Weekend Box Office. What have you been watching?
Monday, May 16, 2022 at 10:40PM by Nathaniel R
To no one's surprise Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness dominated the box office for a second weekend and has already grossed nearly $300 million domestically, making it the second most popular release of the year thus far after The Batman (which it will definitely overtake since the latter weirdly truncated its own run by moving to streaming while it was still doing well in theaters). More after the jump...
| Weekend Box Office May 13th-15th 🔺 = new or expanding / ★ = Recommended links if we've written about it |
|
| WIDE (OVER 800 SCREENS) | PLATFORM RELEASES |
 MULTIVERSE OF MADNESS |
 HAPPENING |
| 1 DOCTOR STRANGE IN... $61.7 (cum. $292.6) |
1 THE DUKE $239k (cum. $1) |
| 2 THE BAD GUYS $7 (cum. $66.4) | 2 ★ PETITE MAMAN $111k (cum. $580k) |
| 3 SONIC THE HEDGEHOG 2 $4.6 (cum. $175.8) |
3 🔺★ HAPPENING $61k (cum. $102k) |
| 4 🔺 FIRESTARTER $3.8 *NEW* | 4 Y COMO ES EL? $45k (cum. $1.3) |
|
5 ★ EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE $3.3 (cum. $47.1) |
5 🔺★ ON THE COUNT OF THREE $36k *NEW* |
| 6 FANTASTIC BEASTS 3 $2.5 (cum. $90.1) |
6 🔺 MONTANA STORY $17k *NEW* |
| 7 ★ THE NORTHMAN $1.7 (cum. $31.2) |
7 🔺★ PLEASURE $16k *NEW* |
| 8 ★ THE LOST CITY $1.6 (cum. $97.1) |
8 🔺 THE INNOCENTS $12k *NEW* |
| 9 🔺 FAMILY CAMP $1.3 *NEW* | 9 HIT THE ROAD $11k (cum. $91k) |
| 10 UNBEARABLE WEIGHT OF MASSIVE TALENT $1 (cum. $18.2) | 10 ★ FIREBIRD $11k (cum. $127k) |
In limited release the excellent french film Happening (read our interview with the director and star) added 184 theaters but the highest per screen averages at the arthouses went to the porn drama Pleasure (albeit only on two screens.
EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE just passed Hereditary to become A24's third biggest hit and it will pass by Lady Bird this coming week. Only Uncut Gems' $50 million will be left to defeat. Can it do it?
What have you been watching? Having mostly caught up with new theatrical releases we've been cramming in Emmy contenders with episodes of Staircase, A Very English Scandal, Severance, I Love That For You, Hacks, and Under the Banner of Heaven.
box office, moviegoing
Reader Comments (7)
I too have been feasting in the onslaught of television programming seeking attention from the upcoming Emmy nominations. A few highlights worthy of viewing include . . .
I think the Holocaust drama, The Survivor, is a strong contender for Best TV Film. The bio pic of boxer Harry Haft features a compelling lead performance from Ben Foster who lost 62 pounds to play the concentration camp fight scenes.
Sharon Stone won an Emmy as Guest Star in a Drama Series in 1997 for The Practice. She may well win a second for her guest starring role as the angry mother of recovering alcoholic Cassie Bowden in The Flight Attendant. In episode six of the current season, Stone is magnificent when confronted in her home by her daughter after a long separation.
For me, the highlight of this television season has been Michelle Pfeiffer as the pill popping, alcohol swilling Betty Ford in The First Lady. The actress is stunning so far in the first five episodes as the politician’s wife who stews in her private rage at her husband for pardoning former President Richard Nixon and her public courage in a battle against breast cancer that resulted in a mastectomy. The eyebrow raising casting has proven to be nothing less than inspired and pushed Pfeiffer to what may prove to be one of her best performances.
I saw “Petite Maman” and loved it. I want to see everything director Celine Sciamma does, past, present, and future.
It was even more than I was expecting. The kids are sweet, but also brave, tough, and clear-eyed. And you think, wait, I remember now...
I saw “The Northman” and we were the only people in the big theatre. It was heavenly, we could really stretch out and fully immerse ourselves in the movie. But I worried later about the theatre and the movie making money (the movie is going to streaming) and if going out to the movies is a communal experience what does it say that seeing a movie without other people feels normal?
I thought we are so lucky to have “The Northman” and “The Green Knight” in the same space of time. Artists reaching back in time to a fable that had remained tantalizingly out of focus, and getting it just right.
I had thought the movie was in Iceland, but like “The Green Knight” it was shot in Ireland. I wonder if that means they had many of the same crew working on it. It reminded me of the Renaissance “school of x” paintings, where the famous artist would do the important figures, and the school artists would do the minor figures, landscape, decorative elements, etc.
I really admired the actors commitment, as well as the commitment of everyone else involved.
As one reviewer wrote, they gave Oscars for this kind of thing in “The Revenant” and “The Northman” does it better. If Leonardo DiCaprio can get an Oscar for “commitment”, then Alexander Skarsgård needs one too.
I caught up with some theatrical releases this weekend -- The Happening and The Northman were both excellent for completely different reasons. The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent was also fun escapism. A first revisit of Boogie Nights since 1997 confirmed it as my favorite PTA. While I didn't play along with the best shot series, it did inspire me to watch Happy Together for the first time, which I loved!
Going to see Petite Maman tonight, and I CAN'T WAIT!
McGill: I thought the same thing about The Green Knight (which I preferred to The Northman). What a great time for action/fantasy on the big screen! I'll put up with having Dr. Strange take up 85% of the big screens in town if it somehow funds a Northman or a Green Knight once a year.
I'm starting to feel a little more confident that EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE will be in the awards mix at the end of the year. Who knows if that means big awards, but the love from so many different places seem to signal it will have enough support for SOMETHING. It will certainly be A24's highest grossing film.
As for what I've been watching, took a break from moviegoing and started seeing Apple+ lovely PACHINKO. Everyone's doing ace work over there from production to acting. One more episode to go! I hope it does well at the Emmys.
Eurovision. Huge ratings by the way. Live television ain't dead, Oscar producers!
The only thing I saw this month is Westfront 1918 as a Blind Spot as that is a great film.