Top Gun Maverick #1 in 2nd week

For the weekend of June 3-5, 2022, Top Gun: Maverick held strong, dropping a mere 32.1% its second week. In fact it's the 8th best second weekend in box office history. It's well on its way to become Paramount's second highest grosser ever, and with these legs, it could catch Titanic. 

But it also benefitted from not much competition. No new big-budget releases this week, only horror flicks and arthouse fare. David Cronenberg's Crimes of the Future failed to find an audience, even with Viggo Mortensen and Kristen Stewart headlining it. Vikram, a 3-hour action thriller from India, wound up doing best.

Opens June 10

JURASSIC WORLD: DOMINION with Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard and Jeff Goldblum.

Spider-Man No Way Home 2nd highest opening ever

For the weekend of December 17-19, 2021, Spider-Man: No Way Home had the second-highest opening in box-office history, behind only Marvel's Avengers: Endgame. Theaters have been struggling ever since COVID, but if the title is big enough, and enough people feel good about being safe to go, whether it's third booster shots or COVID's a hoax, they went, and Disney has to be thrilled.

Spidey's success left no room for anything else. Nightmare Alley might have done better with a limited-release slow-rollout. Good cast, good reviews, but people would rather see Spider-Man. Its been a rough season for adult-oriented fare. Nightmare Alley, Last Night in Soho, The Last Duel, etc., all fell on their face despite their pedigrees.

In fact, when you look at how titles 2-10, there's still cause for concern. The blockbusters float all boats, but the midrange titles, the movies with $60 million budgets as opposed to $200 million budgets, those things are becoming a dying breed. West Side Story's hope of being a word-of-mouth Greatest Showman style hit are dead.

When I look at the highest opening weekends of all time, if you remove the movies that are sequels, comics, Disney live-action remakes, you have to go down to #23 to find The Hunger Games. In fact, of the 61 movies that have ever opened to $100+ million domestic, there are only 3 that weren't sequels/comics/Disney live-action remakes: The Hunger Games, It, and The Secret Life of Pets.

Opens This Week

THE MATRIX RESURRECTIONS with Keanu Reeves and Carrie-Anne Moss.

THE KING'S MAN with Ralph Fiennes, Harrison Dickerson and Rhys Ifans.

SING 2 with the voices of Matthew McConaughey and Reese Witherspoon.

A JOURNAL FOR JORDAN with Michael B. Jordan and Chante Adams.

AMERICAN UNDERDOG with Zachary Levi, Anna Paquin and Dennis Quaid.

Eternals is #1 at box office

For the weekend of November 5-7, 2021, Eternals isn't exactly a bomb for Marvel, but it's not at the level the MCU is used to. Considering that Venom 2 opened to $90 million, and that this opened lower than Shang-Chi ($75), it could be a combination of superhero saturation and that many people still aren't going back to the movies. It doesn't help that Eternals has the lowest score ever for an MCU title (48%). In fact, it's the only MCU title that hasn't had at least 66%.

Kristen Stewart's Spencer wasn't expected to be a hit, so its modest opening is about what was expected.

Speaking on Venom 2, it's on its way to join Shang-Chi as the second movie of 2021 to hit $200 million domestic.

Opens This Week

CLIFFORD THE BIG RED DOG with Rosie Perez, John Cleese and Sienna Guillory.

BELFAST with Caitriona Balfe, Jude Hill, Jamie Dornan and Lewis McAskie.

Worldwide grosses for US films in 2021:

1. F9: The Fast Saga - $721.07 million

2. No Time to Die - $667.46

3. Godzilla v. Kong - $467.86

4. Shang-Chi - $427.85

5. Venom 2 - $424.61

6. Black Widow - $379.63

7. Free Guy - $331.15

8. Dune - $330.44

9. A Quiet Place II - $297.65

10. Cruella - $233.27

Free Guy holds on to #1, Paw Patrol #2

For the weekend of August 20-22, 2021, Free Guy managed to hold off all newcomers and remain #1 for its second week. It's a win for Ryan Reynolds, it's a win for 20th Century Studios, and it's one of the lone bright spots for a box office that is retreating in the wake of the Delta variant of COVID pushing people back to February levels of cases and caution.

Of the new titles, many felt like end-of-summer dumps, with Paramount managing to find the most success with Paw Patrol: The Movie, considering that it's also available on Paramount+.

Opens This Friday

CANDYMAN with Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Teyonah Parris and Colman Domingo.

DEATH RIDER IN THE HOUSE OF VAMPIRES with Devon Sawa and Julian Sands.

