Labor Day weekend, for better or worse, has become the sleepiest of the “holidays” for the box office by default. Studios regularly refuse to put out any major releases over the frame (though Disney will attempt to remedy that in a big way with The New Simpsons Movie next year), resulting in a lot of empty theaters. And, sure enough, of the three “big” films opening this week, two of them are outside of the top ten.
Once again–and stop me if you’ve heard this one–our number one title is Spider-Man: Brand New Day, which simply refuses to die. With $923 million in the spider-bank, it is now a lock to beat the all-time domestic total for The Force Awakens. Sorry to be a broken record on this, but Brand New Day’s mammoth success is absolutely bonkers. Between this and The Odyssey, who knows how rich Tom Holland is going to be.
Speaking of The Odyssey, it would be the biggest story of the summer if it weren’t for our boy Peter (well, unless you count everyone suddenly learning who “Jeff Sneider” is this week). It will pass the $600 million milestone in the US and has brought home $1.5 billion globally. Not bad for a movie that really isn’t any fun until it allows its mythic hero to actually be a mythic hero when he goes full John Wick at the end. Don’t worry, though, because people are still insisting on being weird when they talk about this one.
As for our newcomers…ugh. By Any Means looked like a solid enough flick which I guess is doing solid enough money, but it’s nothing great as it still brought in under $10 million over four days. But it looks like fucking Brand New Day compared to Fall 2: Fallen Again and Onslaught, which each brought in under $4 million over the holiday frame. Again, ugh.
On a more positive note, Buddy saw itself go up from last weekend’s opening, which is almost unheard of. Clearly the inevitable news stories about stupid parents bringing their stupid kids to this have given it the type of free publicity its target audience finds quite amusing (although, in fairness, Buddy does look like an actual children’s mascot from the 90s, so confusion can be slightly justified). This is essentially a film made for the Adult Swim crowd and it’s catering to that very specific brand of comedy and horror. But again, don’t take your kids. Please.
Next weekend Spider-Man will finally lose his spider-throne to Practical Magic 2, which has been getting horrible reviews so far. Also, its “official” release date is September 10th even though we know Warner Bros. is going to merge that into Friday’s gross. Worth noting that Clayface originally had its date before some studio head decided “See Clayface on September 11th” would be a terrible tagline.
Anyway, the top ten, via Deadline
1. Spider-Man: Brand New Day (Sony) 3,520 (-158) theaters, Fri $3.87M (-30% from previous Friday), Sat $6.98M, Sun $7.3M, Mon $5.3M 3-day $18.1M (-19%), 4-day $23.5M, Total $923.26M/Wk 6
2. The Odyssey (Uni) 2,312 (-305) theaters, Fri $3M (-19%) Sat $4.7M Sun $5.1M Mon $4.2M 3-day $13M (-9%), 4-day $17.3M, Total $589M/Wk 8
3. Coyote vs. Acme (Ketch) 3,727 (+152) theaters, Fri $2.6M (-51%) Sat $4.46M Sun $4.87M Mon $3.9M 3-day $11.9M (-25%), 4-day $15.87M, total $38.3M/Wk 2
4. By Any Means (Par) 2,903 theaters, Fri $2.67M, Sat $2.4M Sun $2.39M Mon $1.8M 3-day $7.46M, 4-day $9.3M/Wk 1
5. Insidious: Out of the Further (Sony) 2,897 (-406) theaters, Fri $1.64M (-44%), Sat $2.4M, Sun $2.42M Mon $1.6M 3-day $6.5M (-36%), 4-day $8.1M, Total $55.7M/Wk 3
6. Cars 20th Anniversary (Dis) 2,900 theaters Fri $2.2M, Sat $2M Sun $2M Mon $1.6M, 3-day $6.2M 4-day $7.8M, Lifetime total $251.6M /Wk 1 or re-release
7. Buddy (RSA/Saban) 1,771 (+513) theaters, Fri $1.52M (-31%), Sat $2.08M Sun $2.2M, Mon $1.49M, 3-day $5.8M (+6%), 4-day $7.3M, Total $15.82M/Wk 2
8. PAW Patrol: Dino Movie (Par) 2,613 (-497) theaters, Fri $700K (-38%) Sat $1.3M Sun $1.285M Mon $1.1M 3-day $3.285M (-34%), 4-day $4.45M, Total $49.6M/Wk 4
9. The End of Oak Street (WB) 2,202 (-721) theaters, Fri $670K Sat $1.18M Sun $1.26M Mon $885K 3-day $3.1M (-36%) 4-day $4M Total $51.7M/Wk 4
10. The Dog Stars (20th) Fri $700K (-77%) Sat $1M Sun $1.1M Mon $700K 3-day $2.8M (-64%) 4-day $3.5M /total $13.8M/Wk 2