The Film Experience

With 16 features in wide release -- which is a lot given that there's usually only 10-12 with today's tendency to pack movies on 4,000+ screens -- let's cover the whole field, shall we? Plus the specialty titles in limited release because we think they're just as, if not more, important on the regular. After the jump the full chart...

Weekend Box Office August 16th-18th (Actuals) 🔺 = new or expanding / ★ = recommended
W I D E	PLATFORM / LIMITED

1 🔺 Good Boys $21.4 new REVIEW ★	1 🔺 Mission Mangal $1.3 on 263 screens new


2 Hobbs & Shaw $14.1 (cum. $133.7) REVIEW ★	2 🔺 The Peanut Butter Falcon $287k (cum. $583k) on 49 screens REVIEW ★


3 The Lion King $12.3 (cum. $496.5) REVIEW	3 Maiden $258k on 173 screens (cum. $1.9) REVIEW ★


4 🔺 Angry Birds 2 $10.3 new	4 🔺 Luce $164k on 58 screens (cum. $531k) ★


5 Scary Stories To Tell in the Dark $10 (cum. $40.1)	5 Menteur $159k on 70 screens (cum. $3.9)


6 Dora and the Lost City of Gold $8.5 (cum. $33.9) REVIEW	6 🔺 LineWalker 2 Invisible Spy $96k on 17 screens new


7🔺 47 Meters Down Uncaged $8.4 new	7 🔺 After the Wedding $84k on 26 screens (cum. $156k) REVIEW


8 Once Upon a Time in Hollywood $7.6 (cum. $114.4) REVIEW, PODCAST ★	8 Exit $60k on 13 screens (cum. $263k)


9 The Art of Racing in the Rain $4.5 (cum. $17)	9 🔺 Tel Aviv on Fire $60k on 31 screens (cum. $233k) OPHIR NOMINEE


10🔺 Blinded by the Light $4.4 (cum. $16.8) REVIEW new ★	10 🔺 Toni Morrison: The Pieces I Am [DOC] $58k on 69 screens (cum. $729k)


11 🔺 Where'd You Go Bernadette $3.4 REVIEW new	11 🔺 Honeyland [DOC] $55k on 32 screens (cum. $210K) REVIEW ★

12 Spider-Man Far From Home $2.8 (cum. $376.6) TOM HOLLAND, REVIEW	12🔺 One Child Nation [DOC] $49k on 19 screens (cum. $79k) REVIEW ★

13 The Kitchen $2.2 (cum. $10.3)	13 David Crosby Remember My Name [DOC] $82k on 47 screens (cum. $295k)

14 Toy Story 4 $2.1 (cum. $424.4) PODCAST, REVIEW	14 🔺 The Nightingale $45k on 39 screens (cum. $184k)

15 🔺 The Farewell $1.4 (cum. $12.8) PERSONAL TAKE, INTERVIEW ★	15 Marianne & Leonard [DOC] $44k on 65 screens (cum. $862k)

16 Brian Banks $708k (cum. $3.7)	16 🔺 The Divine Fury $43k on 17 screens new

numbers on this chart are pulled from boxofficemojo.

WIDE
Universal is one of our only lines of defense keeping Disney from owning the world. After months of Disney dominance they're currently holding the #1 and #2 movie in the top ten. Good Boys had the best opening for a R rated comedy in quite some time and its only the third original film to top the box office this year. How's that for a depressing statistic. Everything else has been sequels or remakes or spinoffs! Good Boys was the only new release to fare well since all the others came in below expectations though we suspect that Blinded by the Light might hold well next week given the audience enthusiasm for it... those who turned out at least. Oh and The Farewell finally went good and truly wide in its sixth weekend. It's earned $12+ million to date though its per screen average this weekend dipped below $2000 for the first time so it will start fading now. Sadly. It deserved better but given this marketplace a final domestic cume of something like $15 million or so is pretty damn great for a non-genre indie film with no bankable stars that's mostly in Chinese! The Oscar campaign and presumably the Blu-Ray have a great launching pad once we get there.

LIMITED
Despite limited fanfare the all female yacht racing doc Maiden has emerged as a bonafide hit, only the seventh documentary this year to cross the $1 million mark (it's currently just over $2 million) though it's beginning to fade now in its 8th week in theaters. But nothing in limited release was truly packing theaters this weekend. The weekend's best screen average went to a film that didn't even make either chart above. It was a gay drama from Argentina called End of the Century which earned $10,398 on just one screen.

What did you see this weekend? I was watching Mindhunter and various screeners for an upcoming festival jury (more on which this weekend) so I didn't hit the movies.