by Nathaniel R
After a full month at the top of the box office charts, Barbie finally slipped to second place. But only barely as the comic juggernaut is still selling tickets robustly. In fact I went to it again with friends who hadn't seen it this weekend. The film to unseat Barbie was a new superhero picture Blue Beetle, but given the character's low profile in the DC universe of caped crusaders, it's unlikely he'll hold #1 status next weekend...
| Weekend Box Office Aug 18-20 🔺 = new or expanding / ★ = Recommended |
|
| WIDE (Over 600 Screens) | LIMITED / PLATFORM |
 BLUE BEETLE |
 PASSAGES |
|
1 🔺 BLUE BEETLE $25 *NEW* 3871 screens |
1 🔺★ OLDBOY (South Korea, action) $493k *RERELEASE* 250 screens |
|
2 ★ BARBIE $21 (cum. $566.8) 4003 screens |
2 ★ THEATER CAMP (US, comedy) $135k (cum. $3.4) 130 screens |
|
3 ★ OPPENHEIMER $10.7 (cum. $285.3) 3321 screens
|
3 🔺★ THE MIRACLE CLUB (Ireland/UK, drama) $96k (cum. $1.9) 163 screens |
|
4 TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES MUTANT MAYHEM $8.5 (cum. $88.2) 3,477 screens |
4 🔺 LANDSCAPE WITH INVISIBLE HAND $96k *NEW* 304 screens |
|
5 🔺 STRAYS $8.2 *NEW* 3,223 screens |
5 ★ PASSAGES (France/Germany, drama) $76k (cum. $311k) 114 screens |
|
6 MEG 2 THE TRENCH $6.7 (cum. $66.5) 3,402 screens |
6 CATVIDEOFEST23 $58k (cum. $316k) 26 screens |
|
7 TALK TO ME $3.1 (cum. $37.3) 1,789 screens |
7 ★ 🔺 BIRTH/REBIRTH (US, Horror) $45k *NEW* 137 screens |
 LAST VOYAGE OF THE DEMETER |
 LAKOTA NATION VS UNITED STATES |
|
8 DISNEY'S HAUNTED MANSION $3 (cum. $58.8) 2,180 screens |
8 🔺 THE MOON (South Korea, sci-fi) $41k *NEW* 34 screens |
|
9 MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE -DEAD RECKONING PART ONE $2.7 (cum. $164.6) 1,608 screens |
9 🔺 DAY BY DAY (Sweden, dramedy) $23K (cum. $72k) 18 screens |
|
10 SOUND OF FREEDOM $2.6 (cum. $177.7) 2,152 screens |
10 THE FIRST SLAM DUNK (Japan, anime) $20k (cum. $1.2) 14 screens |
|
11 THE LAST VOYAGE OF THE DEMETER $2.5 (cum. $11.3) 2,715 screens |
11 SHORTCOMINGS (US, comedy) $16k (cum. $635k) 24 screens |
|
12 JULES $230k (cum. $1.5) 645 screens |
12 ★ LAKOTA NATION VS UNITED STATES (US, doc) $10k (cum. $66k) 13 screens |
|
only 12 movies in wide release |
13 AFIRE (Germany, dramedy, Oscar submission possibility) $8k (cum. $190k) 20 screens |
|
|
|
|
|
|
What did you see?
I caught Barbie again (as noted up top) but also went to a indie trans drama called Mutt which just started its theatrical release but it did not report any box office. For what it's worth my screening in NYC was well attended (in the afternoon no less). But box office reporting is often spotty when it comes to arthouses and indies these days. Mutt was quite good with interesting characters and particularly beautiful cinematography from a new DP Matthew Pothier --- we should expect to hear his name a lot soon. He previously worked on short films and in the camera department on one feature.
Next weekend.
Next weekend sees the release of the Neill Blomkamp directed racing drama Gran Turism, the biopic Golda (starring Helen Mirren), the rauncy high school comedy Bottoms (starring Rachel Sennoot and Ayo Edebiri) which comes from the director of last year's hilarious indie Shiva Baby, the baseball drama The Hill (starring Colin Ford and Dennis Quaid), and the umpteenth Liam-Neeson-gets-violent movie Retribution (seriously how many of those are there now?). Two previous festival films, the well reviewed black and white drama Fremont and the Harris Dickinson led father-daughter drama Scrapper also arrive.