “Fool’s Paradise,” a comedy starring, written and directed by Charlie Day, grossed $443,000 in 784 theaters.
IFC had the extraordinary opening of the specialized platform. “Monica” starring Patricia Clarkson as a mother who struggles to recognize her child had a decent initial response of $26,000 over two dates in New York/Los Angeles. The next best play was Sundance’s “The Starling Girl” (Bleecker Street), with the drama grossing just under $25,000 at four theaters. Yogi Berra’s documentary “It Ain’t Over” (Sony Pictures Classics) opened in 99 theaters to $106,000.
The broader remaining top 10 are all down less than 50 percent, reflecting a lack of strong new releases. The best was “John Wick: Chapter 4” (Lionsgate), with an 18% discount. Of note, both “Air” (MGM), now on Amazon Prime, and “Evil Dead Rise” (Warner Bros. Discovery), out on PVOD, have held up quite well despite alternative platforms.
The total gross for the weekend was approximately $100 million. It’s up from $92 million last year, a 29% year-to-date increase over 2022. Projecting that to all of 2023 would mean $9.5 million. Compared to 2019, the continuous four-week comparison has dropped to 70%. The next couple of weeks with “Fast X” and “The Little Mermaid” (Disney) will reveal much more about whether the year can improve as much as hoped.
Top 10
1. Guardians of the Galaxy vol. 3 (Disney) Week 2; Last weekend #1
$60,500,000 (-49%) in 4,450 theaters (no change); PTA (average per theater): $13,596; Cumulative: $213,200,000
2. The Super Mario Bros Movie(Universal) Week 6; Last weekend #2
$13,000,000 (-30%) in 3,800 (-109) theaters; PTA: $3,421; Cumulative: $535,959,000
3. Book Club: The Next Chapter (Focus) NEW – Cinemascore: B; Metacritic: 48; Est. budget: 20 million dollars
$6,500,000 in 3,508 theaters; PTA: $1,853; Cumulative: $6,500,000
4. Rise of the Evil Dead(Warner Bros. Discovery) Week 4; Last Weekend #3; also on PVOD
$3,728,000 (-37%) in 2,821 (-215) theaters; PTA: $1,322; Cumulative: $60,188,000
5. Are you there God? I’m Margaret(Lionsgate) Week 3; Last weekend #4
$2,500,000 (-23%) in 2,359 (-984) theaters; PTA: $1,057; Cumulative: $16,476,000
6. Hypnotic (Ketchup) NEW – Cinemascore: C+; Metacritic: 53; Est. budget: 70 million dollars
$2,355,000 in 2,118 theaters; PTA: $1,112; Cumulative: $2,355,000
7. John Wick: Chapter 4 (Lionsgate) Week 8; Last weekend #6
$1,930,000 (-18%) in 1,613 (-45) theaters; PTA: $1,197; Cumulative: $182,964,000
8. Love again (Sony) Week 2; Last weekend #5
$1,550,000 (-35%) in 2,703 theaters (no change); PTA: $573; Cumulative: $5,007,000
9. Air (MGM) Week 6; Last weekend #8; also streamed on Amazon Prime
$875,000 (-37%) in 1,210 (-422) theaters; PTA: $723; Cumulative: $51,710,000
10. (tie) BlackBerry (IFC/Elevation) NEW – Metacritic: 82
$740,000 in 623 theaters; PTA: $1,188; Cumulative: $740,000
10. (tie) Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves (Paramount) Week 7; Last weekend #7; also on PVOD
$740,000 (-49%) in 934 (-817) theaters; PTA: $792; Cumulative: $92,170,000
Other specialized titles
Movies (limited, expansions of limited releases, as well as award-oriented) are listed by week out, starting with those open this week; after the first two weeks, only films with grossing over $5,000 are listed.
monica (IFC) NEW – Metacritic: 74; Festivals include: Venice 2022
$26,500 in 2 theaters; PTA: $13,250
The starling girl (Bleecker Street) NEW – Metacritic: 78; Festivals include: Sundance, South by Southwest 2023
$24,736 in 4 theaters; PTA: $6,184
The immensity (Music box) NEW – Metacritic: 71; Festivals include: Venice 2022, Sundance 2023
$9,281 in 2 theaters; PTA: $4,641
It’s not over (Sony Pictures Classics) NEW – Metacritic: 76; Festivals include: Tribeca 2022
$106,289 in 99 theaters; PTA: $1,074
Knights of the Zodiac (Sony) NEW
$535,000 in 586 theaters; PTA: $913
The eight mountains (Sideshow/Janus) Week 3
$30,100 in 24 (+20) theaters; PTA: $1,254; Cumulative: $93,772
Kind company (Focus) Week 3
$57,000 in 76 (-626) theaters; Cumulative: $1,512,000
32 sounds(Abramorama) Week 3
$12,010 in 5 (+4) theaters; Cumulative: $50,302
Knight (Searchlight) Week 4
$50,000 in 110 (-45) halls; Cumulative: $3,282,000
Somewhere in Queens (Straight along the road) Week 4
$40,025 in 62 (-60) theaters; Cumulative: $1,614,000
Carmen (Sony Pictures Classics) Week 4
$10,353 in 25 (+6) theaters; Cumulative: $57,592
Beau is scared (A24) Week 5
$167,302 in 246 (-264) theaters; Cumulative: $7,216,000
Suzume (Sony) Week 5
$115,000 in 84 (-32) theaters; Cumulative: $10,478,000
Wild animals (Picturehouse) Week 5 30
$33,105 in 32 (+2) theaters; Cumulative: $286,913
revealing (A24) Week 6
$28,578 in 75 (-27) theaters; Cumulative: $708,854
