The box office continues to be unpredictable with audiences still not turning out in droves like it should be. Strong debuts are followed by week second frames, which might just give Snake Eyes a chance to top the box office without much competition. Old is another M. Night Shyamalan attempt to revitalize his career, but I’m not sure it can overtake Snake Eyes.
Our Highest Rated Films: Joe Bell, Old
Our Best Awards Ratings: No consensus.
OTHER LIMITED RELEASES
Ailey (Limited)
All the Streets are Silent: The Convergence of Hip Hop and Skateboarding (1987-1997) (Limited)
Fear and Loathing in Aspen (Limited)
The Ogglies (Limited)
Once I Was Engaged (Limited)
Room 9 (Limited)
Secret Agent Dingledorf and His Trusty Dog Splat (Limited)
Trackside Goons (Limited)
Val (Limited)
Victim of Love (Limited)
With Black Widow entering its second week, three films hope to take it down, but only one of them is likely to do so. The original Space Jam was a success in its day and this is the only one of the three new wide releases with any chance of toppling Black Widow.
F9‘s domination of the box office ends this week with the release of Black Widow, the first new Marvel Cinematic Universe film to release since the pandemic forced the re-arrangement of Disney’s big screen release schedule. It’s strange that of all the films they released directly on their streaming platform, the MCU wasn’t among them. Perhaps because these films are destined to be box office behemoths, but films like Mulan, Soul, and others certainly would have performed well enough all things considered. Anyway, Black Widow will handily top the box office. The big question is if it can top F9 huge opening weekend and truly signal the end of the pandemic doldrums that have plagued the box office even after mask mandates were largely lifted nationwide.
Three films, two feature and one documentary, release wide this weekend, hoping that the F9 success ushers in an improving theatrical landscape. Only two of these films have any chance at landing the top spot while one of them might struggle more than the other in the reviving post-pandemic box office. The Boss Baby: Family Business picks up years after where the 2017 original left off. That film pulled in a surprising $175 million at the box office in spite of largely negative reviews. That’s with a $50 million opening weekend. If it makes half that in this box office landscape, it will probably succumb to F9 for the #1 position at the box office, but if it exceeds that, it might be a stiff competition. The Forever Purge is the fifth film in a popular horror franchise, that has consistently pulled in tallies north of $60 million for their lifetime grosses. The problem is, only a quarter of that typically comes from opening weekend, which means the film will struggle against a family-friendly picture and an action blockbuster. Further, horror has taken a gutting at the box office with only A Quiet Place: Part II managing to buck recent trends.
There’s little question that F9, the week’s only new wide release, will top the box office for the weekend. Its performance will also tell us whether the pandemic box office is back at full steam or if we’re in for a few rough months before its entire revitalization.
Another week with a single new release as Hollywood begins to get back into the swing of things. This week, the sequel to the popular Hitman’s Bodyguard releases and it should handily win the weekend.
The first of this year’s potential Best Picture Oscar contenders releases to cinemas. In the Heights is adapted from the Tony-winning Broadway musical by Lin-Manuel Miranda and will be one of two New York-set musicals this year, both of which will compete at the Oscars. This film has one other wide release to compete against, and Peter Rabbit 2 could be formidable, but little is more exciting than a big screen musical extravaganza.
There’s only one film that has the potential to tear the horror crown away from A Quiet Place: Part II, and it’s one of the most successful modern horror franchises…unfortunately.
We have our first pair of major competitors at the box office this weekend with the Disney re-origin story, Cruella, facing off against the long-awaited horror sequel A Quiet Place Part II. These two films are looking to help reinvigorate the box office, so we’ll see how well they perform this weekend with Disney’s Cruella the more likely top the box office.
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.
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.