by Nathaniel R
The nation's taste for horror just won't quit as Barbarian takes the top spot in its first weekend. Pair that with the superhero genre and it feels like maybe... just maybe (theorizing incoming) everyone feels both scared and powerless so horror is cathartic and superheroes are prime aspirational escapism. If this theory is accurate it doesnt say great things about the shape of the world right now! Bollywood picture Brahmastra Part One also opened well though the violent period drama Medieval couldn't drum up interest. Anyway the charts...
| Holiday Weekend Box Office September 9th-11th 🔺 = new or expanding / ★ = Recommended links if we've written about it |
|
| WIDE (OVER 800 SCREENS) | LIMITED / PLATFORM |
 BARBARIAN |
 AFTER EVER HAPPY |
| 1 🔺 BARBARIAN $10.5 *new* |
1 ★ ORPHAN FIRST KILL $309k (cum. $5) |
| 2 🔺 BRAHMASTRA PART ONE SHIVA $4.5 *new* |
2 BODIES BODIES BODIES $201k cum. $11.1) |
| 3 BULLET TRAIN $3.3 (cum. $92.6) |
3 🔺 AFTER EVER HAPPY $114k *NEW* |
| 4 ★ TOP GUN MAVERICK $3.1 (cum. $705.6) |
4 MARCEL THE SHELL WITH SHOES ON $97k (cum. $6.2) |
| 5 THE INVITATION $2.6 (cum. $18.8) |
5 🔺 THE GOOD BOSS (Spain) $90k (cum. $290K) |
| 6 DC LEAGUE OF SUPER PETS $2.6 (cum. $85.2) |
6 🔺 UNFAVORABLE ODDS $58k *NEW* |
 SPIDER-MAN NO WAY HOME |
 A LOVE SONG |
| 7 🔺 LIFEMARK $2.1 *new* | 7 EMILY THE CRIMINAL $51k (cum. $2) |
|
8 BEAST $1.8 (cum. $29.3) |
8 🔺 HOCKEYLAND (Doc) $49k *NEW* |
| 9 MINIONS: THE RISE OF GRU $1.7 (cum. $362.4) |
9 ★ EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE $26k (cum. $69.9) |
| 10 ★ SPIDERMAN NO WAY HOME (rerelease) $1.3 |
10 HALLELUJAH LEONARD COHEN (Doc) $26K (cum. $986k) |
| 11 WHERE THE CRAWDADS SING $1.2 (cum. $87.6) |
11 🔺 HOLD ME TIGHT $14k *NEW* |
| 12 THOR: LOVE & THUNDER $1.0 (cum. $342.2) |
12 ★ A LOVE SONG $9k (cum. $262k) |
| 13 ★ NOPE $839k (cum. $122) |
13 HANSAN RISING DRAGON (South Korea) $9k ($849k) |
 MEDIEVAL |
 RRR |
|
14 🔺 MEDIEVAL $821k *NEW* |
14 🔺 LOVING HIGHSMITH *7k (cum. $23k) |
|
15 ★ JAWS (rerelease) $647k |
15 EMERGENCY DECLARATION (South Korea) $6k (cum. $398k) |
|
16 ★ 3000 THOUSAND YEARS OF LONGING $591k (cum. $7.5) |
16 ★ THREE MINUTES A LENGTHENING (Doc) $6k (cum. $87k) |
|
17 ★ ELVIS $473k (cum. $150.2) |
17 ALIENOID (South Korea) $6k (cum. $161k) |
|
18 HONK FOR JESUS SAVE YOUR SOUL $378k (cum. $2.4) There are nearly 20 movies still in wide release because there was nothing to replace them. But now the per screen averages are dire. |
18 ★ RRR (India) $6k (cum. $11.4) It wouldn't be like India to submit this one to the Oscars but we ABSOLUTELY hope they do. It's so fun. |
|
19 GIGI & NATE $349k (cum. $1.9) |
19 ABOUT FATE (India) $6K *NEW* |
Elvis is now streaming but since it will inevitably lose a ton of theaters Friday, a big congrats for inching over the $150 million mark at the last minute.
Just outside the chart we just noticed that Brazil's LGBTQ+ themed Oscar submission last season Private Desert opened a couple of weeks ago, very quietly, but it's on 7 screens somewhere in the nation now, and it's made $28k. It's good! Read our interview here.
NEXT WEEKEND
Festival debuts we've already reviewed here making their way to theaters finally are God's Country starring Thandiwe Newton, Blonde starring Ana de Armas, and The Silent Twins starring Letitia Wright. The potential to be big tickets, for different reasons, are probably the David Bowie doc Moonage Daydream (which is only on IMAX screens) and Viola Davis as The Woman King. The last time a slightly action-y mainstream feeling Viola movie wowed at festivals (Widows) it didn't translate to general audiences as expected. Will things be different this time? Pundits are hot on this one which is by all reports, much closer to a traditional action/war movie, so perhaps it'll be fall's first smash hit?
We're also curious to see how See How They Run fares. It looks fun and the cast (Ronan, Rockwell, Dickinson, Brody Oyelowo, Henderson) is great but the release has been arguably buzz-free; Maybe Hollywood just doesn't know how to promote / support mid-tier non-franchise movies for adults now? If the title can't sell itself (i.e. not an IP) without the existence of a marketing department, the marketing departments in question rarely seem to have a clue! (This is not a dig on Disney and all their divisions, just distributors in general... though A24 and NEON's marketing departments are obviously exempt from this critique)
What did you see these past few days? I finally caught up with 3000 Years of Longing (so much better than the buzz -- not perfect but continuously involving and original which is always a sweet reward). Last night was of course devoted to the Emmys and afterwards to wondering what limited series might be THE sensation of the new television season like The White Lotus, Dopesick, Pam & Tommy, and The Dropout were this past season.