What was once expected to be one of the biggest movies of October instead became the first major disasters of the month, as well as potentially the biggest bombs of the year. Read on for the weekend box office report.
Although Warner Bros. debuted Todd Phillips‘ anticipated sequel “Joker: Folie à Deux” – once again starring Oscar-winner Joaquin Phoenix as Arthur Fleck aka the Joker – at the prestigious Venice Film Festival in September, it didn’t quite find the critical acclaim or box office success as its 2019 predecessor. That’s even with the addition of the one and only Lady Gaga (another Oscar winner) taking on the role of Harley Quinn, played by Margot Robbie in three previous DC features.
The reviews for “Joker” weren’t that bad coming out of Venice. Early this past week, it was still at 60% on Rotten Tomatoes, but then the American reviews started flooding in, and by Friday, those reviews dropped to just 33%, shifting the movie into the “Rotten” side of things. The movie ended up making $7 million in Thursday and earlier previews and $20 million on Friday, including those previews, which already pointed to an opening below $50 million. Sure enough, Warner Bros. has estimated that “Joker: Folie à Deux” only made $40 million this weekend, enough to take first place, but well below the $96.2 million of the first “Joker” movie. That’s also bad when you consider the reported $200 million production budget and the fact the first movie made over a billion worldwide and $335 million domestic.
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It also achieved a very rare (and almost unheard of for a superhero sequel) “D” CinemaScore, only the second movie in the past five years to be rated so low. (Russell Crowe‘s “The Exorcism” was the other one.) Even Francis Ford Coppola‘s “Megalopolis” got a higher CinemaScore than that last week with a “D+,” and the Oscar-winning filmmaker even went on Instagram to praise Phillips for “being one step ahead of the audience.”
Phillips’ sequel did significantly better overseas with $81.1 million internationally in 76 markets for a global opening of $121.1 million.
Second place went to DreamWorks Animation’s “The Wild Robot” with $18.7 million, down 48% from its opening weekend, with $64 million grossed in its first ten days domestically. “The Wild Robot” added another $13 million overseas for a global total of $100.4 million, which isn’t great but a good start for a well-liked family film.
Warner Bros. can still rest easy on the fact that Tim Burton‘s “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” is a massive hit, taking third place this weekend with another $10.3 million (down 36%) to bring its domestic total to $265.5 million. It should pass “Twisters” soon domestically to become the year’s fifth-biggest blockbuster. It has already passed the $400 million mark globally, with another $8.2 million made internationally this weekend for an overseas total of $137.1 million.
Things haven’t been going so great for Paramount’s animated “Transformers One,” which took fourth place with $5.4 million (down 42%) to bring its North American total to $47.2 million, still less than 2023’s live action offering.
The horror remake of “Speak No Evil,” starring James McAvoy, has been holding up well since opening last month, maintaining fifth place with $2.8 million (down 34%) this weekend for a domestic total of $32.6 million. Again, not great but not bad for a movie that cost a reported $15 million to make.
At this point, it’s important to note that last week’s Telugu-language offering, “Devara Part 1,” has yet to report its second weekend box office, which makes the bottom half of the top 10 somewhat unclear.
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Oscar-winner Dame Helen Mirren starred in Lionsgate’s latest, “White Bird: A Wonder Story,” which only opened in 1,018 theaters – about a third as many as its predecessor, 2017’s “Wonder,” although this one had the backing of Andrew and Jon Erwin‘s faith-based Kingdom Story Company, hoping to appeal to their built-in audience. After making just $275,000 in previews and $675,000 on Friday (including previews), the movie tanked with just $1.5 million to potentially take sixth or seventh place. “White Bird” received decent reviews with 76% on Rotten Tomatoes and even an “A+” CinemaScore from audiences that saw it, but it will still be considered another movie in the loss column on Lionsgate’s 2024 docket, especially after a two-year delay in releasing it.
A nice surprise on the lower end of the Top 10 is French filmmaker Coralie Fargeat‘s “The Substance,” starring Demi Moore and Margaret Qualley, which lost over a thousand theaters on Friday, but still remained in the top 10 with $1.4 million, down just 35% from last weekend. It has grossed $9.7 million over three weekends, which isn’t bad for an indie horror movie being released theatrically by a streamer.
As expected, Coppola’s “Megalopolis” dive-bombed in its second weekend, dropping almost out of the top 10 with just $1.1 million in its second weekend, 74% less than its already bad opening weekend. With $6.5 million grossed in North America, expect it to join other recent Lionsgate releases by losing most of its 1,854 theaters on Friday.
The family adventure film, “Monster Summer,” starring Mel Gibson and Lorraine Bracco, was released into 1,193 theaters where it made $622,000 to end up outside the top 10.
The Saorsie Ronan Sundance drama, “The Outrun,” was released by Sony Pictures Classics into 508 theaters on Friday, where it’s estimated to have made $334,249, averaging $657 per location.
As far as this week’s box office prediction game, most players had “Joker” winning at the box office, but only 23 players had it making between $25 and $50 million, and then 31 players had “Speak No Evil” remaining in fifth place.
Once again, only two players had perfect scores in the Sept. 27 game with “lucberthelette” coming out just ahead of “Random” by playing their Super Bets for 15,499 points. (Don’t forget to play those Super Bets, players!)
Next weekend is going to be particularly busy with five or six new wide releases, but the ones of most interest will probably be the gory slasher, “Terrifier 3;” Jason Reitman’s “Saturday Night” expanding nationwide; the Pharrell Williams doc, “Piece by Piece”; the Donald Trump biopic, “The Apprentice;” and more!
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