FRIDAY MIDDAY: The third weekend of Warner Bros’ Barbie at $51M (-45%) is higher than the opening of the Brad Pitt action movie, Bullet Train, which did $30M during the first weekend of August. It just goes to show how far we’ve come along at the box office. The Greta Gerwig directed take on the Mattel doll is eyeing a third Friday of $16M at 4,178 theaters, -45% from a week ago. Running total by Sunday will be $457.4M.
Universal’s Oppenheimer will hold on to third place at 3,612 theaters with a $7.8M third Friday (-42%), and third weekend of $27M, -42%, sending its running total by Sunday to $226.8M. Pic is director Christopher Nolan’s fourth highest domestic besting Batman Begins and Dunkirk. It’s also the highest grossing R-rated film of 2023 domestically ahead of John Wick Chapter 4 ($187.1M). Oppenheimer also reps the fastest Universal R-rated release to cross $200M in U.S./Canada, taking 15 days. Previous R-rated $200M Uni champ was 2012’s Ted, which took 37 days to that benchmark.
Third at 3,858 theaters is Paramount/Nickelodeon/Point Grey’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem with a first Friday of $8.5M, 3-day of $27M, and 5-day of $42M, well ahead of its $30M-$40M expectations. Rotten Tomatoes audience score is 94% to go along with that A CinemaScore.
Warner Bros‘ The Meg 2: The Trench at 3,503 theaters is a seeing an $11M Friday, including previews, and a $25M opening — robust for the marketplace. Audiences are so-so on it so far at 66% on Rotten Tomatoes. That’s better than the 43% the first movie notched with RT crowds.
Disney’s second weekend of The Haunted Mansion at 3,740 is seeing a second estimated Friday of $2.8M,-72%, second weekend of $9.5M, -60%, for a running total of $42.5M.
FRIDAY AM: Barbie Crosses $400M, Oppenheimer Nears $200M, Turtles 2-day $15M, Meg 2 Previews $3M+ The spoils of July are spilling over into August as Warner Bros.’ Barbie, after a $11.8M Thursday, jetted across the four-century mark at the domestic box office in her 14th day –faster than Top Gun: Maverick and Super Mario Bros Movie– with a running total of $406.4M at 4,337 locations.
She’s poised to make around $55M in her third weekend, with Oppenheimer ringing in at least another $23M+; all of this spelling for a 3-day box office marketplace that will be exceedingly well north of last year’s $92M for the first weekend of August. The Christopher Nolan-directed movie earned $5.58M yesterday at 3,647 theaters taking its two-week total to $199.86M.
Warner Bros. also has some lagniappe at the weekend box office with The Meg 2: The Trench which is expected to do between $20M-$30M. Last night from previews that began at 3PM, the shark sequel did $3.2M at 3,400 locations. That’s a pretty good result for a sequel that stars a shark: The first Jason Statham movie brought in $4M in previews before churning out a $16.6M Friday, and $45.4M opening off what was a very campy, satirical marketing campaign. The $129M costing Meg 2 has a 50% stake from China’s CMC. Critics on Rotten Tomatoes loathe the sequel at 28% worse than the first movie back in 2018 at 45%. It’s a popcorn film for the masses, not for the tweeds.
Meanwhile, Paramount/Nickelodeon/Point Grey’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem saw its 2-day box office rise to $15M. Thursday was $4.87M at 3,513, -52% from Wednesday, with the Jeff Rowe-directed animated movie ranking third for the day.
Disney’s Haunted Mansion ranked fourth on Thursday with an estimated $1.6M at 3,740, -10% from Wednesday for a first week take of $33M. The previous Eddie Murphy 2003 movie opened on a Wednesday over Thanksgiving and its first seven days grossed $35.4M (unadjusted for inflation).
Angel Studios’ Sound of Freedom booked at 3,411, did $1.47M yesterday, -6%, for a running four week total of $156.4M.
A24’s horror movie Talk to Me at 2,340 theaters did an estimated $1.2M yesterday for a first week of $15.8M. Granted, this title went wide versus A24’s Bodies Bodies Bodies last summer, which platformed, but it’s great to note that this Sundance acquisition has outstripped that Pete Davidson horror comedy’s total stateside cume of $11.4M. Talk to Me‘s first seven days are also 22% ahead of Midsommar‘s which stood at $13M and finaled at $27.4M.