By Jake Coyle, Film Writer
NEW YORK (AP) --The stylized action romp "Bullet Train," starring Brad Pitt, arrived with a $30.1 million opening weekend, according to studio estimates Sunday, as the last big movie of Hollywood's summer recovery landed in theaters.
The "Bullet Train" debut for Sony Pictures was solid but unspectacular for a movie that cost $90 million to make and was propelled by Pitt's substantial star power. Even if it holds well in coming weeks, movie theaters have no major studio releases on the horizon for the rest of August, and few sure things to look forward to in early fall.
While late summer is always a quiet period in theaters, it will be especially so this year — and likely to sap some of the momentum stirred by "Top Gun: Maverick," "Jurassic World: Dominion," "Minions: The Rise of Gru" and others. After a comeback season that pushed the box office close to pre-pandemic levels, it's about to get pretty quiet in cinemas.
"It's definitely going to be quieter, like the calm after the storm," said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst for data firm Comscore. "But that doesn't mean there's not going to be great movies out there and perhaps the good will generated by some of those films might be enough to buoy the box office until we get into the blockbuster corridor with 'Black Panther: Wakanda Forever' and 'Avatar 2' down the road. We have to expect that we're not going to be able to keep up the pace we had this summer."
As the last big summer movie to leave the station, "Bullet Train" hopes to keep riding for the coming weeks. That would be in line with the playbook of some other original, August-released summer movies like "Free Guy" and "Crazy Rich Asians." Directed by David Leitch ("Atomic Blonde," "Deadpool 2"), "Bullet Train" gathers a number of assassins (co-stars include Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Brian Tyree Henry) together on a speeding train running from Tokyo to Kyoto.
As one of the few original would-be summer blockbusters without big-name intellectual property behind it, the R-rated "Bullet Train" might have come into the weekend with more momentum if reviews had been stronger. With a low 54% fresh rating from critics on Rotten Tomatoes, "Bullet Train" was only slightly better received by audiences, who gave the film a B+ CinemaScore. The film added $32.4 million in overseas box office.
The weekend's other new wide release, "Easter Sunday," struggled to catch on. The Universal Pictures comedy, starring comic Jo Koy as an actor attending his family's Easter Sunday celebration, won praise for its Filipino representation but drew even worse reviews than "Bullet Train." It opened with $5.3 million in ticket sales.
Instead, "Bullet Train" was trailed by a number of holdovers, including Warner Bros.' "DC League of Pets." The animated release grossed $11.2 million in its second week of release.
Jordan Peele's "Nope," the Universal sci-fi horror release, continued to perform well, earning $8.5 million in its third weekend. With $98 million in tickets sold, "Nope" will soon surpass $100 million at the domestic box office.
Taika Waititi's "Thor: Love and Thunder," for the Walt Disney Co., came in fourth with $7.6 million in its fifth weekend. It's now up to $316.1 million, making it the highest grossing Thor movie domestically. With $699 million globally, "Love and Thunder" is less likely to catch the $854 million worldwide haul of 2017's "Thor: Ragnarok."
In limited release, A24's "Bodies Bodies Bodies" launched on six screens in New York and Los Angeles with $226,525 in ticket sales, good for a per-screen average of $37,754. The horror comedy about rich 20-somethings at a remote house party, with a cast including Amandla Sternberg, Maria Bakalova and Pete Davidson, expands nationwide on Friday.
Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Comscore. Final domestic figures will be released Tuesday.
1. "Bullet Train," $30.1 million.
2. "DC League of Super Pets," $11.2 million.
3. "Nope," $8.5 million.
4. "Thor: Love and Thunder," $7.6 million.
5. "Minions: The Rise of Gru," $7.1 million.
6. "Top Gun: Maverick," $7 million.
7. "Where the Crawdads Sing," $5.7 million.
8. "Easter Sunday," $5.3 million.
9. "Elvis," $4 million.
10. "The Black Phone," $1.5 million.
“Heretic” and “Maria” Set As Red Carpet Premieres At AFI Fest
The American Film Institute (AFI) has announced that Heretic, the psychological thriller starring Hugh Grant, and Maria, based on the life of opera singer Maria Callas starring Angelina Jolie, will round out the Red Carpet Premieres section at this year’s AFI Fest. The Heretic Gala Screening will take place on Thursday, October 24, and the Maria Gala Screening will be held on Saturday, October 26. The complete Red Carpet Premieres section includes the world premieres of Music By John Williams, Robert Zemeckis’ Here, Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl and Clint Eastwood’s Juror #2. All Red Carpet Premieres will take place at the historic TCL Chinese Theatre. The full lineup for AFI Fest 2024 will be unveiled on October 1.
“At the heart of AFI Fest is an unwavering dedication to celebrating the best in global cinema--together,” said Bob Gazzale, AFI president and CEO. “We look forward to uniting artists and audiences once again to be inspired by the art form in a powerful sense of community.”
Heretic follows two young missionaries (Sophie Thatcher and Chloe East) who are forced to prove their faith when they knock on the wrong door and are greeted by a diabolical Mr. Reed (portrayed by Grant), becoming ensnared in his deadly game of cat-and-mouse. The film is directed by Scott Beck and Bryan Woods and produced by Stacey Sher, Beck, Woods, Julia Glausi and Jeanette Volturno. The film will be released nationwide by A24 on November 8.
Directed by Pablo Larraín, Maria presents a tumultuous and beautiful depiction of one of the world’s most renowned artists and reimagines the legendary soprano in her final days in Paris, as Callas (Jolie)... Read More