Opens September 3

SHANG-CHI with Simu Liu, Tony Leung, Awkwafina, Michelle Yeoh and Tim Roth.

Opens September 10

MALIGNANT with Annabelle Wallis, Maddie Hasson and George Young.

THE CARD COUNTER with Oscar Isaac and Willem Dafoe.

Opens September 17

CRY MACHO with Clint Eastwood, Dwight Yoakam and Fernanda Urrejola.

THE EYES OF TAMMY FAYE with Jessica Chastain and Andrew Garfield.

COPSHOP with Gerard Butler, Frank Grillo and Toby Huss.

F9 is #1 at box office

For the weekend of June 25-27, 2021, F9: The Fast Saga was the big winner, and its $70 million haul indicates that the box office is indeed on the road to recovery. Its opening wasn't as big at the eighth installment's $98 million opening, but it did open better than the Hobbs & Shaw spinoff. Audiences are making their way back to the multiplexes, and we're retuning to normalcy. F9 will inevitably join Godzilla vs. Kong and A Quiet Place Part II as the third movie of 2021 to pass the $100 million domestic mark.

Opens Next Week

THE FOREVER PURGE with Ana de la Reguera and Josh Lucas.

THE BOSS BABY 2 with the voices of Alec Baldwin and James Marsden.

Opens July 9

BLACK WIDOW with Scarlett Johansson and Florence Pugh.

Opens July 16

SPACE JAM 2 with LeBron James and Don CHeadle.

Opens July 23

OLD with Gael Garcia Bernal and Rufus Sewell.

GI JOE ORIGINS: SNAKE EYES with Henry Golding and Samara Weaving.

THE COMEBACK TRAIL with Robert DeNiro and Morgan Freeman.

Opens July 30

JUNGLE CRUISE with Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt.

STILLWATER with Matt Damon and Abigail Breslin.

THE GREEN KNIGHT with Dev Patel and Alicia Vikander.

Spiral wins box-office weekend

For the weekend of May 14-16, 2021, Hollywood's slowly getting back into things. Spiral was an attempt to reboot the Saw franchise with a different direction, and unlikely lead in Chris Rock. In a normal year, this would be viewed as a big disappointment. As is, it opened about as well as Jason Statham's Wrath of Man the week before.

Meanwhile a movie starring Angelina Jolie and directed by Taylor Sheridan (Wind River) should have done better in any other year, but since it's also available on HBOMax, that could have affected its success.

I'm rooting for Godzilla vs. Kong to be the first movie of 2021 to cross the $100 million mark domestically.

Birds of Prey is #1

For the weekend of February 7-9, 2020, Birds of Prey was the easy #1. Can’t help but think WB expected more from it, but the marketing wasn’t great. Good thing the reviews are. Word-of-mouth should help keep it afloat, but this is a movie that should have opened to $50 million.

Bad Boys for Life keeps dominating, absolutely terrific for Will Smith. 1917 also has long legs and should get a boost next after it wins an Oscar or two tonight. Some of the other ones still hanging on by their fingernails in theaters (Parasite! Jojo Rabbit!) are hoping for some award boosts too.

Next week, the #1 spot should go to Sonic the Hedgehog.

Opens February 14

SONIC THE HEDGEHOG with Jim Carrey, James Marsden and Tika Sumpter.

FANTASY ISLAND with Michael Pena, Lucy Hale, Maggie Q and Portia Doubleday.

THE PHOTOGRAPH with LaKeith Stanfield, Issa Rae and Courtney B. Vance.

Good Boys is #1, Hobbs & Shaw #2 at box office

For the weekend of August 16-18, 2019, Good Boys managed to emerge from a crowded field as the #1 movie. The “Superbad for 12-year-olds” comedy gives Jacob Tremblay (Room, Wonder) his first hit where he stands on his own two feet, and it showed an audience for comedy can still be found.

Of the other new releases, The Angry Birds Movie 2 fizzled out of the gate, despite better reviews than its predecessor. 47 Meters Down 2, which doesn’t have anything to do with the first movie, didn’t perform well either, though the low budget means it won’t lose money. Blinded by the Light didn’t go anywhere. I can’t help but think this movie should have been pushed to next year after Yesterday was a sleeper hit. Where’d You Go Bernadette was going to flop no matter when it was released.

Of the holdovers, Hobbs & Shaw had a respectable third week. Its global haul isn’t as much as previously tracked, and it looks like it will be profitable, but not as big as Universal needed it to be. The Lion King will cross the $500 million domestic mark later this week. (It’s over $1.4 billion worldwide.) Why is Disney doing live-action remakes of all of their animated films? This is why. It may feel like the cash-grab of all the late 1990’s-early 2000’s straight-to-DVD animated sequels they did, but same result. Profits.

