By Chris Kavan - 08/17/22 at 12:36 PM CT
With summer winding down, so goes the box office and the last gasps of the season are playing out as Bullet Train and a resurgent Top Gun: Maverick topped the weekend while the newcomers had little impact on the bottom line. With just $65.2 million, it was the lowest total box office since February - and things aren't expected to get better from here. The MPAA threw a few bones my way with a couple of new entries as well.
Leading the box office for the second straight weekend, Bullet Train with Brad Pitt and a bevy of co-starring talent, made off with $13.4 million, giving the action/comedy a new $54.48 million total. The dip of 55% was within the expected range and it's still playing out much like The Lost City (which had $55.5 million in its second weekend) and is still looking for a solid $100 million or so finish. While that's not the most exciting result for a new IP mainly relying on star talent, that should be enough. Also, go see it, it's incredibly fun.
In second place we find the year's continued biggest hit, Top Gun: Maverick which, insanely, GAINED .2% over the last week (now in its 12th week) for a $7.05 million weekend and a new $673.7 million total. It has probably topped $675 million by this time and I wouldn't be surprised if it hits $700 million or more by the time it finally leaves theater. It was buoyed by a return to PLF screens (421 more than last week) and returning audiences want to feel this need for speed over and over again. It will soon pass Avengers: Infinity War ($678.8 million) on the domestic list and sits at 13th place globally with $1.378 billion.
In third place, DC League of Super-Pets dipped 36.6% and nabbed $7 million for the weekend for a new $58.1 million total. It pulled just ahead of The Bad Guys ($57.4 million) and may still make it to $100 million in the end. Still, its $90 million price tag may be a bit too much for this to actually post a profit, even with $110 million global.
In fourth place we find Thor: Love and Thunder once again, wrapping up a $5.37 million (down 30.2%) weekend, which was just enough for it to hit the $325 million milestone with a final tally of $325.4 million. That puts it 15th all time on the MCU list (and likely to rise a bit higher in the end) and, with $720 million worldwide, it would have topped Thor: Ragnarok - provided you take away China and Russia's comps ($718 million). Yes, the MCU is truly dead and buried.
Rounding out the top five, Jordon Peele's Nope brought in $5.36 million (down 37%), just a hair under Thor, for a new $107.58 million total. That tops The Lost City ($105.4 million) as the biggest wholly original film of 2022 and it will challenge Free Guy ($122 million) as the biggest wholly original film of the entire pandemic era. While this may have fallen short of Get Out or Us, it is still proving that Peele is a force to be reckoned with. It did open internationally as well, but with a mild $6.4 million total, it is also falling short of Us on that front.
Outside the top five: An expanded Bodies Bodies Bodies, the latest horror film from A24, jumped 1,334.4% - but also added in 1284 theaters to go wide - and landed in 8th place with $3.25 million for a new total of $3.57 million total. The YA horror/mystery/ thriller and will continue to expand next weekend. It's not going to be the next Everything Everywhere All at Once, but it just may be the next X.
The newcomers didn't fare as well. Fall, about a pair of women stuck at the top of a very, very, VERY tall tower landed in 10th place with $2.51 million and a ho-hum "B" Cinemascore. Still, at a bargain-basement $3 million, it doesn't have to blow up to make money.
Mack & Rita, about a 30-year old writer (Elizabeth Lail) who transforms into the body of her older self (Diane Keaton) and parlays this into a social media frenzy, settled for just $1.03 million (13th place) and a dreadful "D+" Cinemascore. Gravitas Ventures’ new label Gravitas Premiere is off to a rocky start.
Emily the Criminal, starring Aubrey Plaza as a down-on-her luck, debt-ridden women who becomes embroiled in the criminal underworld - and likes what she finds - opened to $669,165 from 470 theaters.
Next week, brings Idris Elba and Sharlto Copley matching wits with an angry, bloodthirsty apex predator Lion in Beast.
Things are evening out over at the MPAA ratings board with two entries this week - a horror film about a family you don't want to join and a 30s-set murder mystery with a knockout cast of characters.
David O. Russell might be best known for pairing up Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence in The Silver Linings Playbook (and sticking with the same pair for American Hustle and Joy) but he turns to another favorite player, Christian Bale (The Fighter) along with Margot Robbie and John David Washington - who play a trio of war-time friends who become embroiled in a murder plot, become main suspects themselves and, in the process of clearing their names, uncover one of the most outrageous plots in American history. That's Amsterdam, baby! The film boasts an incredible slate of co-stars: Robert De Niro, Anya Taylor-Joy, Zoe Saldana, Chris Rock, Rami Malek, Timothy Olyphant, Mike Myers, Michael Shannon, Andrea Riseborough, Matthias Schoenaerts and even Taylor Swift. That's an impressive lineup no matter how you slice things. Russell is good at making drama work - now we'll see if he can throw a bit of mystery into the mix to really spice things up. Rated R for brief violence and bloody images.
If you're Evie (Nathalie Emmanuel) and craving to know more about your family history, be wary of English men providing an all-expenses paid trip to a wedding. It turns out cousin Oliver (Hugh Skinner) and his extended family may not have the best intentions in mind, even if a dreamy Walter (Thomas Doherty) is part of the fun. Evie, it seems, is part of a long-lost branch of said family tree and by accepting The Invitation, she is getting way more than she bargained for - including who the wedding is actually for. Based on the trailers it seems our family are vampires or some such things, as blood plays a big part of their traditions. The film co-stars Alana Boden, Stephanie Corneliussen, Sean Pertwee, Virág Bárány and Courtney Taylor among others. It may be too high-brow horror for the regular crowd, but it may attract some women for once. Rated PG-13 for terror, violent content, some strong language, sexual content and partial nudity.
Those are the two big films but you can check out the full MPAA Ratings Bulletin below:
THE ABANDON
Rated R for language throughout and some violent content.
AMSTERDAM
Rated R for brief violence and bloody images.
CORSICANA
Rated R for violence, rape and brief language.
DARBY HARPER WANTS YOU TO KNOW
Rated PG-13 for strong language, suggestive material and some teen partying.
DIARY OF A WIMPY KID: RODERICK RULES
Rated PG for rude humor.
GOD'S CREATURES
Rated R for language.
HELLRAISER
Rated R for strong bloody horror violence and gore, language throughout, some sexual content and brief graphic nudity.
THE INVITATION
Rated PG-13 for terror, violent content, some strong language, sexual content and partial nudity.
LOUIS ARMSTRONG'S BLACK & BLUES
Rated R for language.
THE MINUTE YOU WAKE UP DEAD
Rated R for some violence and language.
NEXT GOAL WINS
Rated PG-13 for some strong language and crude material. (Re-Rating replaces the PG-13 from Bulletin 2659 issued 12-9-2020)
RIPD 2
Rated PG-13 for sequences of violence, language, disturbing images and some crude/sexual references.
SELENA GOMEZ: MY MIND AND ME
Rated R for language.
STUTZ
Rated R for language.
WICKENSBURG
Rated PG for some mild peril and brief impolite humor.
