By Chris Kavan - 06/15/22 at 12:04 PM CT
After several weeks of disappointing updates, the MPAA finally opened the floodgates to a deluge of important ratings from a new MCU title to a new Predator outing. At the box office, Jurassic World: Dominion easily took the biggest bite over the weekend, but Top Gun: Maverick held on strong as well. Good news all around this time!
Even though it faced withering critical reviews (just 30% on Rotten Tomatoes) that didn't stop audiences from checking out the final film in the new Jurassic World trilogy. Dominion, led once again by Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard, easily took the top spot at the box office with a $145 million debut - just below the $148 million opening of Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom. Audiences weren't nearly as selective, giving the film a hearty "A-" Cinemascore. The film brought back the trio of original Jurassic Park actors Sam Neill, Laura Dern and Jeff Goldblum, along with other familiar faces like BD Wong, Isabella Sermon, Justice Smith, Omar Sy and
Daniella Pineda. DeWanda Wise earned some of the best praise in a new role of a no-nonsense pilot as well. While it didn't have nearly as big of bit as Jurassic World ($208 million opening), this still has to be seen as encouraging, even if critics balked at it. The film also opened has an impressive $245.8 million overseas (where it opened a week earlier) and it also happens to include $52.5 from China, a market that has by-passed most of the other blockbusters this year. With a global total of over $390 million, Dominion is likely to ride high for the near future.
Speaking of riding high, Top Gun: Maverick was no slouch over the weekend, even in the face of Dominion. Slipping just 42.4%, Maverick took in $51.8 million, giving it a new total of $395.1 million. By the time of this writing, Maverick has crossed $400 million, beating Doctor Strange to the punch of becoming the first film of 2022 to hit this milestone (though the good doctor shouldn't be too far behind) as well as the highest-grossing film of the year in the process. Its international numbers aren't too far behind with $353.7 million giving the flying ace nearly $750 million worldwide. Maverick is still looking on track to become the next $1 billion worldwide hit.
In third place, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness took a 43.1% drop with a $5.21 million weekend and new $398.1 million total. As stated, Maverick passed the MCU title in the last few days to take the 2022 crown, but Doctor Strange still holds the worldwide crown for now as it has proven bigger overseas with $532.4 and a global tally of $930.2 million - a nd also a chance at hitting the coveted $1 billion mark.
In fourth place, The Bad Guys was the animated family choice with $2.5 million (down just 24.2%) and a new $91.8 million total. The film about a bunch of criminals trying to go straight is trying to claw its was towards that $100 million mark but its going to face its biggest challenge yet when Lightyear hits this weekend.
Rounding out the top five, The Bob's Burgers Movie took a 46.8% hit and wound up with $2.46 million and a new $27.2 million total. For an animated title with a mostly built-in audience, hitting $25 million is a pretty good outcome.
Next week, Pixar's Lightyear looks to impress the family crowd - we'll see how Dominion and Maverick respond to the new challenger.
After weeks of drought on the MPAA Ratings front, we have found sweet, sweet relief from a cornucopia of new entries - action, horror, comedy, thrillers - it's all here so I better start things up.
Leading the charge this week is the next big MCU title in Thor: Love and Thunder. Directed by Taika Waititi - who helmed the impressive Thor: Ragnarok (and who also returns to voice the rocky Korg), Love and Thunder follows Thor (Chris Hemsworth) as he goes, as the trailer puts it, "from dad bod to god bod". This means hanging out with the Guardians of the Galaxy (Chris Pratt, Dave Bautista, Bradley Cooper, Vin Diesel, Pom Klementieff and Karen Gillan) for at least a portion of the movie - but the Guardians aren't his family and he sets off to prove he is still worthy of his legacy - but in his absence, The Mighty Thor has arrived and it is none other than his previous flame Jane Foster (Natalie Portman). Even as he grapples with this, an ominous new threat arises in the form of Gorr the God Butcher (Christian Bale) who, as his unsubtle name implies, is out to destroy ALL the gods, which probably includes Zeus (Russell Crowe). Meanwhile, on Earth, Valkyrie (Tessa Thompson) is dealing with running New Asgard but doesn't hesitate to jump at the chance to join Thor on his quest. Also returning will be Jaimie Alexander as Sif (last seen in the Loki series) and Sean Gunn as Kraglin (last seen taking over the late Yondu as leader of the Ravagers). Based on the trailers, this film just looks like a fun ride and Waititi has proven he can mix action with comedy and still make a film emotional as well. I'm all for this next outing and we won't have to wait long. Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of sci-fi violence and action, language, some suggestive material and partial nudity.
