It isn’t Universal, according to box office reports. Paramount’s A Quiet Place part 2 earned an additional $4 million (-32%) over weekend six, for a $5.7 million holiday haul and $146 million domestic total by tomorrow. The film continues to move along F9 and finish its run with $155-$160 million, which is very close to the $188 million marks for the first film. The film has grossed well over $250 million worldwide on a $61million budget, though overseas updates are still not available.
I’ll let you skip ahead—the Conjuring. The Devil Made me Do It released in Germany this weekend. It captured $1.2 million and brought its overseas total to $112,000,000 (roughly where A Quiet Place 2 without updates). New Line’s horror sequel to the original $39 million will make $1.6 million during the holiday. It leaves HBO Max with a domestic total of $62.5 million and a global total of $173.7 million. Below the $228million cume of Annabelle Home but still 4.45x the $39 million budget.
For a $4.1 million Fri-Month gross and $32.48million 18-day total, Lionsgate’s and Millennium’s The Hitman’s bodyguard’s wife earned $3 million (-39%) in weekend 3. A disappointing result considering that the $60 million-plus sequel to a $30m movies earned $75 million domestically and $172 million globally in 2017. It is not clear if it will be able to make up the difference overseas. Lionsgate will make some money, but this and Sprial ($23 million domestic), Lionsgate is 0/2. The Protege, your move.
Walt Disney’s Cruella topped $200 million worldwide this weekend. Technically means that it has more than doubled its $100M budget. Although the Emma Stone movie is still disappointing at the box office, A) it’s not sure that it would have made it in non-Covid times, and B) there are still only $25 million in Disney+ Premier Access revenue that goes 100% back to Disney House. From a Memorial Day launch of $26.5 million, the film has earned $77.3 million domestically.
Sony’s Peter Rabbit is way below Peter Rabbit ($110m domestic, $350m global), but $35m domestic and $127m worldwide on a $45m budget are still within the realm of “good enough.” Warner Bros.’ The Heights will be worth $27.3m at the end 25 of their $35 million global cume. Better WB news: Godzilla vs. Kongearned $1.3million in Germany and (roughly) $6 million in Japan.
This compares to the $6.25m debuts of King of the Monsters, which ultimately led to a $25m cume. However, Godzilla Vs. Kong has better word of mouth than any of the MonsterVerse movies. The $165 million monster mashing should have earned over/under $450 million worldwide by tomorrow if it isn’t already. Paramount’s A Quiet Place is worthy of respect, but it’s remarkable how much movie theaters have been preserved almost entirely by Warner Bros./Universal.
The Zola opened Wednesday at A24 as one of the biggest arthouse/indie darlings. This well-reviewed, buzzy comedy/thriller (based upon a viral Twitter thread about non-fiction) would likely have been aired under normal circumstances if it weren’t for Covid-specific occasions. A24 was released in 1,468 theaters due to the Arclight being closed and the new trend of buzzy flicks using theatrical releases as a glorified marketing campaign for the swift (probably closer than a month than 90 days) PVOD release.
A holiday launch of $1.14 million Fri/$2.27million Wed-Mon is in the works. A good deal considering the budget of less than $5 million and the expectation that Taylour Paige/Riley Keough’s caper (which can be pretty entertaining, natch) will do well on PVOD. Thanks to people who may have seen it in theaters outside of pandemic situations, Searchlight’s highly-acclaimed Summer Of Soul: Or When The Revolution Could Not be Televised had a one-week theatrical run at El Capitan. It was launched simultaneously on Hulu this weekend and expanded to 752 theaters.
The concert documentary about the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival, which took place in relative anonymity alongside Woodstock, made $650,000 for an $850,000 “debut weekend.” It received 99% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes, a 100% “verified audiences score,” and an A+ rating from Cinemascore. Sophie’s Choice was made to watch the movie on Hulu. After a lot of self-flagellation, I still had time to see Steven Soderbergh’s excellent HBO Max original No Sudden Movement.