Opens August 23

ANGEL HAS FALLEN with Gerard Butler, Morgan Freeman and Piper Perabo.

READY OR NOT with Samara Weaving, Andie MacDowell and Adam Brody.

Glass #1 for third week

For the weekend of February 1-3, 2019, Glass was #1 for the third week in a row. No studio wanted to put their big guns out in its wake, so there wasn't much competition. Plus the expansion of some Oscar-nominated movies didn't get much bump. And this little thing called the Super Bowl might affect Sunday tickets.

Miss Bala is a poorly-reviewed remake, so it didn't do much business. Theater chains have to be thrilled that four new wide releases are coming next week. I expect them to be the top four.

The Upside had been considered an awards movie, but when it got mixed reviews at early screeners, it got dumped in January, and yet here it is, hitting the $75 million mark.

The Mule crossed $100 million domestic.

Opens February 8
THE LEGO MOVIE 2 with the voices of Chris Pratt and Elizabeth Banks.
WHAT MEN WANT with Taraji P. Henson, Max Greenfield and Tracy Morgan.
COLD PURSUIT with Liam Neeson, Emmy Rossum and Laura Dern.
THE PRODIGY with Taylor Schilling, Colm Feore and Jackson Robert Scott.

Aquaman #1, Escape Room #2 at box office

For the weekend of January 4-6, 2019, Aquaman was #1 for the third week in a row. It's now passed $940 million worldwide and is on course to become the fifth 2018 release to cross the $1 billion mark.

The only new release was Escape Room, and for its budget, it's a hit. Don't be surprised if we get Escape Room 2 next year.

Everything else is sliding down. Some films will be able to boast Golden Globe wins after tonight, and then the Oscar nominations coming soon will help with films like Mary Poppins Returns, Vice, If Beale Street Could Talk, etc., in their advertising.

Opens January 11
A DOG'S WAY HOME with Ashley Judd, Edward James Olmos and Barry Watson.
THE UPSIDE with Kevin Hart, Bryan Cranston, Nicole Kidman and Julianna Marguiles.
REPLICAS with Keanu Reeves, Alice Eve, Emily Alyn Lind and Thomas Middleditch.

Pacific Rim Uprising is #1, Black Panther #2

For the weekend of March 23-25, 2018, Pacific Rim: Uprising pulled off what movies the past five weeks have not been able to do: keep Black Panther out of the #1 spot. Even without the original's director (Guillermo Del Toro) and stars (Idris Elba, Charlie Hunnam), the monsters vs. robots sequel blasted into the #1 spot. Now relative to its budget, that'd be the sign of a bomb, but this movie was greenit with the assumption 80% of its gross would come from overseas. It'll be huge in China.

Audiences weren't thrilled with the other new offerings. Sherlock Gnomes will make more money than Early Man, and Unsane was a low-budget indie disguised as a wide release, but Midnight Sun bombed, and Paul Apostle of Christ couldn't keep enough of the faith-based audience away from week 2 of I Can Only Imagine.

Tomb Raider's steep drop in week 2 showed that a new franchise is not born.

Peter Rabbit passed the $100 million domestic mark. Who saw that coming?

Black Panther is now 5th on all-time domestic grosses list, and it's on pace that it should be able to jump Titanic to 3rd by the time it's done. (Panther is currently 12th all-time for worldwide grosses.)

Opens March 30
READY PLAYER ONE with Tye Sheridan, Olivia Cooke, Ben Mendelsohn and Mark Rylance.
TYLER PERRY'S ACRIMONY with Taraji P. Henson, Jazmyn Simon and Lyriq Bent.
GOD'S NOT DEAD 3 with John Corbett, Ted McGinley, Tatum O'Neal and David AR White.
FINDING YOUR FEET with Imelda Staunton, Timothy Spall and Celia Imrie.

Black Panther still #1

For the weekend of March 2-4, 2018, Black Panther is still crushing the competition. It's on pace to pass The Last Jedi domestically. It could pass The Avengers to not only be the high-grossing Marvel movie but could wind up being the 5th highest grossing movie of all time.

Worldwide it's at $900 million, which still puts it just behind Jumanji. 32 films have passed the $1 billion worldwide gross mark, and Black Panther will probably join them sometime next week.

Next weekend it should be a real race between it and A Wrinkle in Time for the #1 spot.

Of the other newcomers, Red Sparrow edged Death Wish. Not surprising. Jennifer Lawrence is currently a bigger draw than Bruce Willis, and Death Wish had terrible reviews.

