By Chris Kavan - 08/11/21 at 01:19 PM CT
While the MPAA Ratings Bulletin once again is somewhat underwhelming, with a couple of new films, the box office continues to surprise - though this week it's not the kind that distributors or theater owners are very happy about. While The Suicide Squad had no problem topping the box office, its great reviews and audience anticipation led to a muted debut and it could be that we are entering into new, dangerous territory as the Delta variant makes everyone cautious again and there are already early rumblings about fall movie delays incoming.
As it stands this weekend, James Gunn's reimagining not-quite-sequel, not-quite-reboot The Suicide Squad easily took the top spot at the box office, but came in much lower than expected with just a $26.2 million opening. Most had predicted an opening of at least $30 million, if not higher - and the original (and much-maligned) Suicide Squad opened to a now eye-popping $133.7 million despite just about nobody liking it much. Of course, people will point out that The Suicide Squad is also available on HBO Max for free (well, with the subscription, of course) - the impact of which is still in question though it likely has some impact. With another $45.2 million overseas, The Suicide Squad is sitting on a $71.4 million global total but it has a lot of work to earn back its reported $185 million budget. It's too bad as critics love this version (92% on Rotten Tomatoes) and audiences, for once, agree, giving it a "B+" Cinemascore. I think there's just too much uncertainty right now and it's only going to get worse with school starting back up and mixed messages across the states.
Dropping a spot from its opening, Disney's The Jungle Cruise took the second-place spot with a $15.8 million weekend (off about 55%) raising its domestic total to $65.44 million. With another $56.5 million overseas, its global total now stands at $123.8 million. Once again, while Disney was happy to report its $30 million Disney+ revenue on opening weekend, it has been silent about the numbers since. It's doing solid but not spectacular business, we'll see how it goes in the coming weeks.
Also dropping one spot from last week, M. Night Shyamalan's Old dipped 40%, bringing in $4.1 million and giving the supernatural thriller a new $38.5 million total. With $26.6 million overseas, the film has a $65.66 million total and with just and $18 million budget, represents one of the few clear winners to be released this summer.
Staying in the fourth-place position was Disney's Black Widow, which still took a nearly 40% drop, adding another $3.9 million to the bank for a new $174.2 million total - just days away from hitting that $175 million mark. The messy lawsuit between Scarlett Johansson and Disney continues with neither side looking to back down and things don't look to be resolved anytime soon. Black Widow has now made over $360 million worldwide as well.
Rounding out the top five, Matt Damon's Stillwater added another $2.8 million (down 45.5%), giving the film a new $9.9 million total. Both Green Knight ($2.5 million) and Space Jam: A New Legacy ($2.4 million) were in spitting distance - but fell short of the crime drama. Stillwater still has no international openings.
Next week brings us a trio of new film's including Ryan Reynold's video game action/comedy Free Guy, the Aretha Franklin biopic Respect and the stealth horror sequel Don't Breathe 2.
This week's MPAA Ratings Bulletin has a couple of films to talk about with the horror film Black Phone and the uplifting musical adaptation of Dear Evan Hansen.
While I don't usually keep up on the most popular musical, Dear Evan Hansen did win six Tony awards as well as a Grammy - a good indication that you have a hit on your hands. I guess it was inevitable a film adaptation was incoming and it looks like it will capitalize on that success. Ben Platt (reprising his role from the stage version) plays the titular character, a high school student dealing with crippling social anxiety disorder who tries to deal with it through therapy - including writing daily letters to himself. When one of these letters falls into the hands of fellow student Connor Murphy (Colton Ryan) it leads to a series of events involving Connor's suicide, Hansen inventing a fake friendship, a budding romance between Hansen and his crush, Zoe (Kaitlyn Dever) who happens to be Connor's sister and trying to create something lasting in Connor's memory. But even as he gets closer to Connor's parents Larry (Danny Pino) and Cynthia (Amy Adams), it begins to strain his own relationship to his mother, Heidi (Julianne Moore). Meanwhile, his budding relationship with Zoe likewise begins to overshadow everything else, leading to a fallout with fellow students Alana (Amandla Stenberg) and Jared (Nik Dodani) and the unraveling of his hastily-put-together plan. Despite everything, Hansen manages to gain the confidence he needs to break out of his shell, even if things don't turn out the way he imagined. A coming-of-age drama that tackles some difficult subjects like mental illness and suicide, Dear Evan Hansen has a powerful message to send and, given its accolades, seems to hit the mark. Rated PG-13 for thematic material involving suicide, brief strong language and some suggestive references.
Our other new film is based on a short story from Joe Hill (son of Stephen King and now a prominent author in his own right), The Black Phone. The premise is thus - a young boy named Finney (Mason Thames) finds himself kidnapped by a prominent serial killer (played by Ethan Hawke) and locked in a soundproof basement. Once there, however, he discovers a disconnected phone - one that, none-the-less, seems to connect to previous victims who try to help him escape. If done right, this could be an interesting thriller with a lot of tension. It also features a decent cast with Jeremy Davies, James Ransone, Madeleine McGraw and E. Roger Mitchell are on board. The film is also directed by Scott Derrickson, no stranger to horror with Sinister and The Exorcism of Emily Rose under his belt. While I don't think this is going to be a major film, at least horror fans should be happy enough. Rated R for violence, bloody images,
language and some drug use.
Those are the two big films for the week, but you can check out the full MPAA Ratings Bulletin below:
THE BLACK PHONE
Rated R for violence, bloody images, language and some drug use.
THE CARD COUNTER
Rated R for some disturbing violence, graphic nudity, language and brief sexuality.
CONVERGENCE: COURAGE IN A CRISIS
Rated R for some language.
DEAR EVAN HANSEN
Rated PG-13 for thematic material involving suicide, brief strong language and some suggestive references.
THE DEVIL'S LIGHT
Rated PG-13 for violent and disturbing content, terror, thematic elements and brief language.
GOD'S NOT DEAD: WE THE PEOPLE
Rated PG for thematic elements, brief violence and an accident scene.
HELL HATH NO FURY
Rated R for strong/bloody violence, language throughout, and some sexual content.
KOATI
Rated PG for peril, rude material and thematic elements.
WINDFALL
Rated R for language throughout and some violence.
WITCH HUNT
Rated R for some violent/disturbing images.
THE YOUNGEST EVANGELIST AND THE MINISTRY OF MUSIC
Rated PG-13 for thematic material and some violence.
