TAGGED AS: Box Office, Film, films, movie, movies
We knew Top Gun: Maverick was not going anywhere this week, and the only question was exactly how much word of mouth would affect its second weekend. Save for the Cronenberg stans online, Maverick was all the moviegoing public seemed to be talking about, and the weekday numbers were strong, showing no signs of slowing down. It took over 115 days in 2005 for Tom Cruise to see his biggest domestic grosser, Steven Spielberg’s War of the Worlds, hit $234 million. It has taken nine days for Top Gun: Maverick to surpass it, and it has entered the conversation for another milestone.
(Photo by ©Paramount Pictures)
Numbers tell a story. Despite an asterisk here and there over the past year because of pandemic caution, they continue to craft a narrative about how audiences are turning themselves over to movies these days. Last week, Top Gun: Maverick became the biggest opening in Tom Cruise’s career. This week, its second weekend was also better than any opener Cruise ever. With an $86 million haul, this is now the 8th best second weekend ever (Spider-Man: No Way Home is 10th with $84.5 million). It is also only the third live-action film to open to over $100 million and drop less than 40% in week two. Star Wars: The Force Awakens (-39.8%) and 2002’s Spider-Man (-37.8%) were the others. The 32% drop Top Gun had this weekend puts it in the league of only the other two films to achieve that – Frozen 2 (-34.0%) and Shrek 2 (-33.2%) – and that was after the Memorial Day holiday to boot, when films tend to drop much more sharply. At $291 million in 10 days (18th best ever) this puts Maverick in a whole new stratosphere. Even with the record-breaking numbers last week, $400 million was not a number that was being bandied about, even days ago. But now we have to seriously consider that this may become the biggest film of the summer.
The $400 million milestone was certainly being discussed as early as the opening weekend for The Batman and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, but they fell back just enough to finish with $369 million and $389 million, respectively. At $290 million after 10 days, Top Gun: Maverick is $51 million and $42 million ahead of them, respectively. And with all due respect to Captain Marvel, this pilot is also $26 million ahead of its pace as well. Maverick is the 30th film in history to gross over $250 million in its first 10 days. Of the other 29, only three failed to reach $400 million – Batman v Superman, Furious 7, and the final Harry Potter – while the new Doctor Strange is nearly there. Maverick’s second weekend was better than all but 9 of the films on that list. The dinosaurs next week are going to take a bite out of its box office, but if it maintains a third weekend between $30-35 million, it is headed for over $425 million, and with Doctor Strange settling towards a specific number (it had $292 million after 10 days) we may have a new favorite for domestic summer champion. Worldwide it is already over $549 million.
(Photo by Marvel Entertainment)
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness made another $9.2 million in weekend five, bringing its total over $388 million. No film with over $358 million in the bank after 31 days has ever failed to reach $400 million. Strange’s total is ahead of both Captain America: Civil War ($7.8 million) and Iron Man 3 ($8.4 million) and is on pace to surpass both to end up between $410-415 million. Among the 46 films to have reached at least $300 million in their first month, the lowest fifth weekends among them are Batman v Superman ($5.5 million), Transformers: Dark of the Moon ($6.08 million), Furious 7 ($6.64 million) and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 ($7.25 million). Those films still made between another $10-24 million to finish out their run. Looking ahead to next week, Captain America: Civil War made $4.3 million in its sixth weekend and had banked $396 million by day 38. With Jurassic World beginning its run next week and Top Gun now in the conversation, Strange’s odds to become the highest domestic grossing film of the summer have been reduced. Worldwide it has passed $909 million.
While we continue to wait for Pixar’s Lightyear in a few weeks, we check in on the animated films hanging around. Universal’s The Bad Guys added another $3.1 million, bringing its total up to $87 million. A total around $95 million is very much in the making, much better than last week’s opening of The Bob’s Burgers Movie, which fell to $4.5 million and appears to be headed somewhere between $30-35 million tops. But the big family winner until Lightyear and Minions come out has been Sonic the Hedgehog 2, which continues its climb toward $190 million.
(Photo by David Bornfriend/©A24)
There is perhaps no bigger winner this year, though, for everything it represents than Everything Everywhere All At Once. At one time, $30 million was considered an incredible victory. This week, it surpassed $60 million, besting A24’s biggest success (Uncut Gems) now by over $10 million. The Lost City, on the other hand, fought the slow battle to get itself over $100 million last week, but with only enough $79 million internationally, the $68 million-budgeted Paramount film is not coming up to be a theatrical success. (Top Gun: Maverick’s $160 million budget + P&A, on the other hand, is already covered.) Downton Abbey: A New Era could use a little help internationally to get out of the red itself. The $40 million-budgeted film just crossed $35 million domestically with a drop down to just $3 million. That is lower than King Arthur: Legend of the Sword did in its third weekend. Downton is nearly $2 million ahead of that film’s pace, so it is now looking at somewhere between $41-43 million. It has made another $41 million internationally.
David Cronenberg’s Crimes of the Future got itself a semi-wide launch this weekend; it was the fourth biggest in Neon’s history with 773 theaters. When they opened Spencer into 996 theaters last November, it opened to $1.25 million for a $1,261 per-theater-average. The new film from Cronenberg with Kristen Stewart in a supporting role opened to $1.1 million for a $1,423 PTA and cracked the top 10. That’s the highest PTA the studio has ever had opening one of their titles in more than 200 theaters. The filmmaker’s last foray into “body horror”, eXistenZ, opened to $810,262 in 256 theaters back in 1999 for a PTA of $3,165. IFC Films has not opened a movie wide since 2015’s The D Train with Jack Black, which opened in 1,009 theaters to $447,661 for a paltry $444 PTA. This weekend they opened Chloe Okuno’s Watcher with Maika Monroe in 764 theaters; it grossed $815,000 for a $1,067 PTA. The three-hour Indian serial killer thriller, Vikram, grossed $1.3 million in 465 theaters for a PTA of $2,795.
(Photo by ©Universal Pictures)
The dinosaurs are loose in the sixth Jurassic Park film (or third Jurassic World film). Colin Trevorrow returns as do Sam Neill, Laura Dern, and Jeff Goldblum, to Jurassic World: Dominion. The previous two films grossed over $3 billion worldwide, and the new film is expected to be one of the biggest of the summer, with potential to surpass the current Top Gun juggernaut. But will it challenge Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (or even Top Gun) for the top spot?
96%
Top Gun: Maverick
(2022)
74%
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness
(2022)
87%
The Bob's Burgers Movie
(2022)
88%
The Bad Guys
(2022)
86%
Downton Abbey: A New Era
(2022)
94%
Everything Everywhere All at Once
(2022)
59%
Vikram
(2022)
69%
Sonic the Hedgehog 2
(2022)
79%
The Lost City
(2022)
80%
Crimes of the Future
(2022)
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]
