TAGGED AS: Box Office, movies, news
On a weekend that might not have been the best for Austin Butler, one thing you aren’t hearing about is how people aren’t going to the movies anymore, or that movies are dead, or that theaters are doomed. Funny how a single movie can quash all those conversations with an assist from a second, but that’s the way it is. Sure, the box office is still off the pace from last year, but the Chicken Littles have gone back inside the coop for now. The anxiety-prone may come back when October rolls around, but it’s hard to engage those talks when a film is giving off serious Super Mario Bros. and maybe even Barbie vibes, which is precisely what 2024 needed.
In what should not be a surprise, Disney/Pixar’s Inside Out 2 dominated in the top spot this weekend. How did it follow up the second best animated opening weekend in history? With the seventh-highest second weekend in box office history. That is what we were saying about Barbie last year. Now this sequel has surpassed that film’s $93 million second frame with $100 million. The mere 35% drop raises the film’s total to over $355 million, and it now has the 10th best 10-day total of all time. That’s ahead of Barbie’s $351 million and even Incredibles 2’s $349 million, but well ahead of The Super Mario Bros. Movie’s $283 million (thank you summer weekdays). It also surpassed Dune: Part Two as the highest-grossing film of the year in just eight days. Sorry, Austin.
Among the 15 films to have grossed over $300 million in their first 10 days, Avengers: Age of Ultron is the only one not to reach $500 million, while 10 of the 15 grossed $600 million or higher. Incredibles 2 finished with $608 million; Inside Out 2′s overall pace is not only ahead of that film by $6 million, but its second weekend demolished that of Incredibles 2, which “only” racked up $80.3 million in its sophomore frame. As of now, Inside Out 2 is well on pace to become the 16th film in history to surpass $600 million at the domestic box office. Meanwhile the film is already at $724 million worldwide (also passing Dune: Part Two) and should easily become the first billion dollar film of 2024.
In a truly lovely surprise, Josh Margolin’s Sundance darling Thelma got into the top 10 with $2.2 million. Magnolia (and theaters) had the confidence to create their first wide opening weekend ever with the film in 1,290 venues. The gross bested the limited release of 2011’s Goon, which opened to $1.23 million in 241 locations. It was second only to the 2004 release of Woman Thou Art Loosed, which made $2.5 million in 408 theaters. It’s been a good year for indies taking chances in a limited marketplace, as we have seen IFC score two of their biggest openings with Late Night with the Devil ($2.8 million) and In a Violent Nature ($2.1 million) and Neon recording their best start ever with Immaculate ($5.3 million). They have clearly received the memo, and audiences are rewarding them with the options they are giving them. Don’t forget to support your indies, theaters.
Second place is certainly no slouch either, with Bad Boys: Ride or Die making another $18.7 million in its third weekend. That brings its 17-day total to $146.9 million. 22 Jump Street remains a good parallel for the buddy cop sequel, as it made $15.8 million in its third weekend, though Bad Boys remains about $7 million ahead of its pace. If that continues, it could end up getting out of that unique limbo this year with both Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire and Kung Fu Panda 4 in the $193-197 million range and getting over the $200 million hump. Only eight movies got over that line in 2023 (a number that will be surpassed this year) while five ended up in the $170-190 million limbo. We now have three over the line, with at least two more this summer that are going to get there. Could Bad Boys stretch long enough to join that club? It is already over $250 million worldwide and into profit for Sony.
Third place represents a little bit of a moral victory, not so much for the film itself, but for the studio that picked it up after it was sold off by Disney last fall. Jeff Nichols’ The Bikeriders was poised to open in the middle of awards season (Dec. 1), and though it was unlikely to make any ripples in the ballots, the critically acclaimed drama was bought by Focus Features, who were desperately in need of some positive box office headlines. Despite four wide releases (and three opening in over 2,000 theaters), Focus has not had a film open higher than Lisa Frankenstein’s $3.69 million or finish higher than its $9.35 million in 2024. The Bikeriders beat that in three days with an estimated $10 million. If the estimates hold, this will be the first film released by Focus since last September’s My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3 to open with higher than $10 million. However, lets not start revving those engines just yet. We have to go back to 2022 to find one that grossed higher than $30 million (Downton Abbey: A New Era). The Bikeriders represents their best non-sequel opening since April of that year with The Northman ($12.2 million), but the $40 million price tag means there is going to be some split bills out there for studios, as this seems unlikely to join Downton Abbey and Northman on the north side of $30 million. Again, sorry Austin.
