Box Office: ‘Nope’ hijacks $44.5 million in opening weekend

Jordan Peele’s “Nope” successfully sends a message to moviegoers: Get out… and see the movies.

Universal’s release this weekend in 3,785 theaters is expected to gross $44.5 million, making Peele’s third straight film to debut at the top of the domestic box office.

The first hint that “Nope” might just be a summer box office hit came from Thursday’s previews, which grossed a strong $6.4 million. Early projections called for the sci-fi horror film to gross $45 million to $60 million by the end of its opening weekend. The film falls short of these estimates by a hair’s breadth.

“Nope” projects a debut that’s a notch above Peele’s first film, 2017’s “Get Out,” which opened at $33.7 million, but is a fair bit lower than Peele’s sophomore, 2019’s “Us.” which opened with $71.1 million. Both films grossed around $255 million worldwide. To reach this milestone, “Nope” will need to rely on solid word of mouth over the coming weeks.

“Nope” has a production budget of $68 million, a good chunk higher than the $4.5 million and $20 million numbers that owned “Get Out” and “Us,” respectively.

Despite the greater financial burden, “Nope” appears to be making a decent profit. As for the word of mouth of the film, it’s better to conclude after its second weekend showing, although it’s not all sunshine and lollipops. Research firm Cinema Score gave “Nope” a grade of “B,” indicating a less than enthusiastic response from general moviegoers. Nevertheless, a rather mediocre cinema score is not uncommon for the horror genre.

Additionally, “Nope” remains a fairly lively title, buoyed by strong critical support. Peele’s film currently has an 84% approval rating from top critics on the overall Rotten Tomatoes page. diversity‘s Owen Gleiberman was moderately enthusiastic about the film, writing that “Nope” is “an enticingly spooky hybrid of a sci-fi thriller” where “anticipation works better than the payoff.”

Academy Award-winning writer-director Peele’s “Nope” stars Daniel Kaluuya, Keke Palmer and Steven Yeun in a tale of siblings who are horse breeders and make a disturbing, other-worldly discovery.

Disney’s Thor: Love and Thunder falls to number two on the domestic charts. The superhero entry earned $6.12 million on Friday, down 56% from last week.

In typical Marvel Studios style, Love and Thunder was a box office hit, grossing $260 million in North America to date. The film is currently the sixth-highest-grossing domestic release of the year, still beating the series’ previous entry, Thor: Ragnarok, which grossed $235 million at the same time it opened in theaters.

Universal’s Minions: The Rise of Gru appears to be in third place, forecasting a slight 37% drop in its fourth weekend of release. The animated prequel is expected to gross $16.8 million this weekend and will take its domestic sales to over $300 million next week.

The Rise of Gru is the fifth highest-grossing domestic release of the year. The film’s 2015 prequel, Minions, ended its North American run with $336 million in the bank.

Sony’s “Where the Crawdads Sing” shoots for fourth or fifth place and is forecasting a $9.75 million profit for its second weekend. That would mark a modest 43% drop since the adaptation opened last weekend, showing that word of mouth surrounding the Daisy Edgar Jones lead is in a solid place.

To round out the top five on the domestic chart, Paramount and Skydance’s “Top Gun: Maverick” refuses to back down. In its ninth release weekend, the Tom Cruise sequel is expected to fall nearly 23%, adding $9.45 million to domestic earnings.

Maverick overtook The Avengers earlier this week to become the ninth-highest-grossing domestic release of all time. With $628 million in the bank, the Paramount release would have a long way to go to equal eighth place, held by “Jurassic World” at $652 million. On the other hand, “Maverick” has only exceeded expectations so far.