Army of the Dead and More in This Week's MPAA Ratings Bulletin

By Chris Kavan - 02/24/21 at 10:54 AM CT

What a world we live in that an animated sequel that came out Thanksgiving of last year is still the top draw at the box office and may become the highest-grossing film of 2020 as well as the highest-grossing North American film worldwide before its run is over. That's right, The Croods: A New Age was once again atop the box office with $1.7 million pushing its domestic total to $50.8 million and worldwide total to $154 million. Both totals are well within range to top Tenet on the domestic front ($57.9 million) and Wonder Woman 1984 on the global front ($159.5 million and counting) to become the highest-grossing American release of this Covid era. So at least one film is doing well out of all the mess.

Coming in runner-up, The Little Things nabbed a $1.2 million weekend with some surprising awards-season buzz following Jared Leto's creepy performance. The film dipped 41.3% compared to last weekend and now stands at $11.8 million and a worldwide total of $20.2 million. Not a huge runaway success, but solid enough for the current state of things.

In third place awards season hopeful Judas and the Black Messiah just can't seem to translate excellent reviews into more ticket sales. With $905,000, the film fell over 56% from its debut for a rather tepid $3.4 million total.

Fourth and fifth place were rounded out by Wonder Woman 1984 and The Marksman. 1984 dipped just under 30% for a $805,000 and a new $42.7 million total while The Marksman drew $775,000 (also down about 30%) for a $11.5 million domestic total ($15.2 million worldwide).

Outside the top 10 another film getting awards-season buzz, Chloe Zhao’s Nomadland starring Frances McDormand debuted in 7th place with $503,000 and just a $428 per-screen average. Like Judas and the Black Messiah, this one is also available streaming (via Hulu), which may have cut into its theatrical bottom line.

The big buzz outside the U.S. market remains on China where Detective Chinatown 3 had a record-breaking opening but another film, Hi, Mom stole its thunder. This is not a huge action franchise blockbuster (not Fast and Furious or the MCU or even Bond), no, this is a sweet film about a young woman who goes back in time and befriends her (no 20-years younger) mother. And it became the only film, ever, to earn over $50 million for seven straight days. It's 10-day total of $623.2 million now tops Detective Chinatown 3 and it looks to top $900 million by the end of its run, which would put it in the same category as Star Wars: The Force Awakens and Avengers: End Game in terms of total grosses.

Onto a rather short MPAA ratings update where only a Netflix release even came close to scratching any itch this time around.... but zombies!

MPAA Official Logo

Zack Snyder is no stranger to zombies, of course, with 2004's Dawn of the Dead (incredibly fun even if it involves "fast" zombies) being his first full-length film. And while most of the buzz surrounding him lately has been over his Justice League final cut - he also has a film on Netflix coming up where he'll visit his zombie stomping grounds. Army of the Dead, which just got a May 21st reveal date, is a heist film set during the zombie apocalypse... in Las Vegas. Dave Bautista plays the main character with his team comprised of Ella Purnell, Garret Dillahunt (also no stranger to zombies - a Fear the Walking Dead standout), Ana de la Reguera, Raúl Castillo and Omari Hardwick. The film also stars Hiroyuki Sanada, Theo Rossi, Tig Notaro, Samantha Win, Michael Cassidy and Matthias Schweighöfer. Unlike many zombie films, Snyder says the origins of this apocalypse will be addressed early - supposedly set in Area 51. A trailer is soon to drop so we'll know if we're dealing with Romero-type zombies or Snyder-type zombies shortly. Netflix has a lot of hope for this one as a prequel film and animated series have already been green-lit. All I know is that this looks like one of the most fun zombie apocalyptic movies that has come out in a long time and I'm all for it. Rated R for strong bloody violence, gore and language throughout, some sexual content and brief nudity/graphic nudity.

That's all you get this week and the rest of the list is short, but you can still check out the full MPAA Ratings Bulletin below:

ARMY OF THE DEAD

Rated R for strong bloody violence, gore and language throughout, some sexual content and brief nudity/graphic nudity.


THE GIRL WHO BELIEVES IN MIRACLES

Rated PG for thematic content, a brief fight and brief smoking.


INITIATION

Rated R for strong bloody violence, some crude sexual content, drug use, and language throughout.


THE MISFITS

Rated R for some language/sexual references and brief drug use.


THE STARLING

Rated PG-13 for thematic material, some strong language, and suggestive material.


VANQUISH

Rated R for bloody violence, language, some sexual material and drug use.

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