David Leitch is packed with action bullet trainstarring Brad Pitt as a murderer, leads a quiet weekend in the North American theater box office.
In normal times, Hollywood studios would continue to release event films in August. This year is different as the entertainment industry emerges from the pandemic and struggles with production and post-production delays.
bullet train is considered the last major Hollywood studio title of the summer of 2022. The film is doing good business and should earn $13 million from 4,357 theaters this weekend for a domestic total of $54.2 million in 10 days. One hiccup: Even with little competition, Bullet Train appears to be down more than 57 percent from its opening weekend, though that’s not uncommon for a male action shot. The film grossed $3.9 million on Friday.
Elsewhere, Top Gun: Maverick makes an impressive comeback in its 12th weekend, thanks to its release in hundreds of theaters, including premium filming locations. The movie Paramount and Skydance is on track to earn $6.6 million over the weekend from 3,181 theaters for a runner-up finish. It is now certain that the Tom Cruise film will cross the $700 million mark domestically. (Globally, it has made more than $1.35 billion, one of the greatest showings of all time.)
surpluses DC League of Super Pets, no and Thor: Love and Thunder is expected to complete the top five.
Other titles in the top 10 include A24’s special film bodies bodies bodies, which appears to come in at number 8 with an estimated $3 million from 928 theaters. The black comedy, directed by Halina Reijn, turns the slasher genre on its head and stars Amandla Stenberg, Maria Bakalova, Pete Davidson, Rachel Sennott, Myha’la Herrold, Chase Sui Wonders and Lee Pace. A24 is slowly rolling out the film throughout the month; it started in a few movie theaters last weekend.
Another new offering this weekend is Lionsgate’s val, an adventure thriller about a group of climbers. The film, directed by Scott Mann and starring Grace Caroline Currey and Virginia Gardner, may fall outside the top 10 with an expected $2 million debut at 1,548 locations.
Indie distributor Gravitas Ventures is also benefiting from the slowdown in summer tent pole rates. The company releases Mack and Rita in about 2,000 theaters, albeit with dismal results. The adult-lean comedy — starring Elizabeth Lail as a 30-year-old woman who wakes up after a bachelorette party to discover she’s 70 years old, with the older version of herself played by Diane Keaton — might not even fetch $ 1 million in its box office debut.
val got a B CinemaScore from the audience, while Mack and Rita dropped with a rare D+.
That would say Mack and Rita behind this weekend’s reissue of ET the alienwhich appears to be earning $1.1 or $1.2 million from just 389 theaters.
The weekend numbers will be updated on Sunday.