The numbers trail off further from there, with The Garfield Movie hanging on by its claws with $3.6 million. That brings its total to over $85 million. It’s unlikely to hit $100 million, which has been obvious, but it is over $200 million worldwide and just adding to its profit. Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes still needs to hit double that to start turning a profit for 20th Century Studios and Disney. Another $3.6 million in its seventh weekend puts the film over $164 million domestic and $382 million globally. It is the international side that may ultimately fail this film, as its $217 million is well below Rise’s $305 million, War’s $343 million, and Dawn’s $502 million haul. The franchise decline usually starts on the domestic side, but audiences here during the brief “movies are dead” era showed up to try and ensure a new trilogy.
Russell Crowe’s second exorcism movie in 14 months grossed $2.4 million this weekend. The Exorcism, which was filmed back in 2019, fell well behind last year’s opening of The Pope’s Exorcist. That film started with $9 million and though it grossed just $20 million domestic, it added almost $57 million internationally and thus was a hit for Sony. That does not appear to hold true for Vertical’s release of Joshua John Miller’s film, which was nearly beaten by 93-year-old June Squibb in Thelma. (If there isn’t a Beekeeper 2 team-up with Statham and Squibb in the works right now, we have failed.)
John Krasinski’s IF fell out of the top five in its sixth week, adding on $2.7 million to bring its total over $106 million. That is better than the $74.7 million it has made internationally, which does not add up to cover its costs before it leaves theaters. The Watchers made just $1.9 million for a total of $17.7 million. Falling out of the top 10 altogether was Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga in just in its fifth weekend, with $1.3 million for a sad domestic total of $66 million. It was beaten by concert film Ghost: Rite Here Rite Now, released by Trafalgar, which made $1.5 million over the weekend in 751 theaters. Since Thursday it has grossed $2.6 million. The Fall Guy took in another million to get itself over the $90 million domestic line.
The highest per-theater average of the year came from the release of Yorgos Lanthimos’ Kinds of Kindness. In just five theaters the film grossed $350,000 for an average of $70,000, besting IFC’s release of The Taste of Things ($43,350), Inside Out 2’s impressive $34,730 last week, and A24’s Love Lies Bleeding ($30,153). Lanthimos’ Poor Things debuted in nine theaters last December to a $73,470 PTA. Before it, The Favourite began in four theaters with a $105,603 start. If the estimates stand, Kindness’ PTA will be the 13th-highest in five theaters since 2000. (Jojo Rabbit is currently 13th with a $349,555 start.) Only Paul Thomas Anderson’s Inherent Vice opened to more than $250,000 in five theaters and failed to gross more than $10 million.
In limited release, A24’s release of Janet Planet made $50,000 in a pair of theaters. It expands further next weekend. But their release of Tuesday with Julia Louis-Dreyfus fell to just $71,000 in its third week and has a total of $637,000. Neon’s Oscar-nominated animated film Robot Dreams moved into 90 theaters this week and grossed $126,000 for a total of $439,000. Bleecker Street’s Treasure took an 83% drop to only $46,000 and has grossed $511,000 to date. That will be their lowest-grossing film since The Starling Girl last May.
Inside Out 2 has a challenger next week but may still be able to fend off A Quiet Place: Day One. John Krasinski’s delayed pandemic-era sequel A Quiet Place Part II opened to a respectful $47 million over Memorial Day weekend in 2021 and was the eighth highest-grossing film during the vaccine year. The new film is expected to open a little lower than that and is not screening for critics until later this week, with reviews not expected until Thursday morning, so take that as you will. That is more than we can say for Kevin Costner’s Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 1, which may have gotten a 12-minute standing ovation at Cannes but hasn’t impressed the critics going into a week when Warner Bros. is refusing to show the film to anyone in-between New York and Los Angeles. Draw your own conclusions.
90%
Inside Out 2
(2024)
– $100 million ($355.1 million total)
64%
Bad Boys: Ride or Die
(2024)
– $18.7 million ($146.9 million total)
82%
The Bikeriders
(2023)
– $10 million ($10 million total)
36%
The Garfield Movie
(2024)
– $3.6 million ($85.1 million total)
80%
Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes
(2024)
– $3.6 million ($164.4 million total)
49%
IF
(2024)
– $2.7 million ($106.6 million total)
30%
The Exorcism
(2024)
– $2.4 million ($2.4 million total)
99%
Thelma
(2024)
– $2.2 million ($2.2 million total)
32%
The Watchers
(2024)
– $1.9 million ($17.7 million total)
- -
Rite Here Rite Now
(2024)
– $1.5 million ($1.5 million total)
Erik Childress can be heard each week evaluating box office on Business First AM with Angela Miles and his Movie Madness Podcast.
[box office figures via Box Office Mojo]
Thumbnail image by ©Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures
