By Lindsey Bahr
LOS ANGELES (AP) --Gru and the minions celebrated a second week in first place at the North American box office this weekend, while a small horror movie called “Longlegs” upset the starry $100 million “Fly Me to the Moon.”
The supremacy of ” Despicable Me 4 ” was hardly a surprise, as the Universal and Illumination franchise added $44.7 million and pushed the film over $200 million, according to studio estimates Sunday. But the big upset came further down the charts with ” Longlegs ” more than doubling the debut of the Scarlett Johansson and Channing Tatum romantic comedy ” Fly Me to the Moon.”
“Longlegs,” an original horror about a serial killer starring Maika Monroe and Nicolas Cage, made an estimated $22.6 million from 2,510 theaters. That’s the best ever start for indie outfit Neon (most famous for releasing the Oscar-winning “Parasite”), which acquired the $10 million film for distribution. Written and directed by Osgood Perkins, “Longlegs” also scored the best opening for an R-rated film this year.
Neon deployed an innovative marketing strategy for the film, including touches like placing cipher messages in local newspapers and posting a Los Angeles billboard with a phone number that played an “unnerving” message. In its first 48 hours, the number received over 250,000 calls.
“Longlegs” was well-received by critics (it has an 87% on Rotten Tomatoes), but audiences gave it a less enthusiastic a C+ CinemaScore.
“Fly Me to the Moon,” an Apple Original Films production, launched with only $10 million over the weekend. It trailed holdovers “Inside Out 2,” in third with $20.8 million; and “A Quiet Place: Day One,” in fourth place with $11.8 million.
Sony distributed “Fly Me to the Moon,” the Greg Berlanti-directed film about a marketing executive brought in to sell the space race to the American public, and, later, stage a fake moon landing just in case. Apple has not yet announced when it will debut on its streaming service.
The movie opened in 3,356 locations this weekend, attracting an audience that was mostly over 45. In this case, the audience was kinder than the critics, giving it an A- CinemaScore against a 67% on Rotten Tomatoes, suggesting that word-of-mouth may work in its favor over the long run.
The year-to-date gap between box office performance this year and last is getting moderately slimmer. It’s now down 16.1% from 2023 thanks to a run of recent successes. But performance still pales in comparison to pre-pandemic standards. On July 14 in 2019, the annual box office take was at $6.2 billion. This year it’s at $4.1 billion so far.
“A very unpredictable summer movie season continues,” said Paul Dergarabedian, the senior media analyst for Comscore. “And after a slow start in May (it) has continued to surprise and impress with expected as well as unexpected hits adding bottom-line dollars to the industry’s most important season.”
In limited release, A24 opened ” Sing Sing,” an early Oscar contender, in four theaters in New York and Los Angeles. With sellouts in both locations, it made $137,119, one of the best limited openings of the year. The film from director Greg Kwedar is about an arts program at the prison and features many real life participants, including Clarence Maclin in his film debut. “Sing Sing” will continue playing on four screens through July and expand nationwide in August.
Finally, “Twisters,” which opens in North America on Thursday, began its international rollout this weekend, earning $11.5 million from 38 markets including in Australia, Mexico and Brazil.
In its wake comes “Deadpool & Wolverine,” the first Marvel release of the summer.
Estimated ticket sales are for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Comscore. Final domestic figures will be released Monday.
1. “Despicable Me 4,” $44.7 million.
2. “Longlegs,” $22.6 million.
3. “Inside Out 2,” $20.8 million.
4. “A Quiet Place: Day One,” $11.8 million.
5. “Fly Me to the Moon,” $10 million.
6. “Bad Boys: Ride or Die,” $4.4 million.
7. “Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 1,” $2.4 million.
8. “MaXXXine,” $2.1 million.
9. “Indian 2,” $2 million.
10. “Sound of Hope: The Story of Possum Trot,” $1.3 million.
Phil Donahue, Who Ruled Daytime Talk Until Oprah Overtook Him, Left A Lasting Imprint
For nearly two decades, Phil Donahue was virtually the only TV talk show host to roam his audience with microphone and make them an essential part of his show.
His huge cultural influence — especially with the women who tended to watch television during the day in his era — finally led to a flock of cultural imitators in the 1980s, including one who would eventually knock him off his perch.
"For a long time I wondered why it took so long for someone to copy us," Donahue told the Archive of American Television in 2001. "Then along came Oprah Winfrey. It is not possible to overstate the enormity of her impact on the daytime television game."
Donahue died Sunday at age 88 after a long illness.
"I lost my sweetheart last night," Donahue's wife, the actor Marlo Thomas, wrote on Instagram Monday, saying she would be stepping away from social media "to take care of myself and the many people who took care of Phil, and held him close to their hearts."
Winfrey, among those paying him tribute after his death, was always first to acknowledge his importance.
"There wouldn't have been an Oprah Show without Phil Donahue being the first to prove that daytime talk and women watching should be taken seriously," she posted on Instagram on Monday along with a photo of the two embracing. "He was a pioneer. I'm glad I got to thank him for it. Rest in peace Phil."
By the time "Donahue" went off the air in 1996 after 29 years, nearly 7,000 episodes and 20 Emmy Awards, the daytime television landscape was littered with lookalikes.
Winfrey, based in Chicago like Donahue, premiered in 1985 and overtook him for good in the ratings starting in the 1986-87 season, though Donahue often pointed out that she "raised all boats," lifting... Read More