King of the Crop: Bullet Train It quietly pulls into the station with $13.4 million

Bullet Train led the way once again, but only with $13.4 million. How low is that? Skipping the gap year of 2020, we haven’t seen a No. 1 in the first half of August this low since Paul Verhoeven’s Hollow Man led for a second week in August 2000 with $13 million. Before that, it was Saving Private Ryan’s fourth week at the top of the charts in 1998 with $13.1 million. Now some believe there is hope that David Leitch’s film can reach $100 million, so let’s look into that. After 10 days it has earned $54.3 million. That puts it firmly between the grosses of Tropic Thunder and Collateral, which earned $110 million and $101 million, respectively. Hope springs eternal. However, both of these films earned over $16 million in their second week after opening to $25.8 million and $24.7 million. So these pieces are not aligned. As reported in last week’s column, Sony wanted a number around $18 million if the film had even the slightest hope of breaking nine figures. Tropic Thunder and Collateral had solid word of mouth and dropped between 34-38% in their second and third weekends. This weekend, Bullet Train barely won its third weekend with $11.5 & $10.1 million. Last week we also compared Brad Pitt’s numbers to The Dukes of Hazzard feature, which ended up with just over $80 million. This week, Bullet Train fell behind even this movie’s pace. Hazzard had $57.4 million after 10 days and a second weekend of $13 million. Even with a weak market on the horizon, those numbers will continue to fall, even if it remains in the top five until mid-September. Not even Sony thought Bullet Train would be on a racetrack with Where The Crawdads Sing to the finish line. The latter, which scored 34% on the Tomatometer, is up to $72 million and is expected to finish its run around $80 million. If Bullet Train keeps its total above $6 million next week, its valuation will likely rise.

Rotten Returns: Mac & Rita It fails to find its audience

Almost any of the new movies released this week could fit into this category, but the title belongs to the Diane Keaton-led Mack & Rita. Released in 2,000 theaters, the film earned a paltry $1.09 million for a per-theater average of just $567. That’s the second-worst PTA of 2022 for a film released in more than 2,000 venues, behind Studio 666 ($668) and ahead of only The King’s Daughter ($334). The film scored a 26% with critics, but an even worse “D+” with moviegoers polled via Cinemascore. Only 10 other films have received lower than a “C-” since 2018, and this is the second “D+” of 2022 after Alex Garland’s Men in May.

The Top 10 and Beyond: Business as Usual, as Top Gun: Maverick continues to make money

Checking in on some of these movies that moviegoers might still want to catch, we have Jordan Peele’s Nope, which crossed $100 million during the week. Another $5.3 million this weekend brings its total to $107.5 million. That’s a bit of positive news, as we compared its numbers to Luc Besson’s Lucy, and this week Nope finally started to take the lead, as the two films’ 24-day numbers are closely aligned, but Lucy only earned 3 .4 million in its fourth weekend, suggesting Nope’s numbers could approach $130 million when it’s all said and done. DC League of Super Pets is currently looking at Monster House-style numbers with $7.17 million this weekend and a total of $58.2 million. That’s just over a million ahead of House’s third weekend and 17-day run, upping League’s final estimates from last week by $10 million to $75-80 million (which is still well below the budget of $90 million). Top Gun Maverick certainly didn’t take a dip this weekend. In fact, it went up again, with $7.15 million. That’s an increase from last week to bring its total to $673.8 million. That may still be $20 million behind Black Panther in its 12th week, but Maverick more than doubled what the Marvel film did in the same weekend and is on pace to become just the sixth film to gross $700 million. Paramount also had the Indian remake of Forrest Gump, Laal Singh Chaddha, which earned $1.4 million in 516 theaters for a $2,713 average. Two of the summer’s other big hits continue to add to their totals, though Minions: The Rise of Gru may have had a slight setback in challenging The Secret Life of Pets as Illumination’s top domestic film. While just $3 million was off the pace after its seventh weekend, Rise of Gru’s 4.9 million fell behind Pets’ $5.8 million frame. Don’t rule it out, though, as Minions will likely remain in the top 10 until mid-September. Thor: Love and Thunder crossed $700 million worldwide this week. It’s still over $130 million behind Ragnarok’s total, even though it made it in North America. It does have the 10th-best domestic total of all time for a July release after 38 days, and has a chance to reach $350 million, being very much in line with the sixth weekend of the first Minions movie ($5.14 million) and it’s about $13 million ahead of where that film was, and it ended up with $336 million. Rise of Gru, meanwhile, is close to $800 million worldwide. A24’s Bodies Bodies Bodies , which premiered to acclaim at SXSW (remains Certified Fresh at 90%) and opened in six theaters last week to its fourth-best theater average of the year, didn’t get the wide audience it wanted. weekend. In 1,275 theaters, the film grossed just $3.2 million, which is actually about on par with the studio’s big releases in terms of averages. While Hereditary ($4,580), Spring Breakers ($4,401) and The Witch ($4,301) remain their best for a film opening on more than 1,000 screens in their first or second weekend, Bodies Bodies Bodies’ $2,520 PTA matches the Mid90s ($2,473), The Green Knight ($2,434), Midsommar ($2,423) and It Comes At Night ($2,364). I wish they were able to put Marcel the Shell With Shoes On in that category, but it peaked at 821 theaters in its sixth week of release and then lost 40% of those screens the following week. is set to gross less than $6 million. Also new this week was Lions Gate’s first theatrical release since April’s The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent . Survival film Fall opened in 1,548 theaters with just $2.5 million for a PTA of $1,618. The studio hasn’t had a PTA over $3,000 since Knives Out in 2019, and that film’s sequel is headed to Netflix. Last week’s Easter Sunday fell out of the top 10 just behind The Fall, bringing its total to $9.9 million. And finally, the IMAX re-release of Steven Spielberg’s ET The Extra-Terrestrial earned $1.1 million in just 360 theaters for a PTA of $3,055, slightly higher than Bullet Train’s, which gave it the highest PTA in the top 10 this year week.

On the Vine: Idris Elba’s Beast Hopes to Take Down a Bullet Train

Next week, Universal hopes to regain the top spot at the box office with Idris Elba and some lions when Beast opens. The Ghost and the Darkness starring Michael Douglas and Val Kilmer opened to $9.2 million in 1996. A No. 1 finish against Bullet Train would tie Universal with Disney for the most wins at the top of the box office that year summer with five.

Full Box Office Results List: August 12-14, 2022

            53% Bullet Train (2022)

$13.4 million ($54.5 million total)

            72% DC League of Super-Pets (2022)

$7.17 million ($58.4 million total)

            96% Top Gun: Maverick (2022)

$7.15 million ($673.8 million total)

            65% Thor: Love and Thunder (2022)

$5.31 million ($325.4 million total)

            82% No (2022)

$5.3 million ($107.5 million total)

            70% Minions: The Rise of Gru (2022)

$4.9 million ($343.7 million total)

            34% Where the Crawdads Sing (2022)

$4 million ($72.2 million total)

            90% Bodies Bodies Bodies (2022)

$3.3 million ($3.6 million total)

            78% Elvis (2022)

$2.6 million ($141.3 million total)

            73%…