Opens March 9
A WRINKLE IN TIME with Oprah Winfrey, Reese Witherspoon and Chris Pine.
STRANGERS: PREY AT NIGHT with Christina Hendricks and Bailee Madison.
THE HURRICANE HEIST with Toby Kebbell, Maggie Grace and Ryan Kwanten.
GRINGO with Charlize Theron, David Oyelowo, Joel Edgerton and Amanda Seyfried.

LEGO Batman is #1 at box office

For the weekend of February 10-12, 2017, John Wick Chapter 2 had a terrific opening at $30 million, doubling the amount the first movie opened. This now franchise started under modest means but was a massive hit in rentals. But it wasn't #1.

Fifty Shades Darker opened to half of what the first movie did, but with these mid-level budgets, who's counting? It will still be massively profitable and justifies greenlighting the third movie. Wisely, the producers will not be splitting the final book in the trilogy into two movies either. But this wasn't #1 either.

The LEGO Batman Movie was the spinoff to the massive popular LEGO Movie, and while it didn't open quite as well, it's still a big success.

The holdovers had to be happy, with modest declines for Split and A Dog's Purpose, as well as Oscar nominees like Hidden Figures, La La Land and Lion.

Opens February 17
FIST FIGHT with Ice Cube, Charlie Day, Tracy Morgan and Christina Hendricks.
THE GREAT WALL with Matt Damon, Andy Lau, Tian Jing and Willem Dafoe.
A CURE FOR WELLNESS with Dane DeHaan, Jason Isaacs and Mia Goth.

Split stays #1, A Dog's Purpose #2

For the weekend of January 27-29, 2017, M. Night Shyamalan's Split held on to the top spot, with a very good 34.2% drop. Any time your second week is less than 40%, you know you have a word-of-mouth hit. By comparison, xXx 3 had a 59% drop.

Of the new releases, the Oscar-qualifying Gold fell on its face. Viewers weren't ready to watch a balding-capped Matthew McConaughey in a pale version of Wolf of Wall Street. The Founder found itself in a similar boat, but only dropping 21% without adding a single screen is a very good sign of people seeking it out.

The winner of the new releases was A Dog's Purpose, a family film opening right when December's releases are ready to dwindle and leave.

Resident Evil: The Final Chapter ends the franchise with a whimper instead of a bang.

Hidden Figures, meanwhile, in its fourth week of wide release, only dropped 11%.

Opens February 3
RINGS with Aimee Teegarden, Alex Roe, Vincent D'Onofrio and Johnny Galecki.
THE SPACE BETWEEN US with Gary Oldman, Asa Butterfield and Britt Robertson.

Split Wins Box-Office Weekend

For the weekend of January 20-22, 2017, M. Night Shyamalan's Split overachieved over its tracking and solidifies between this and The Visit that Shyamalan in back.

xXx: The Return of Xander Cage didn't do quite as well. It was projected to win the weekend a couple weeks ago. Vin Diesel is a name, and even though it doesn't look good to open at $20 when you have an $85 million budget, but it's already made $50 million overseas and looks like it will ultimately break even if not be a little profitable.

Other new releases/expanses that have Oscar hopes (The Founder, 20th Century Women) couldn't really make a dent.

For the other titles, Hidden Figures is now on course to cross the $100 million mark domestically. It has yet to be released overseas, so anything it makes out of the US will be gravy.

Opens January 27
RESIDENT EVIL 6 with Milla Jovovich, Ali Larter, Iain Glen and Mike Epps.
A DOG'S PURPOSE with Dennis Quaid, Britt Robertson, John Ortiz and Josh Gad.
GOLD with Matthew McConaughey, Edgar Ramirez and Bryce Dallas Howard.

'Fantastic Beasts' Devours the Box Office

For the weekend of November 18-20, 2016, the Potterverse still has some juice. The semi-prequel Fantastic Beasts & Where to Find Them opened to $75 million here and is already above $200 million worldwide. Pretty good for the Rogue One of the wizarding world. (If you go by per-screen average, it opened about as well as Harry Potter & the Order of the Phoenix.)

The other wide new releases should have chosen a different weekend. The Edge of Seventeen is getting fantastic reviews, but it probably would have been better off waiting a couple weeks or until March. Bleed for This can join Hands of Stone in letting Hollywood know there's no real audience for true-story boxing movies right now.

Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk had a moving trailer, but brutal reviews sunk whatever it was aspiring to be.

In limited release, Manchester by the Sea did great while Nocturnal Animals did okay.

