By Chris Kavan - 07/13/22 at 07:49 PM CT
Another short and sweet update from the MPAA Ratings Board this week as we have but a single animated release to tide us over. Meanwhile, Thor brought plenty of thunder to the box office even as audiences and critics may have wavered a bit on Taika Waititi's Ragnarok followup. Might this be the last, big hurrah for summer movies? Time will tell, but it's looking like it could be the last major blockbuster.
As stated, Thor: Love and Thunder made a lot of noise at the box office to the tune of a $144.1 million opening - the biggest opening yet for a Thor MCU film. Still, despite that good bit of news it seems that most people could only focus on the fact that audiences ONLY awarded the film a "B+" while critics saddled it with a mere 67% on Rotten Tomatoes - both low for an MCU title. Gloom and doom - Marvel Phase 4 is DOA! Alak alak! Disney is ruining the franchise! Alak alak! All this diversity is OMG WOKE LGBTQ LIBERAL BRAINWASHING! ALAK ALAK! And yet the MCU seems to be doing just fine - Spider-Man: Far from Home is still the highest-grossing film of the pandemic era, Multiverse of Madness had the biggest opening of the year ($187 million) and is nearly at $1 billion worldwide while Love and Thunder is already at over $325 million after just opening. I will admit that Phase 4 seems to be all over the place in terms of wherever they want to lead things - but, hey, as long as we finally get a decent Fantastic Four film and can throw Deadpool and the X-Men into the mix - I don't think the MCU is going to crash anytime soon. Love and Thunder opened 16% better than Ragnarok (29% better on the international market) and with no major competition on the near horizon, should easily play well through the rest of summer (Brad Pitt's Bullet Train may be its biggest competition come early August). Will it top Ragnarok in the end? It's still too early to say, but even if it falls short, Love and Thunder still looks to continue the MCU's hot streak no matter what the naysayers predict.
In the runner-up position, Minions: The Rise of Gru took a 57% hit and added in $46.1 million - just a hair behind the $49.3 million second weekend of the first Minions. With a record-setting Fourth of July opening, Rise of Gru now stands at $210.65 million on the domestic front with an additional $195.1 million overseas for a worldwide total of over $405 million. That's still a hefty sum no matter how you slice it and Minions looks to have the family crowd fired up and will probably be able to top Paws of Fury this weekend.
In third place, Top Gun: Maverick took in $15.5 million - a major feat for a film in in its seventh weekend - and dipped just over 40% - for a total of $597.4 million. It has surely hit $600 million by this point and looks to enter in the the top 10 highest-grossing domestic films of all time (not counting inflation). It has earned $1.184 billion worldwide as well and shows little sign of slowing down at this point.
Fourth place went to Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis, which saw a 39.4% decline for a $11.18 million weekend and a new $91.3 million total. Elvis should be able to top $100 million by next week, no small feat for a film that has attracted a mostly older audience and goes to show that the movie theater industry continues to improve as time goes by. It has added $55 million overseas as well.
Rounding out the top give we find Jurassic World Dominion, which took a 47.5% hit in its 5th week out for a $8.6 million weekend and a new $350.5 million total, crossing another milestone mark in the process. While it is lagging just a bit behind Fallen Kingdom ($34 million behind to be exact) its $876 million global tally shows people are still dino-crazy after all these years.
Just outside the top five, Black Phone added $7.7 million to bring its total up to $62.43 million - becoming the highest-grossing original horror film of the pandemic era. Good on you, Scott Derrickson!
Next week brings two family-centric films with Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank along with the warm-hearted mockumentary Marcel the Shell with Shoes On (which has grossed nearly $1 million so far in limited release) along with the drama/crime based-on-the-bestseller Where the Crawdads Sing.
Onto the ratings front where the MPAA has delivered but a single wide release of note in an animated sequel/Shrek spinoff with Puss in Boots dashing back in action.
While it has been several years since we've entered the animated fairytale world of Shrek and friends, here's hoping that Puss in Boots: The Last Wish can capture that same brand of humor and fun that the previous films were so good at balancing. Antonio Banderas returns to voice the suave feline who finds his life of adventure finally catching up to him when he realizes he has spent eight out of his nine lives. Trying to live out a quiet life of retirement with Mama Luna (Da'Vine Joy Randolph) his peace and quiet is interrupted by a very combative Goldilocks (Florence Pugh) and the three bears (Ray Winstone, Olivia Colman and Samson Kayo) not to mention some beef with the Big Bad Wolf (Wagner Moura). In order to help out - and survive - he will have to seek out the mythical Last Wish in order to restore his nine lives, with Kitty Softpaws (Salma Hayek) and not-cat Perro (Harvey Guillén) along for the ride. While the film has a rock-solid cast, 11 years is a long time between animated films - and we'll see if fans of the franchise - and families - are willing to return. Rated PG for action/violence, rude humor/language, and some scary moments.
That's the main film for this week but you can check out the full MPAA Ratings Bulletin below for the rest:
ALONE TOGETHER
Rated R for language.
ATHENA
Rated R for language and violence.
COLLIDE
Rated R for language throughout and brief sexual material.
THE IMMACULATE ROOM
Rated R for some drug use and nudity.
LEGACY PEAK
Rated PG for peril, brief violence and thematic elements.
MY FAVORITE GIRLFRIEND
Rated PG-13 for some strong language and sexual material.
THE OFFERING
Rated R for violence.
PEARL
Rated R for some strong violence, gore, strong sexual content and graphic nudity.
PUSS IN BOOTS: THE LAST WISH
Rated PG for action/violence, rude humor/language and some scary moments.
REMEMBERING
Rated G
THE RUNER
Rated R for strong teen drug and alcohol use, pervasive language and some violence.
THE SCHOOL FOR GOOD AND EVIL
Rated PG-13 for violence and action, and some frightening images.
SHARP STICK
Rated R for strong sexual content, some nudity, language throughout and drug use.
SUPERSPREADER
Rated PG-13 for thematic material and some strong language.
UNFAVORABLE ODDS
Rated PG-13 for some suggestive material.
WIRE ROOM
Rated R for strong violence and pervasive language.
