The busiest weekend of the late-pandemic box office yet finds four films releasing wide this weekend. Finding You seems like the kind of film that never quite matches studio expectations. Profile doesn’t have the kind of premise that plays well to broad audiences. Spiral will test whether the horror box office numbers are ready to rebound as this is one of the genres that’s most struggled during the pandemic, but it’s also the only film releasing this weekend that seems like a chart-topping winner. Those Who Wish Me Dead is likely to compete for second with Angelina Jolie in peril, which might just bring a few people to the box office.
Our Highest Rated Films: Profile, Those Who Wish Me Dead
Our Best Awards Ratings: None
OTHER LIMITED RELEASES
Finding You (Wide)
Profile (Wide)
Spiral (Wide)
Those Who Wish Me Dead (Wide)
The Djinn (Limited)
Georgetown (Limited)
Los Hermanos/The Brothers (Limited)
The Killing of Two Lovers (Limited)
The Man in the Hat (Limited)
The Perfect Candidate (Limited)
La piscine (Limited)
Punk the Capital (Limited)
Riders of Justice (Limited)
RK/RKAY (Limited)
There Is No Evil (Limited)
Us Kids (Limited)
With a disappointing couple of weeks at the box office, two new films are hoping to change the calculus. Here Today is a comedy from the mind of Billy Crystal and co-starring Tiffany Haddish. Both have decent bases of appreciation, so it could perform well. The same could be said of Guy Ritchie’s new film, Wrath of Man, starring Jason Statham. Historically, Statham’s non-franchise action films tend to do poorly and this looks to be one. The pair of Ritchie and Statham might signify a larger chance of success or it could spell disaster. We’ll see what kinds of films audiences will be willing to make it to the theater for with this week’s performances.
With only one new wide release, it should conceivably be able to top the charts, but the one typically consistent box office performer that took a huge hit from the pandemic and has yet to rebound effectively is horror films, so whether this can take the top spot from the second week of Mortal Kombat remains to be seen.
After a lull in new wide releases, we get two simultaneously. Although Hollywood is still adapting to the new normal, as the summer progresses we should see more such films, though not in the bountiful numbers we’re used to. Of this week’s new releases, only Mortal Kombat has the potential to win the weekend. Godzilla vs. Kong is long enough in the tooth to potentially be no threat, but there’s no guarantee another adaptation of Mortal Kombat will turn out audiences.
Godzilla vs. Kong may have symbolized a sudden shift in moviegoing habits, but we aren’t out of the pandemic yet, so this week’s new release might still struggle.
Can a big budget summer-like blockbuster really draw audiences back to the theater when they’ve been so far reticent? We shall see, though the Wednesday opening might temper weekend expectations.
With a single new wide release, it looks like Nobody could top the box office as Raya and the Last Dragon begins to wind down.
With three new wide releases, it almost feels like things are back to normal. However, we’re still in the depressed pandemic box office with all but family films struggling to find their footing. This weekend, we have another film that’s going to take on Tom & Jerry for the top spot at the box office and if anyone can do it, it’s Disney. The big question is how they release it to Disney Plus and whether that deflates its potential.
It seems that animated or kid-friendly movies are doing far better at the pandemic box office than other types of movies as evinced by last week’s #1 finish for The Croods: A New Age in its thirteenth week in release. The film spent two weeks at number one upon release, spent eight weeks bouncing between second and third place and then jumped back to the top spot, which it has now held for two more weeks, bringing it to a total of five weeks at number 1 and thirteen weeks in the top 3, which will notch the film higher on the all-time top lists. Anyway, with a new animated picture coming out, more a combo live-action/animated film, the two-week reign should end with a new top finisher.
With two new wide releases this weekend, it’s a surprisingly bountiful weekend. That said, it’s one of the few so far this year with fewer still in sight. That said, Judas and the Black Messiah is likely to do much better than Land considering it lends itself more to box office sensation than does the introspective film Land. Still, the film’s releasing simultaneously on HBO Max, so it may not be much of a debut.