By Chris Kavan - 11/09/22 at 11:36 AM CT
It was another case of the box-office blahs as Black Adam once again took the top spot, with anime One Piece Film: Red coming in second. But with just $53.8 million total, it was still on the lowest-grossing weekends of the year - but things should look much better with the release of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, which is shaping up to be one of the biggest, if not THE biggest, openings of the year. The ratings bulletin is another small one but I'll do the best with what I'm given.
After three weeks, the Dwayne Johnson-led Black Adam stays atop the box office with an $18.2 million weekend. The 33.5% decline is a solid hold but at $137.1 million total - it's hard to say whether this $200 million film will ultimately reach profitability. It is running ahead of Hobbs & Shaw ($134 million) though the same point, but we'll see if Black Adam can approach that film's $174 million total with Black Panther to contend with. The film has earned $182 million on the international front as well, with China out of the picture and Japan still to come but, once again, a $320 million worldwide total can only be seen as OK and not the home run the DCEU needs at this point in time.
Coming in second, the anime title One Piece Film: Red was another solid win for the no-longer-that-niche genre with a $9.33 million opening. While that is lower than the opening for recent titles like Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero ($21.1 million) and Demon Slayer the Movie: Mugen Train ($21.2 million), compared to the opening of the last One Piece film, Stampede ($1.3 million) it is a marked improvement. Anime titles tend to be incredibly front-loaded, and I expect Red to be no different with a total likely reaching about $20 million or so total. Still, as anime continues to play to larger audiences, I expect more films like this in the years to come.
In third place, rom-com Ticket to Paradise continued to hold strong, dipping just 13.2% and bringing in $8.5 million for a new total of $46.77 million. The $60 million film has already made $90.5 million on the international market for a $137 million worldwide total and looks to be in a great position to play strong through November as it seems to have a good hold on the adult market.
In fourth place, the horror sensation Smile added another $3.9 million to its total, now at $99 million and should cross the $100 million mark in short order. Even with Halloween in the rear-view, the film dipped a light 26.6% and shows that people just liked to be scared no matter what time of the year. With $104 million international the film has already topped $200 million worldwide - all this on a $17 million budget means Smile should be one of the biggest winners of the year in cost vs. grosses.
Rounding out the top five was Prey for the Devil, which fell 45.8% - a decent second-week hold for a horror film - but at just $3.89 million the film has made $13.66 million. While still not that bad for a low-budget horror, it pales in comparison to more recent releases (see above).
Outside the top five: In the specialty market, The Banshees of Inisherin, fresh off one of the biggest limited releases of 2022, added 837 theaters to its count and jumped from 13th to 8th place with a $2 million weekend, representing a 284.3% increase and a new total of just over $3 million. Likewise the adult-driven Armageddon Time had a huge 1028% increase, but only because it went from 6 to 1006 theaters. It's $792,760 had it go from 25th to 12th place but I'm guessing with that expansion a hope was to land somewhere in the top 10.
Next week Black Panther: Wakanda Forever looks to make a huge splash as it honors the passing of Chadwick Boseman and guides the MCU towards a new future.
Sticking with their one and not much else policy, the MPAA Ratings Bulletin is another short affair this week. But, hey, Will Smith is back - so... yay?
Our streaming exclusive big picture show is Emancipataion, which is the first Will Smith film following the Oscar slap heard round the world. The film follows and escaped slave (Smith) who finds himself not only having to contend with staying one step ahead of the plantation owners who want him back - or dead - but doing so in the dangerous swamps of Louisiana. The film co-stars Ben Foster, Steven Ogg, David Denman, Paul Ben-Victor, Mustafa Shakir, Imani Pullum, Grant Harvey, Charmaine Bingwa and Dave Davis. Director Antoine Fuqua has given us some heavy-hitting films - Training Day, The Equalizer and The Magnificent Seven among them and is also no stranger to decent action with the likes of Olympus Has Fallen, Shooter and The Replacement Killers. We'll see if this one can find that good balance and make for a compelling story without sacrificing character or getting too bogged down. We'll also see if audiences are ready to give Smith another chance following the controversy as this will have a limited theatrical release before heading to AppleTV. Rated R for strong racial violence, disturbing images and language.
That is all you get from me this week but you can check out the full MPAA Ratings Bulletin below:
BLACK WARRANT
Rated R for violence, and language throughout.
THE BOOGEYMAN
Rated PG-13 for terror, violent content, teen drug use and some strong language.
BOYS OF SUMMER
Rated PG-13 for some violence and terror.
CANNIBAL CABIN
Rated R for horror violence, language throughout, some sexual content and drug use.
EMANCIPATION
Rated R for strong racial violence, disturbing images and language.
GOLDA
Rated PG-13 for thematic material and pervasive smoking.
HEART OF A CHAMPION
Rated PG for mild language.
HIGH HEAT
Rated R for violence and language throughout.
THE INDEPENDENT
Rated R for language throughout.
MIA AND ME: THE HERO OF CENTOPIA
Rated PG for action and mild language.
SWALLOWED
Rated R for disturbing/violent content, strong graphic nudity, pervasive language, drug content, and some sexual references.
TURN EVERY PAGE
Rated PG for some language, brief war images and smoking.
WHO IS CHRISTMAS EVE?
Rated PG for thematic elements and mild language.
