Opening as the No. 1 film this past weekend is Dreamworks’ new animated film, “The Bad Guys.” Starring Sam Rockwell, the film is based on a graphic novel series that follows a group of villainous anthropomorphic animals. The film opened with a gross of $24 million this weekend and earned a rare “A” CinemaScore. Now with a reported budget of up to $80 million, the animated film likely needs to earn around $315 million worldwide to break even, factoring in marketing costs and theaters’ share of box office revenue. However, with no major wide releases next week, “The Bad Guys” strong critical and audience reception should benefit it and lessen its drop.
In second place is “Sonic the Hedgehog 2.” The “Sonic” sequel only dropped 48%, grossing $15.2 million, pushing its domestic total to $145 million. This film is having a fantastic run, with only a $90 million budget, it is highly likely now that “Sonic” will get close to its break-even point of around $370 million. Domestically, it looks like there is still a decent amount of gas in the tank, as it had a sub-50% drop in its third weekend, which is vital for the legs of any film. If it can post a sub-40% drop in the low-competition next weekend, “Sonic” may be able to run for a long time on the charts.
In third this week is “Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore.” In last week’s column, we dove into how the film’s gargantuan $200 million budget caused problems for Warner Bros and how the film needs to clear $175 million domestically to have any sort of semblance of a chance of profit. Well, after this weekend, that’s not happening. The film absolutely tanked, dropping 67% from its opening weekend to gross only $14 million. With a $67 million domestic total after two weekends and an awful second weekend drop, “The Secrets of Dumbledore” would be lucky to clear $100 million domestically at this point. The film is essentially guaranteed to cause a nine-figure net loss for Warner Bros. and may mark the end for this “Fantastic Beasts” franchise. The Wizarding World of films is likely not done just yet, but the brand is certainly being hurt by these poorly received pictures.
In fourth and fifth place this weekend are two newcomers to the charts, “The Northman” and “The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent” which grossed $12 million and $7.1 million, respectively. “The Northman” carries the weighty price tag of $90 million and, though it received critical acclaim, its low gross guarantees a box office loss. Though this may not be the end of “The Northman” as its critical acclaim may push it to be an Oscar nominee in about 11 months’ time. “The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent” or the film where Nicolas Cage plays Nicolas Cage, disappointed with its low gross, though with only a $30 million budget, with some strong legs it may stand a chance.
Unfortunately, this is the final box office breakdown of this school year, but it was a great year for the charts. Films like “Spider-Man: No Way Home,” “Uncharted” and “The Batman” helped push us out of the pandemic box office, returning people to theaters and large scale movies to the world. We had films like “Jujutsu Kaisen 0” and “RRR” on the charts, showing how cinema is a global market nowadays where the language barrier is slowly dissipating from consumer’s minds.
The world of cinema is constantly changing, but this year proved that theaters need to exist. This summer will be a wild one, with hit films coming week after week. It will be an exciting time and there will certainly be a lot to talk about in September.
So, this summer, gather a group of friends, head to your local theater and be transported.
There really is nothing quite like a good movie.
