After a Labor Day Weekend where the box office flourished, unfortunately the great fall of the late summer movie season continued.
That being said, this week’s most successful film was the horror movie “Barbarian.” The $10.5 million budgeted thriller earned $10 million on its opening weekend, as well as glowing critical reviews. Audience reception left a bit more to be desired, with the film receiving only a “C+” rating on CinemaScore. Ultimately, the film likely needs to make around $43 million worldwide to make a profit. “Barbarian” is essentially in the same situation that “The Invitation” was two weeks ago, albeit with much better critical reception. To this date, “The Invitation” has only made $25 million worldwide, and appears to be running out of steam. Unless “Barbarian” can exhibit significantly better drops than its fellow late-summer horror film, it appears the film will not be able to strike a profit.
In second place this weekend is “Brahmāstra: Part One – Shiva.” The Bollywood film grossed $4.4 million in a very limited release, playing in only 810 theaters, exceeding the per-theater average of the #1 film “Barbarian” by over $1000. Indian productions have done quite well domestically recently, with “RRR” grossing $13 million back in the Spring, off a $9.5 million opening weekend. The film cost around ₹410 crore to produce, which converts to around a $51 million budget. For reference, “RRR” cost ₹550 crore, which is about a $70 million budget. “Brahmāstra: Part One – Shiva” is the start of a cinematic universe, the Astraverse. Unfortunately, with mixed critical reception and a relatively lower box office cumulative audience, the Astraverse may not ever launch.
In third this weekend is the Brad Pitt-led action-comedy, “Bullet Train.” The locomotive-based film grossed another $3.25 million, falling 43.8% from last weekend’s National Cinema Day-boosted run. This helped push “Bullet Train” to $92.5 million domestically, making $100 million essentially a lock. With a reported $85.9 million budget, the film needs to gross around $330 million worldwide to profit. Unfortunately, with only $211 million late in its run, it is likely not going to reach that number.
In fourth and fifth place this weekend are “Top Gun: Maverick” and “DC League of Superpets.” The Tom Cruise-helmed action film earned another $3.17 million, a 47% drop from last week. Surprisingly, this is the largest drop “Top Gun: Maverick” has had in its entire box office run, and if you forgot, this film opened back in May. The “Top Gun” sequel now has earned $705 million domestically, and hopes to exceed $715 million by the end of its run. “DC League of Superpets” earned another $2.8 million this weekend, pushing its domestic total to $85 million. Though it only fell 44%, the chances seem very slim that the animated film will reach $100 million domestically.
The box office is getting a reboot next weekend with several new releases: “Clerks III,” “The Woman King,” “See How They Run,” “Pearl” and “The Silent Twins.”
Of these five, “The Woman King” will likely be the most successful. The film has received critical acclaim and is the largest budgeted production of the aforementioned. I predict the film will earn $25 million this coming weekend.
Will “The Woman King” bear the box office’s crown next weekend or will another new release disrupt its coronation?
