As mentioned in the November preview, this weekend normally would be the beginning of the profitable holiday movie season, although it began softer than usual, as moviegoers prepare for next week’s “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.”
That allowed Dwayne Johnson’s superhero foray, “Black Adam,” to successfully win a third weekend at the box office, taking first place with $18.5 million, holding well with a mere 33% drop from last weekend. So far, the Warner Bros. comic book movie has grossed $137.4 million domestically, although it’s likely to be hit the hardest by Marvel’s upcoming sequel. Overseas, the movie made another $25.4 million, allowing it to cross the $300 million mark worldwide with $320 million, so far.
Anime streamer Crunchyroll released “One Piece Film: Red,” into 2,367 theaters, as the weekend’s only new wide release. The latest in a series of features based on a popular Japanese anime series, the movie grossed an estimated $4.8 million on Friday, including $1.7 million in Thursday previews. It then followed other anime features, being quite front-loaded and ending up with an estimated $9.5 million over the weekend.
One of this weekend’s big box office saviors seems to be the Universal rom-com “Ticket to Paradise,” starring George Clooney and Julia Roberts. This week it expanded into over 4,000 theaters, making it the widest release of any movie currently playing theaters. With that expansion, it took third place with $8.5 million, down just 14% from last weekend. So far, the comedy has grossed $46.7 million, and we’ll have to see how it fares against stronger offerings likes “Black Panther.”
Paramount’s horror film “Smile” survived admirably post-Halloween with $4 million (down just 26%) to take fourth place, followed by Lionsgate’s “Prey for the Devil,” which took a 46% drop for fifth place with $3.9 million and a $13.65 million total. “Smile” is less than a million away from joining the $100 million club, which it should hit in the next couple days.
Sony’s “Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile,” the only family film in theaters, actually moved up a notch to sixth place with $3.4 million with an increase of 23% from last weekend, in which it may have been hindered by family Halloween activities. “Lyle” has grossed $36.6 million domestically, but it’s likely to lose a ton of theaters this week.
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Searchlight Studios expanded Martin McDonagh’s “The Banshees of Inisherin,” starring Colin Farrell, Brendan Gleason, and Kerry Condon (all doing well with Gold Derby Oscar experts), into 895 theaters, where it grossed $2 million or $2,235 per theater. It has grossed $2.7 million so far on its long road to Oscar night, with McDonagh’s film currently in third place with the experts for a Best Picture nomination with McDonagh also one of the favorites for a directing nomination.
U.A. Releasing’s “Till” took eighth place with $1.9 million, off just 31% from its nationwide expansion last weekend with $6.6 million grossed so far.
Focus Features had another bad weekend, as it expanded James Gray’s “Armageddon Time” into 1,006 theaters, just one week after it attempted the same with Todd Field’s “TÁR.” Starring newcomers Banks Repeta and Jaylin Webb, along with Anne Hathaway, Jeremy Strong, and Sir Anthony Hopkins, the movie ended up making $810,000 or $802 per theater, which means that the buzz the movie’s been generating since Cannes in May just did not connect outside major cities.
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The majority of players in the Gold Derby box office prediction game predicted the top four correctly. Fifth place is what threw many off, as only 20 players picked “Prey for the Devil” landing there vs. the 70 that thought “Armageddon Time” might do better than it actually did.
16 players went 6 for 6 in the October 28 game, although frequent board leader, “MellowDrama,” led the pack with the most points scored, putting his 500 points towards his correct third and fifth place picks.
As mentioned, Marvel’s anticipated “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” will open nationwide this Thursday, so check back on Wednesday for the weekend box office preview.