Opens November 23
MOANA with the voices of Dwayne Johnson, Auli'i Cravalho and Alan Tudyk.
ALLIED with Brad Pitt, Marion Cotillard, Jared Harris and Matthew Goode.
BAD SANTA 2 with Billy Bob Thornton, Kathy Bates and Tony Cox.
RULES DON'T APPLY with Warren Beatty, Lily Collins and Alden Ehrenreich.

Madea remains #1 over Inferno

For the weekend of October 28-30, 2016, Inferno opened dramatically under expectations, allowing Boo! A Madea Halloween to be #1 for the second straight week.

Considering that the first two Tom Hanks/Ron Howard/Dan Brown movies opened to $77 million (2006's The Da Vinci Code) and $46 million (2009's Angels & Demons), and that it was the only major wide release this weekend, Inferno's $15 million is a massive disappointment.

In limited release, the Oscar-bait movie Moonlight continues to do well.

I expect all of these titles to be wiped out by next week's new releases.

Opens November 4
DR. STRANGE with Benedict Cumberbatch, Chiwetel Ejiofor and Rachel McAdams.
HACKSAW RIDGE with Andrew Garfield, Sam Worthington and Vince Vaughn.
TROLLS with the voices of Anna Kendrick, Justin Timberlake and James Corden.

Sully is #1 at box office

For the weekend of September 9-11, 2016, Sully outperformed its tracking numbers and marks a return to success for Tom Hanks, his best opening ever outside the Toy Story and Da Vinci Code franchises. It's also the best opening ever for director Clint Eastwood (American Sniper opened in limited release before it expanded).

When the Bough Breaks was a decent opening for a movie with 0% RottenTomatoes ranking. The Wild Life had the worst animated trailer since Underdogs, and so it opened low. The Disappointments Room also had 0% RottenTomatoes score, and between it and Morgan bombing, I think horror fans are catching up on Don't Breathe and then waiting for Blair Witch next week.

Suicide Squad has made over $300 million domestic now. Pete's Dragon hit $70 million.

Opens September 16
BLAIR WITCH with Callie Hernandez, James Allen McCune and Corbin Reid.
BRIDGET JONES'S BABY with Renee Zellweger, Colin Firth and Patrick Dempsey.
SNOWDEN with Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Shailene Woodley and Zachary Quinto.

Don't Breathe is #1 at box office

For the weekend of August 26-28, 2016, Don't Breathe let out the final gasp of summer by being an actual decent thriller. Assuming it does the same rapid drop of most horror movies, it should match Lights Out's domestic gross.

Mechanic: Resurrection failed to justify its existence. I can't help but think if Tommy Lee Jones looks at this and Criminal and goes "Where did I go wrong?" At least he also had Jason Bourne.

On fewer screens, Southside with You appeased Obama fans who wanted to see a light romantic movie about his first date with Michelle. Hands of Stone sank; Edgar Ramirez is a good actor but he isn't a star.

Family films that had strong holdovers were Kubo & the Two Strings and Pete's Dragon.

Opens September 2
MORGAN with Kate Mara, Anya Taylor-Joy, Toby Jones and Jennifer Jason Leigh.
THE LIGHT BETWEEN OCEANS with Michael Fassbender and Alicia Vikander.

Weekend Box Office - July 15-17, 2016

For the weekend of July 15-17, 2016, The Secret Life of Pets managed to hang on to the #1 spot, but it had strong competition from Ghostbusters. Illumination had found its diamond with the Despicable Me/Minions world, and now they've found a new franchise they can milk.

Ghostbusters opened a little under expectations but considering how many sequels/remakes have bombed so far this year, I think they have to be happy. It's the highest opening ever for Melissa McCarthy or director Paul Feig. It's also their biggest budget. China has said they won't allow the movie to play there, so that's an unfortunate chunk of foreign box office they'll miss out on.

The Legend of Tarzan has been resilient. I never would have guessed it would wind up doing better than Independence Day: Resurgence.

The other new wide release was The Infiltrator, which never really felt like a summer movie. I admire the counterprogramming effort, but maybe the public is a little Escobar'd out.

Woody Allen's latest, Cafe Society, did great in limited release. It stars Jesse Eisenberg, Kristen Stewart, Steve Carell and Blake Lively.

Opens July 22
ICE AGE 5 with the voices of Ray Romano, John Leguizamo and Denis Leary.
STAR TREK BEYOND with Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Zoe Saldana and Anton Yelchin.
LIGHTS OUT with Teresa Palmer, Emily Alyn Lind and Alicia Vela-Bailey.