M. Night Shyamalan’s self-financed Old is the director’s seventh film to open at #1 (out of 12 films, beginning with The Sixth Sense). Old made $16.5 million, about 40 percent of the openings earned by his last two films Glass and Split.
Unlike other Universal genre titles, this one will not have an early PVOD release. Since the public probably isn’t aware of that decision, it’s possible that the presumption of early home viewing, as well as increased Covid anxieties, might have contributed to what is Shyamalan’s lowest-grossing opener.
This weeks #2 film, Snake Eyes, opened to $13.25 million. It’s an origin film starring Henry Golding from Paramount’s G.I. Joe franchise. Earlier G.I. Joe films opened to $55 million (2009) and $40 million (20013)
Marvel’s Black Widow continues her way down the list as the film dropped from last week’s #2 to #3, beating out Space Jam: A New Legacy which beat out Black Widow for the steepest week two decline, falling a whopping 69% drop off, landing at #4 on the list.
Rounding out the top five at the weekend box office was F9, making $4.7 million in its fifth weekend. This brings the Fast and Furious franchise’s ninth installment to a domestic total of $158.6 million, placing it above A Quiet Place Part II for the highest-grossing domestic film of the year (so far).
Further down the list, Universal’s The Boss Baby: Family Business and The Forever Purge settle into the $55 million and $45 million regions. Sony is not having any greater success with their sequel, Escape Room: Tournament of Champions, which can only hope to hit $20 million at this point.
The Anthony Bourdain documentary, Roadrunner, however, managed to hold on another weekend in the top 10, dropping from #8 to #10 and is up to $3.7 million.
1. Old (Universal) NEW – Cinemascore: C+; Metacritic: 53; Est. budget: $18 million
$16,500,000 in 3,355 theaters; PTA: $4,918; Cumulative: $16,500,000
2. Snake Eyes (Paramount) NEW – Cinemascore: B-; Metacritic: 43; Est. budget: $88 million
$13,350,000 in 3,521 theaters; PTA: $3,792; Cumulative: $13,350,000
3. Black Widow (Disney) Week 3; Last weekend #2; also on PVOD via Disney+
$11,600,000 (-55%) in 4,250 theaters (-25); PTA: $2,729; Cumulative: $154,807,000
4. Space Jam: A New Legacy (Warner Bros.) Week 2; Last weekend #1; also on HBO Max
$9,560,000 (-69%) in 4,002 theaters (+37); PTA: $2,389; Cumulative: $51,368,000
5. F9 (Universal) Week 5; Last weekend #4
$4,700,000 (-40%) in 2,850 theaters (-518); PTA: $614; Cumulative: $163,300,000
6. Escape Room: Tournament of Champions (Sony) Week 2; Last weekend #3
$3,400,000 (-61%) in 2,815 theaters (no change); PTA: $1,208; Cumulative: $16,048,000
7. The Boss Baby: Family Business (Universal) Week 4; Last weekend #5; also on Peacock
$2,700,000 (-43%) in 2,773 theaters (-676); PTA: $970; Cumulative: $50,100,000
8. The Forever Purge (Universal) Week 4; Last weekend #6; also on PVOD
$2,300,000 (-44%) in 2,113 theaters (-622); PTA: $1,088; Cumulative: $40,300,000
9. A Quiet Place Part II (Paramount) Week 9; Last weekend #7; also on PVOD and Paramount Plus
$1,250,000 (-44%) in 1,367 theaters (-628); PTA: $914; Cumulative: $157,524,000
10. Roadrunner: A Film About Anthony Bourdain (Focus) Week 2; Last weekend #8
$830,000 (-58%) in 954 theaters (+29); PTA: $; Cumulative: $3,702,000
Last week’s #10, Neon’s Pig with Nicolas Cage giving an excellent performance as a reclusive truffle hunter searching for his stolen pig continued strong in its second weekend, earning $565k in 588 locations for a per theater average of $961 and a cumulative through Sunday of over $2 million.
REELated: Georgia production spending hits record $4 billion
This weekend’s numbers really needed to be better. Neither Old nor Joe, were necessarily an unequivocal hits and past precedents suggested much better, however, these are not “normal” times. Nonetheless, this week had the ability to show improvement with a strong lineup of holdovers as well as two credible openers. Unfortunately, grosses are down 27% from last weekend.
