Happy Mothers Day, y’all! Hope you moms get to enjoy your mimosas or, you know, whatever it is moms do on this day.
Our number one movie is Thunderbolts* The New Avengers, because Disney really didn’t waste time giving away this movie’s big surprise. Blame not me for the spoilers, as you literally can’t order tickets for this online without getting the “new title,” which was revealed on Monday morning following the film’s opening. Planned publicity stunt or act of desperation? You be the judge.
Unfortunately, The New Avengers* What About Bob? is failing to do anything really spectacular. This is a fantastic movie, leaps and bounds better than Captain America: Brave New World (a statement which, apparently, “exposes me as a racist,” so thanks for that, Twitter), but the numbers aren’t matching its quality. With $129 million in the vault so far, What About Bob?* The Unalive Squad is by no means a “flop” per se, but Marvel used to be able to regularly dominate its first two weekends at the box office with ease. Heck, even the supposedly hated Thor: Love and Thunder managed to become the highest grossing Thor outing, so who knows what the solution is. Don’t introduce major Marvel players in streaming shows? I dunno. In any case, The Unalive Squad* The Taskmaster Movie is going to lose its crown to Final Destination: Bloodlines next week. Some are claiming that the comeback for the horror franchise could open to over $50 million, but I would personally be shocked if that happened.
As for our newcomers…sheesh. The only good news is Clown in a Cornfield, which made $3.6 million, which sounds really tiny until you consider what a small release this was. It certainly did better than Shadow Force, which is playing for empty houses with just $2 million. Even for a Lionsgate flop, that’s bad. I’ve been hearing nothing but terrible things about this one, a reportedly troubled production which acclaimed director Joe Carnahan (The Grey) was brought on board to “save” at the last minute. It clearly wasn’t enough.
Sadly, Fight or Flight isn’t taking off either, which is a shame. This one looked like a lot of fun and got a great reception from critics, but marketing is almost non-existent here. And speaking of “non-existent,” that’s really all we can say for Juliet and Romeo, which opened to a hilariously low $350,000. Re-read that number. It is not a typo. Talk about a tragedy.
Elsewhere, Sinners has surpassed $200 million and A Minecraft Movie now has $400 Million Club bragging rights. As I’ve said previously, the success of both these movies is insane. This time a few months ago, no one ever would’ve predicted that Sinners would’ve been bigger than two of the year’s Marvel outings, and yet here we are. Now look for Warner Bros. to try and launch a Sinners Cinematic Universe (why stop at vampires? Have the juke joint get attacked by werewolves next!).
Anyway, the top ten, via Deadline
1.) Thunderbolts* (Dis) 4,330 theaters, Fri $9M, 3-day $33M (-53%), Total $128.4M/Wk 2
2.) Sinners (WB) 3,502 theaters, Fri $6.5M (-32%), 3-day $21.1M (-36%), Total $214.4M/Wk 4
3.) A Minecraft Movie (WB) 3,468 theaters, Fri $1.9M, 3-day $7.95M (-42%), Total $408.9M/Wk 6
4.) Accountant 2 (AMZ) 3,402 (-208) theaters, Fri $1.67M (-36%) Sat $2.6M Sun $1.82M, 3-day $6.1M (-36%) Total $50.89M/Wk 3
5.) Clown in a Cornfield (IFC) 2,277 theaters, Fri $1.69M, 3-day $3.6M/Wk 1
6.) Shadow Force (LG) 2,170 theaters, Fri $730K, Sat $735K Sun $550K 3-day $2.015M/Wk 1
7) Fight or Flight (Vert) 2,153 theaters, Fri $1M, 3-day $2.001M/Wk 1
8.) Until Dawn (Sony) 2,465 (-590) theaters, Fri $610K, Sat $835K Sun $555K , 3-day $2M (-46%), Total $18M/Wk 3
9.) The Amateur (20th) 1,200 (-935) theaters, Fri $278K (-49%) Sat $448K Sun $374K 3-day $1.1M (-42%), Total $38.95M/Wk 5
10.) King of Kings (Angel) 1,089 (-946) theaters, Fri $143K Sat $313K Sun $223K day $680K (-60%), Total $59M/Wk 5