Weekend Box Office

Weekend Box Office Results: Black Adam Threepeats Over a Slow Weekend

Dwayne Johnson triumphs again, but Black Adam will likely have to give up the throne to Black Panther next week.

by Erik Childress | November 7, 2022 | Comments

It wasn’t so long ago that theaters were looking to Black Adam to be the big boom they needed to keep numbers up during the fall season, and that film certainly will end up being the highest-grossing film of autumn. Ultimately, theaters also paid some bills with Smile, The Woman King, and even Halloween Ends for about a weekend. Overall, though, this fall season is going to be down close to $100 million from 2021, which had help from Venom, James Bond, Shang-Chi, and Halloween Kills (for about a week.) Black Adam will lead the way for one more weekend, but it’s now Black Panther that they have their eye on.

**King of the Crop: Black Adam Threepeats Over a Slow Weekend**

Where does that leave Black Adam then? Certainly in first place for a third straight week, which is about the only thing that DC and WB can lead with in their headlines. It earned $18.5 million in its third frame, bringing its 17-day total to $137 million, good enough for ninth place all time among October releases. But that is still not further ahead than last year’s No Time To Die ($133.2 million) and still well behind Marvel’s Eternals ($150.7 million). Optimistically, its third weekend was higher than either of those films’ $12.2 and $11 million, respectively, but the final estimate between $160-170 million is still the likely scenario and not nearly what Warner Bros. needs, with its international total currently at an additional $182 million. Its worldwide total stands at $319 million and it is going to need at least $500 million to break even. This is now the fourth film from Warner Bros. since 2020 to lead the box office for three straight weeks and not march onto $200 million. Hard to blame Tenet, Wonder Woman 1984, and Godzilla vs. Kong for not achieving that during the pandemic. Crazy Rich Asians was the last to do that for the studio in 2019, and that only cost $30 million compared to Adams’ near $200 million budget.

**The Top 10 and Beyond: One Piece Film: Red Boasts Another Strong Anime Debut**

Crunchyroll’s One Piece Film: Red may not have quite the fanbase that their Dragon Ball and Demon Slayer movies did the past two years, opening with over $21 million apiece. But $9.4 million is nothing to shake a stick at, given their last One Piece film, Stampede, opened to just $357,740 in 541 theaters back in October 2019, coming to a per-theater average of just $661. A $4,003 PTA in 2,367 is more like it. Red even outgrossed Black Adam on Friday. The anime studio’s last two wide releases, Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero and My Hero Academia: World Heroes Mission, did not double their opening weekend, so Red may end up with less than $20 million, but that’s still quite the victory, and we should continue to see them in the future.

The big screen comedy was deemed barely breathing a month ago, but the George Clooney/Julia Roberts vehicle Ticket To Paradise continues to keep its audience. A 14% drop to $8.5 million this weekend brings its total to over $46 million. That has it over a million ahead of horse racing drama Secretariat, which also had a $7 million third weekend and finished with $59.7 million. If the numbers continue to hold, Paradise should find itself getting just over $60 million. The film will ultimately end up with over $150 million worldwide. It stands now at $137.2 million and is going to need about $170 million to end up in profit theatrically, thanks to a $60 million price tag. But still good for theaters.

Over in the now post-Halloween horror arena, Smile continues its run towards $100 million, a milestone the film should hit next weekend. This weekend it grossed another $4 million to get over $99 million. In its sixth weekend it managed to outgross the second weekend of Prey For The Devil, which earned $3.8 million for a total of $13.6 million. Daniel Stamm’s last wide release, The Last Exorcism, grossed over $41 million in 2010 after opening to $20.3 million. Terrifier 2 continues to be one of the horror stories of the year, with a fifth straight week in the top 10. It is now just under $10 million after making another $1.2 million. Halloween Ends, meanwhile, made just another $1.1 million and has brought its total to $63.4 million. The film needs to reach $64.16 million, or else it will hold the record for the worst multiple from opening weekend to final gross for a feature released in over 3,000 theaters. 2009’s Friday the 13th currently holds that record with a 1.6022.

Finally, let’s catch-up on the limited releases that have recently started spreading around the country. James Gray’s Armageddon Time jumped into 1,006 theaters this weekend and grossed just $810,000 for Focus. The same studio has been hoping for more out of their big Oscar hopeful, Todd Field’s Tár, which grossed another $670,000 this weekend to bring its total up to only $3.7 million. They may be wondering if they should have held it back another month and let it peak in the heart of awards season. UA Releasing’s Till dropped 31% to $1.87 million, bringing its total gross up to $6.5 million. Faring better in its first wide launch was Martin McDonagh’s The Banshees Of Inisherin, which made $2 million in 895 theaters to finish in sixth place and is also over $3 million. This is a path similar to what Mary, Queen of Scots with Saoirse Ronan did back in December 2018. A $194,777 opening in four theaters (Banshees did $184,454 in four), followed by $699,745 in 66 theaters (Banshees did $535,170 in 58), and then $2.27 million in 795 theaters on weekend three. Mary then had some assistance through the holidays, but Searchlight would surely like to see Banshees continue along the same path, as that film ended up grossing $16.4 million.

**On the Vine: Black Panther: Wakanda Forever Looks to Dominate**

The holiday movie season begins in earnest next week with the first of its two guaranteed box office busters, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. The first film opened with over $202 million in February 2018 and was the third-highest grossing film of all time until Avengers, Endgame, Spider-Man: No Way Home, and Top Gun: Maverick surpassed it. Still one of only six films to gross over $700 million domestically, the film promises to be an emotional one after losing its king, Chadwick Boseman. How far will audiences launch this one?