By Chris Kavan - 03/29/23 at 11:18 AM CT
A bit of a slow week for the MPAA but the box office was full of life (and lot's of death) thanks to a franchise-best opening from John Wick 4. Unfortunately, the same can't be said for the longevity of Shazam! Fury of the Gods, which, like Quantumania before it, suffered a steep second-week drop - which Creed III fully took advantage of. And the coming weeks look to profitable as well with early reports on the likes of Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves and The Super Mario Bros. Movie pointing to great openings as well.
It was pretty much assured that John Wick 4 was going to dominate the weekend, but it did so in record fashion - and it wasn't even close. With a $73.8 million opening, the fourth entry easily topped the $56.8 million opening for John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum back in 2019. In fact, the John Wick franchise continues to be one of the rare franchises where each sequel has done better than the previous film - the original opened to $14.4 million, the sequel $30.4 million - and you can see where we've gone from there. Despite a nearly three-hour running time, audiences were happy to award it an "A" Cinemascore and it currently sits an impressive 94% Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes. It did just as well overseas, netting $64 million and opening on top of each of the 41 markets where it debuted. With $137.8 million global, John Wick 4 looks like it will be profitable even with its larger $100 million budget. Each previous John Wick film has had a multiplier in the 3x range, meaning if John Wick 4 follows that same pattern, it will hit $200 million domestic before it ends its run and there's little reason to think it won't do just that. While a Ballerina spinoff has been announced, John Wick himself is set to retire - but with numbers like these, maybe Keanu Reeves can be convinced to some back for one more run.
Creed III had an even stronger weekend than expected - jumping back into second place with a $10.44 million showing - a dip of just over 32% - and giving the film a new $140.88 million total. However, one of the biggest stories to break was the assault charges leveled against rising star Jonathan Majors. While the story is still unfolding, it has already resulted in the Army dropping their recruitment ads featuring Majors. How this will affect the box office - and his future with the MCU - remains to be seen, but it will affect it in some way. Creed III, however, has already proven a major hit. It sits just shy of $250 million worldwide at this point - easily enough to head far into the black.
The same can't be said for Shazam! Fury of the Gods, which took a hefty 69% beating after a lackluster opening. The $9.3 million means it's one of the rare films to open above $30 million yet fall below $10 million in its second week - not the kind of company you want to keep. With just $46 million, Fury of the Gods is going to struggle to reach $75 million, let alone $100 million - it's global total of $102.4 million pales in comparison to its $110 million budget (and at least another $100 million in marketing) and could wind up as one of the biggest superhero disasters in the modern age.
Joining Creed III on the successful side of sequels, Scream VI dipped just under 52% for a $8.33 million weekend and a new $89.8 million total. It also has $50 million overseas and is still looking like it is on track to become the highest-grossing film in the franchise. It should be able to catch up to the $103 million total of the original film in the coming weeks to take the title outright.
Rounding out the to five we find 65, Adam Driver's future-meets-past dinosaur adventure which fell 45.3% for a $3.2 million weekend and rather modest $27.7 million total. With just $21.2 million overseas, the film is just short of $50 million worldwide but the big problem is it needs another $90 million to hope for a profit and that's not going to happen.
Outside the top five: Avatar: The Way of Water enjoyed its 15th week in the top 10 with a $1.35 million weekend (down 35.3%) and a new $680.3 million domestic total - a total that officially moved it to 7th place all-time, topping Avengers: Infinity War at $678.8 million. I don't think it's going to find another $20 million to top Black Panther - but given they've re-released the original film so many time, don't count it out in the long run.
Next week, Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves looks to be the best bet to top John Wick 4 - and with a $150 million budget, it's going to need a lot of eyes on it to make a profit. We also get Florence Pugh and Morgan Freeman in Zach Braff's dramatic A Good Person.
After a few solid weeks of entries, the MPAA Ratings Board has slowed things down with a single new wide-release this week and it's a family drama - for all the people who like that emotional impact to hit them right in the gut.
So if emotional impact is what you're in the mood for, Monica is just what the doctor ordered. Our titular character is played by Trace Lysette and follows her journey as she returns home after a long absence (since her teen years) to look after her dying mother, Eugenia (Patricia Clarkson) - who doesn't even recognize her. Yet coming back opens to the door for a wide range of emotions - from abandonment to forgiveness to acceptance - even as she tries to reconcile a painful past with the present. Emily Browning, Joshua Close and Adriana Barraza round out the rest of the main cast. The film premiered at the Venice Film Festival and received a 12-minute standing ovation. While films of this emotional heft don't usually make a ton of money, they do tend to garner acclaim. We'll see how it plays out. Rated R for sexual content, nudity and language.
That is the one major film for this week but you can check out the full MPAA Ratings Bulletin below:
THE BLACK DEMON
Rated R for some grisly images.
CARL'S DATE
Rated G.
EXTRACTION 2
Rated R for strong/bloody violence throughout and language.
HYPNOTIC
Rated R for violence.
LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT
Rated PG-13 for brief strong language and some suggestive references.
LUCKY LOUIE
Rated PG for mild thematic elements, language, and brief violence.
MONICA
Rated R for sexual content, nudity and language.
PADRE PIO
Rated R for language, some violence and brief nudity.
RALLY ROAD RACERS
Rated PG for some mild violence and rude humor.
RIVER WILD
Rated PG-13 for violence, some bloody images, strong language and brief suggestive material.
WHAT'S LOVE GOT TO DO WITH IT?
Rated PG-13 for strong language including a sexual reference, some suggestive material and brief drug material.
