While it didn’t come anywhere close to breaking Venom: Let There Be Carnage’s pandemic-record $90.03M debut last weekend, No Time to Die had a strong opening as the fifth-largest opening weekend this year earning $56 million at the North American Box Office, which is actually a little short of it’s $60 million to $70 million projection.
Nonetheless, Daniel Craig’s final outing as James Bond easily took the top spot in North America and knocked Venom: Let There Be Carnage down to the #2 position in its second week exclusively in theaters.
Directed by Cary Joji Fukunaga and co-starring Rami Malek, Lea Seydoux, Lashana Lynch and Ralph Fiennes, the latest 007 adventure cost $250 million to produce and at least another $100 million to promote through a challenging global pandemic and a substantial release delay.
Last week’s other two openings, both with home VOD availability, had different trajectories. The Addams Family 2 followed its surprisingly strong debut with a 42% drop from #2 to #3. The initially poor numbers from the horrendous The Many Saints of Newark (Warner Bros.) fell 67%, dropping quickly down the top ten list from #4 to #5 at the Box Office.
In it’s 6th week at the box office, exclusively in theaters, Disney/Marvel’s Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings is still holding strong after an incredible 4 weeks holding onto the top spot and only beginning its descent down the list last week when Venom: Let There Be Carnage took over as #1 and knocked Shang-Chi down to #3. This week the film moved down only one spot from 3rd to 4th.
Disney/20th Century Studios’ Free Guy finished in 6th place with an estimated $1.3M in its 9th weekend exclusively in theaters, bringing the total for the Ryan Reynolds action-comedy to $119.68M cumulative.
Two new titles entered the top 10 including Lamb, A24’s Icelandic genre drama ($1 million in 583 theaters), which is tied for #7 with Universal’s Dear Evan Hansen with an estimated $1,000,000 in its third weekend, bringing the total for the Broadway musical adaptation to $13.7M. Doctor (Hamsini), a Tamil-language Indian film, squeaked into #10 in with $220,000 estimated in 111 theaters.
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Lamb is about A childless couple in rural Iceland who make an alarming discovery one day in their sheep barn. They soon face the consequences of defying the will of nature, in this dark and atmospheric folktale, the striking debut feature from director Valdimar Jóhannsson.
Doctor is a 2021 Indian Tamil-language action thriller film directed by Nelson Dilipkumar. The film stars Sivakarthikeyan who also produced it under his banner Sivakarthikeyan Productions. The film is about Varun who is a military doctor who visits Chennai and gets caught up in the pursuit of a missing girl. How Varun and six others take on human/organ trafficking lords forms the rest of the story.
Universal’s historic and record-breaking Candyman finished at #9 with an estimated $700k in its seventh weekend, totaling $60 million.
1. No Time to Die (United Artists) NEW – Cinemascore: A-; Metacritic: 69; Est. budget: $275 million
$56,007,000 in 4,407 theaters; PTA: $12,709; Cumulative: $56,007,000
2. Venom: Let There Be Carnage (Sony) Week 2; Last weekend #1
$32,000,000 (-64%) in 4,225 (no change) theaters; PTA: $7,574; Cumulative: $141,666,000
3. The Addams Family 2 (United Artists) Week 2; Last weekend #2; also on Premium VOD
$10,109,000 (-42%) in 4,207 (no change) theaters; PTA: $2,382; Cumulative: $31,141,000
4. Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (Disney) Week 6; Last weekend #3
$4,200,000 (-31%) in 2,800 (-655) theaters; PTA: $1,500; Cumulative: $212,457,000
5. The Many Saints of Newark (Warner Bros.) Week 2; Last weekend #4; also on HBO Max
$1,450,000 (-69%) in 3,181 (no change) theaters; PTA: $456; Cumulative: $7,407,000
6. Free Guy (Disney) Week 9; Last weekend #6; also on Premium VOD
$1,300,000 (-43%) in 1,495 (-1,050) theaters; PTA: $; Cumulative: $119,681,000
7. (tie) Lamb (A24) NEW – Metacritic: 71; Festivals include: Cannes 2021
$1,000,000 in 583 theaters; PTA: $1,715; Cumulative: $1,000,000
7. (tie) Dear Evan Hansen (Universal) Week 3; Last weekend #5
$1,000,000 (-43%) in 1,927 (-1,427) theaters; PTA: $519; Cumulative: $13,706,000
9. Candyman (Universal) Week 7; Last weekend #7; also on Premium VOD
$700,000 (-45%) in 1,153 (-692) theaters; PTA: $607; Cumulative: $60,007,000
10. Doctor (Hamsini) NEW
$(est.) 220,000 in 119 theaters; PTA: $1,849; Cumulative: $(est.) 220,000
Expectations were high for No Time to Die, especially after the recent success of Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings and Venom: Let There Be Carnage, two theatrical exclusives that suggested audiences were ready to return to cinemas. Unfortunately the Box Office numbers are showing that Bond’s key demographic isn’t as ready to venture out to theaters as originally projected.
Joia DaVida reports on the entertainment industry in both Chicago and Los Angeles.
