By Chris Kavan - 03/17/21 at 11:21 AM CT
With no new major films dropping, the top five remained exactly the same as it was last weekend - though every film (unsurprisingly) dipped a bit from week to week. Coming out on top once again was Raya and the Last Dragon, which pulled in $5.5 million (off 35.3%) and raising its domestic total to $15.8 million. Worldwide the film now stands at $52.6 million.
Second place belonged to Tom and Jerry with $4.1 million (down 38%) for a $28.2 million domestic total and a new $66.9 million global bow. Coming in third was Chaos Walking, the Tom Holland/Daisy Ridley sci-fi film took a 40% hit with a $2.3 million weekend for a new $6.9 million total and $11.9 million global take.
Down in fourth, Taylor Takahashi's Boogie, following a Queen's basketball phenom, dipped just over 39%, taking in $730,000 for a new $2.4 million total. It has not released internationally as of yet. Rounding out the top five The Croods: A New Age continued to hang in there with $520,000 (down 34%) for a $54.3 million domestic and $158.7 million global total.
The only major film of note that went into wide release after a couple weeks in limited run was The Father, following an aging man (Anthony Hopkins) who refused help from his daughter (Olivia Colman) even as his mind begins to slip further and further away from him. This one has garnered several Oscar nominations (including for Hopkins, Colman and Picture) so we'll see if it helps in the coming weeks or not. It took in $433,611, which landed it in eighth place.
With Los Angeles also opening after nearly a year, joining New York, Chicago and San Francisco, and the vaccine going strongly, we'll see if that continues to drive up business as spring gives way to summer and to more blockbuster-centric films. While March into April is still a big subdued, perhaps the biggest film on the horizon is Black Widow on May 7th, which will really give us a sense of where things stand.
Also of note, Avatar was re-released in China where it took in $12 million - enough to give James Cameron's 2009 film the title of highest-grossing film of all time at just over $2.8 billion - topping Avengers: Endgame. At this point, both are owned by Disney so... good for them? Next week the only new film in wide release is the Benedict Cumberbatch Cold War spy thriller The Courier.
Onto the ratings front where Disney is front and center with the only new wide release film, yet another live-action take on one of their many animated properties, though this one looks to have a promising twist on a rather twisted character.
Disney has had good luck at exploring the origins of villain with Maleficent and it sequel and they're going back to that well with Cruella. As anyone who has seen 101 Dalmatians can attest, Cruella de Vil is stone-cold evil - a dog-skinning mad woman if you will. So why not explore her past and who better to pull off the task than Academy-Award winner Emma Stone. The second trailer just dropped during the Grammy awards and we learn that Cruella began as Estella, and has both ambition and a wicked streak. Catching the eye of the Baroness von Hellman (Emma Thompson) she gets to put her talents to good use, Recruiting two young thieves Jasper (Joel Fry) and his brother Horace (Paul Walter Hauser) to her cause, and against the back drop of London's punk rock revolution - it's anarchy all the time. The first trailer was a mix of Joker and Harley Quinn - bombastic and madness - and Disney isn't getting too family-friendly with this, as the PG-13 rating will attest. As far as origin stories go, this may be the best one yet and hopefully a big more daring. Cruella also stars Mark Strong, Emily Beecham, John McCrea and Kirby Howell-Baptiste. It receives that PG-13 rating for some violence and thematic elements.
While that is the only major film of note, you can check out the full MPAA Ratings Bulletin below:
AMERICAN EID
Rated G
CATCH THE BULLET
Rated R for some violence.
CRUELLA
Rated PG-13 for some violence and thematic elements.
IN THE EARTH
Rated R for strong violent content, grisly images, and language.
LET'S BE TIGERS
Rated PG for some thematic material.
MAINSTREAM
Rated R for pervasive language and some graphic nudity.
MARY J BLIGE'S MY LIFE
Rated R for language.
MONDAY
Rated R for sexual content, nudity/graphic nudity, drug use and pervasive language.
NEW ORDER
Rated R for disturbing and violent content, rape, graphic nudity and language.