Speaking of franchises, the last time we saw anything from Predator, they were fighting Aliens and it was kind of a mess. But the franchise is going back to the beginning - well, when it comes to challenging the mightiest warriors on Earth, that is, with Prey. Going back 300 years, Prey finds the universe's biggest trophy hunter going up against the Comanche nation. While her tribe has plenty of warriors willing to fight, Naru (Amber Midthunder) is in a class all her own. While she may not find the recognition in her own tribe, she is the best hope against a technologically-advanced foe. Directed by Dan Trachtenberg (10 Cloverfield Lane), this one looks to return Predator to its roots and the concept looks interesting. Yes, it went from theaters to streaming, but I'm hoping this captures the essence and turns out exciting. Rated R for strong bloody violence.
Speaking of streaming, Rian Johnson was probably offered a metric ton of money to move Knives Out to Netflix (which, given the current financial predicament may have been an overreach) but it's going forward and now has a title: Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery. Daniel Craig once again returns as the Southern-drawling Sherlock Holmes-esque detective Benoit Blanc and, much like the first film, is surrounded by a rogues gallery of big names: Edward Norton, Ethan Hawke, Kathryn Hahn, Dave Bautista, Jessica Henwick, Kate Hudson, Leslie Odom Jr., Janelle Monáe and Madelyn Cline. While details have yet to be revealed on what this new mystery will entail, I have no doubt that Johnson will craft another wickedly-fun adventure with plenty of quirky characters and some kind of twist thrown in. Knives Out was a pleasant surprise and I'm hoping a move to Netflix doesn't diminish any kind of returns. Rated PG-13 for strong language, some violence, sexual material and drug content.
Rounding out this strong update we find Jay Chandrasekhar, most well known for directing the SuperTroopers series, as well as Beerfest, returning to comedy with Easter Sunday. This one doesn't star his Broken Lizard crew but rather follows Joe Valencia (Jo Koy) and his dealing with his large Philippian family including mother Susan (Lydia Gaston) and her ongoing feud with sister Theresa (Tia Carrere). Koy brings his stand-up routine to the big screen and looks to bring Philippian culture to the forefront - something you don't see a lot of but could draw in a bigger crowd than one would expect. The film features Brandon Wardell, Rodney To, Eugene Cordero, Melody Butiu, Eva Noblezada, Joey Guila, Tiffany Haddish, Jimmy O. Yang and Lou Diamond Phillips. Representation is important in this day and age and hopefully Easter Sunday does a good job of it. Rated PG-13 for some strong language and suggestive references.
Those are the big films for this week but you can check out the full MPAA Ratings Bulletin below:
BATMAN: THE LONG HALLOWEEN DELUXE EDITION
Rated R for violence and bloody images.
BLACKWOOD
Rated R for violence, gore and language.
BONES AND ALL
Rated R for strong, bloody and disturbing violent content, language throughout, some sexual content and brief graphic nudity.
CONFESS, FLETCH
Rated R for language, some sexual content and drug use.
DIAMOND IN THE ROUGH
Rated R for language and sexual references.
EASTER SUNDAY
Rated PG-13 for some strong language and suggestive references.
FLAMIN' HOT
Rated PG-13 for some strong language and brief drug material.
THE FORGIVEN
Rated R for language throughout, drug use, some sexual content and brief violence.
GLASS ONION: A KNIVES OUT MYSTERY
Rated PG-13 for strong language, some violence, sexual material and drug content.
THE HARBINGER
Rated PG-13 for thematic content involving suicide, and violence.
I LOVE MY DAD
Rated R for sexual content and language.
INTO THE DEEP
Rated R for some sexual content/nudity, drug use, violence and language throughout.
MEDIEVAL
Rated R for strong and grisly violent content throughout, and some nudity.
PAN AMERICAN: VOLUME 1
Rated R for language throughout, some sexual references and nude images.
PREY
Rated R for strong bloody violence.
SNIPER.THE WHITE RAVEN
Rated R for violence, bloody images, language and some sexuality/nudity.
THOR: LOVE AND THUNDER
Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of sci-fi violence and action, language, some
suggestive material and partial nudity.
