By Andrew Dalton, Entertainment Writer
LOS ANGELES (AP) --The horror film "The Invitation" needed just $7 million to finish at the top of the weakest weekend of the summer at the North American box office, according to studio estimates Sunday.
Directed and co-written by Jessica M. Thompson and starring "Game of Thrones" actor Nathalie Emmanuel, "The Invitation" tells the story of a young woman who after her mother's death discovers dark secrets at her family home in the English countryside.
It debuted on 3,141 screens for Sony and cost just $10 million to make.
Sony also had the No. 2 movie with the Brad Pitt vehicle "Bullet Train," which brought in an estimated $5.6 million from 3,513 screens in its fourth week, bringing its domestic total to $78.2 million.
Universal's "Beast," starring Idris Elba, finished third with $4.9 million in its second week, after making $11.6 million and ranking second in its first.
Elba was also the star of the week's other major debut, "Three Thousand Years of Longing," the fantasy epic from "Mad Max" director George Miller, which brought in just $2.9 million on 2,436 screens and finished a distant and disappointing seventh.
The lagging results were no great surprise for this time of year.
"We're in that what is often the typical August slowdown heading into Labor Day weekend," said Paul Dergarabedian, the senior media analyst for Comscore. "This was to be expected given the lineup of films this weekend."
Paramount's "Top Gun: Maverick" remained in fourth in its 14th weekend in theaters with an additional $4.8 million. It has made over $691 million in North America to date, making it the sixth-highest grossing domestic release of all time.
Last week's No. 1, "Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero" plunged to fifth in its second weekend with $4.6 million after bringing in $20.1 million in its debut.
The weekend overall saw about $52.7 million in North American ticket sales — the slowest in months. A strong summer has meant that the year-to-date box office is still up significantly from a tepid 2021, but a long drought lies ahead until another surge of expected big earners such as "Halloween Ends" and "Black Adam," which will both be released in October.
Amid the quiet spell at the box office, movie tickets will be just $3 in the vast majority of American theaters as part of a newly launched " National Cinema Day " on Saturday. Major chains, including AMC and Regal Cinemas, are participating, as are all major film studios.
Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Comscore. Final domestic figures will be released Monday.
1. "The Invitation," $7 million.
2. "Bullet Train," $5.6 million.
3. "Beast," $4.9 million.
4. "Top Gun: Maverick," $4.8 million.
5. "Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero," $4.6 million.
6. "DC League of Super-Pets," $4.2 million.
7. "Three Thousand Years of Longing," $2.9 million
8. "Minions: The Rise of Gru," $2.74 million.
9. "Thor: Love and Thunder," $2.7 million.
10. "Where the Crawdads Sing," $2.3 million
After 20 Years of Acting, Megan Park Finds Her Groove In The Director’s Chair On “My Old Ass”
Megan Park feels a little bad that her movie is making so many people cry. It's not just a single tear either — more like full body sobs.
She didn't set out to make a tearjerker with "My Old Ass," now streaming on Prime Video. She just wanted to tell a story about a young woman in conversation with her older self. The film is quite funny (the dialogue between 18-year-old and almost 40-year-old Elliott happens because of a mushroom trip that includes a Justin Bieber cover), but it packs an emotional punch, too.
Writing, Park said, is often her way of working through things. When she put pen to paper on "My Old Ass," she was a new mom and staying in her childhood bedroom during the pandemic. One night, she and her whole nuclear family slept under the same roof. She didn't know it then, but it would be the last time, and she started wondering what it would be like to have known that.
In the film, older Elliott ( Aubrey Plaza ) advises younger Elliott ( Maisy Stella ) to not be so eager to leave her provincial town, her younger brothers and her parents and to slow down and appreciate things as they are. She also tells her to stay away from a guy named Chad who she meets the next day and discovers that, unfortunately, he's quite cute.
At 38, Park is just getting started as a filmmaker. Her first, "The Fallout," in which Jenna Ortega plays a teen in the aftermath of a school shooting, had one of those pandemic releases that didn't even feel real. But it did get the attention of Margot Robbie 's production company LuckyChap Entertainment, who reached out to Park to see what other ideas she had brewing.
"They were very instrumental in encouraging me to go with it," Park said. "They're just really even-keeled, good people, which makes... Read More