Advertisement
The dog days of summer are upon us, and they may be for the box office, too. August occasionally offers some numbers in the early weeks, but as we get closer to Labor Day, the fewer breakout stories and more of how we’re heading into festival and awards season. The first week of August has seen many hits over the years and this weekend saw a kick off in hopes of becoming the 20th $100M gross winner to open the month. However, it may take some extra legs – or should we say extra stretch – to join the elite.
King of the Harvest: fast train Chugs up
David Leitchs fast train is of course the aforementioned film hoping to reach $100 million; it opened this weekend at $30.1 million. That’s 14th best first weekender of August, but 4th best for an original product that isn’t a sequel or connected to any of the comic universes. It’s also the top R-rated original film this weekend, which feels like good news, but it could already be an uphill battle to reach that $100 million milestone. His $12.6 million on Friday would normally have suggested a higher start than $30 million. Historically, such numbers (between $12.5 and $12.7 million starts) have averaged $35.5 million starts. The two R-rated movies on this list – Bladerunner 2049 and bad grandfather – opened over $32 million. express train’s numbers are more on par with The Dukes of Hazzard’s early $30.6 million; This film also had the lowest total gross ($80.2 million) among the 11 films on this list. fast train will want to hold a second weekend above $18 million if the $90 million budget film sustains a $100 million take. It will definitely rely on its overseas sales to make a profit.
Rotten Returns: Jo Koys Easter Sunday sways
This is very little positive to say Easter Sunday this weekend. fire starter opened for $3.8 million but was also available day-to-day at Peacock and A24 men opened at $3.29 million. Easter Sunday, starring comedian Jo Koy, started this weekend with just $5.2 million. The $17 million budget film won’t suffer a huge loss, but it won’t even gross that number Men’s budget were not occupied, it would only be the third film of the summer to fail in domestic grossing at least as reported, along with The Bob’s Burgers Movie and paws of rage.
The top 10 and beyond: nope inch towards profit, top gun surpasses avatar
As the budgets go, Jordan Peele’s $68 million nope was achieved, but keep in mind that about half of that money goes to the theaters, so it takes double that and more to turn a profit. nope will hit $100 million this week after shying through Sunday’s third week down 56% to $8.5 million. Last week we compared his numbers to Luc Besson’s Lucy. They’re still closely matched, though nope has definitely taken a step up now after failing to hit the $9.4 million of this film’s third weekend. Their 17-day earnings are almost identical, so it appears to be on the low side of $120 million nopes ultimate goal. If it raises another $50 million overseas, it should get out of the red.
A movie that now seems to be going deeper into the red is another bad story for DC this week after the bat girl Debacle. DC League of Super Pets fell 51% to $11.2 million, putting it on a collision course Ice Age: Collision Course, which had a similar $10.9 million second weekend. That Super Pets 10-day gross is slightly ahead at $45.1 million, so we’re setting a final estimate between $65 million and $70 million. Another late-summer animated film dies with a budget of $90 million. It will be the fourth film this summer not to get its money back.
The $300 million crowd continues to come up with numbers. Thor: Love and Thunder sits at $316 million after a fifth weekend of $7.4 million Ragnarok to be the top-selling standalone Thor Movie. That’s what it’s all about Spider-Man 3 Counting; This film grossed $7.7 million in its fifth weekend and had grossed $318 million in the same period. if love and thunder falling at this rate, it could settle between $330 million and $335 million. Minions: The Rise of Gru is already here and will be performing The Mighty Thor this summer. With $334 million in the bank after a $7.1 million sixth weekend, it continues to be a pace to beat The Secret Life of Pets as Illumination’s highest-grossing domestic film to date. Speaking of classic cars, Top Gun: Maverick is now officially passed titanic with all its new releases. $662 million and counting means that Avengers: Infinity War is just around the corner ($678.8 million). Black Panther is still $ 26 million Loner’s pace overall, but even that film only had $4.7 million by its 11th weekend. $700 million is still a possibility, and Paramount will likely do whatever it takes to make it happen.
Rounding out the rest of the top 10, we think Where the crayfish sing in a similar way as Crazy. Stupid. love. with $64.6 million in the bank and the fourth weekend of that film by a $5.2-$4.7 million lead. Over $85 million appears to be on track. The black phone crossed the same threshold this weekend and is one of the great success stories of the summer. Baz Luhrmanns elvis will surpass $140 million by this time next week; it is over 250 million dollars worldwide and is also in the black. Then finally, out of the top 10, we have A24 body body body which launched in just six theaters this weekend at $227,000. That’s an average of $38,000 per theater, which is fourth best of the year behind Louis CKs Fourth of July, Everything everywhere at onceand Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. The 91%-approved horror comedy reopens next week after the studio’s Marcel wears the shell with shoes on has raised just under $5 million after seven weeks of slow rollout.
On the vine: autumn and Mack and Rita Headline muted weekend
Furthermore body body body With a broader launch next week, new arrivals could be pretty muted at the box office. Two friends find themselves atop a radio tower at 2,000 feet autumn. There’s Diane Keaton in a reverse body switch movie where a young lady wishes she were a 70 year old woman Mack and Rita. Sundance, with James Ponsoldt’s tale of young women’s friendship mixed with some horror, Summeralong with Aubrey Plaza in the credit card fraud thriller, Emily the criminal. Finally Steven Spielberg’s ET the extraterrestrial will be re-released on IMAX screens across the country.
Full list of box office results: August 5-7, 2022
54%
fast train
(2022)
- $30.1 million ($30.1 million total)
72%
DC League of Super Pets
(2022)
- $11.2 million ($45.1 million total)
82%
nope
(2022)
- $8.5 million ($98 million total)
65%
Thor: Love and Thunder
(2022)
- $7.6 million ($316 million total)
70%
Minions: The Rise of Gru
(2022)
- $7.1 million ($334.6 million total)
96%
Top Gun: Maverick
(2022)
- $7 million ($662.5 million total)
33%
Where the crayfish sing
(2022)
- $5.7 million ($64.6 million total)
45%
Easter Sunday
(2022)
- $5.3 million ($5.3 million total)
78%
elvis
(2022)
- $4 million ($136.5 million total)
83%
The black phone
(2021)
- $1.5 million (total $85.9 million)
Erik Childress can be heard each week rating the box office results on Business First AM with Angela Miles and his Movie Madness podcast.
[box office figures via Box Office Mojo]
Thumbnail by Scott Garfield/©Sony Pictures Entertainment
On an Apple device? Follow Rotten Tomatoes on Apple News.
