Murphy's Multiverse

Tag: Box Office

  • ‘Blue Beetle’ Faces Box Office Blues Heading to $25M Opening Weekend

    ‘Blue Beetle’ Faces Box Office Blues Heading to $25M Opening Weekend

    DC Comics is just having a harsh time at the box office this year. While Marvel Studios’ worst remains a dream for most releases this year (Quantumania still remains in the Top 10 of this year’s box office; that’s how bad it’s been this summer), their biggest competitor in the superhero genre is facing some box office blues. After The Flash ran out of steam, Blue Beetle is set to open to around $25M by the end of this weekend.

    Early numbers are pointing to it opening around $9.8M on Frida including previews. The film has a big push from Latino audiences and remains a big theater release but with previews at $3.3M, it’s lower than Shazam! Fury of the Gods earlier this year. With some strong word-of-mouth, the film could still move towards $32M and will finally dethrone Barbie, who is looking at a strong $24M in its fifth weekend.

    Word-of-mouth could still give the film a boost, but it not hitting Shazam’s $11.7M isn’t a good sign that it’ll start beating expectations. The film cost $104M which is lower than others in the market given the habits of $200M+ price tags, but still won’t really make its money back. Review scores are higher than that film and its CinemaScore could give us an indication of where the film is heading.

    Its only real new competition this weekend is Strays. Though the raunchy comedy wasn’t loved by critics and is seemingly heading to a $8.5M opening weekend. At the cost of $46M, it’s not a great sign either for the film. As much as people want Barbenheimer to be the sign of cinema healing, it’s definitely the exception once again rather than the rule. People aren’t tired of sequels, they are just far more selective and it’s hurting overall.

    Source: Deadline

  • ‘Blue Beetle’ Early Projections Heading for a $17M Opening Weekend

    ‘Blue Beetle’ Early Projections Heading for a $17M Opening Weekend

    Yeah, you read that right. Things are not looking good for Blue Beetle. The next installment in the DC(E)U is only a few weeks away from hitting theaters. yet, there’s a noticeable lack in marketing for the latest addition that’ll explore the story of young Jamie Reyes as he becomes the iconic hero. Sadly, Warner Bros. Discovery is not going all out to market the film and the fangs of The Flash’s slip is showing.

    Superhero films have become a dime a dozen, so audiences (especially this year) are more selective about what they want to watch and what not. It’s why we had a surprisingly brutal summer box office with very few real “winners” out there. While some films are managing to leg out, it’s not really rosy for the “big return” of the summer box office.

    As such, the film is currently projected to open to $12M to $17M. Yes, that is what it’ll likely make over its entire opening weekend with a total range not going any higher than $55M. While we don’t know the budget of the film, it’s still a worse performance than Shazam! Fury of the Gods earlier this year.

    While some talk a lot about superhero fatigue, it’s just a blockbuster fatigue overall and people are more selective on what they watch in theaters. Prices are skyrocketing so the expectation on what a film can do is higher than ever before. Blue Beetle was barely marketed and the last two DC films fell flat on their noses. So, it’s just looking like people don’t truly trust the brand enough for it to be worth their money.

    Source: BoxOffice Pro

  • ‘Mission Impossible 7’ Opens Softly Domestically But Makes Up for it Internationally

    ‘Mission Impossible 7’ Opens Softly Domestically But Makes Up for it Internationally

    2023 remains a rough year for entertainment, while writers and actors are fighting for their livelihood, it looks like people just aren’t that big into going to the movie theaters anymore, or at least not as frequent. If not even Tom Cruise can bring in the audience after last year’s mega release of Top Gun: Maverick, it may be a bigger showcase of just how rough this year has been.

    Mission Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One has opened at the top of the box office this weekend, but managed to pull in a soft $56.2M over three days. It did have the benefit of a five-day opening and managed to push forward towards around $80M, it’s still a far shot from the initial $90M that was expected from Cruise’s star power. Perhaps Maverick was more about the adrenaline than what he was cooking up.

    Ticket sales are behind 2018’s Fallout, which still is the highest-grossing of the franchise, and even behind Mission Impossible II released in 2000. Though, the five-day total is higher than the first and it does have a strong A CinemaScore which will likely give it some good legs moving forward. Though competition is stiff at the moment with Barbie and Oppenheimer likely to bite into it.

    The issue, a common one by now, is that it has a similar price tag to Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny at around $300M. While it has a bit more staying power given stronger reception and audience score, it’s still an uphill battle either way. The starts and stops of COVID are being highlighted as one major issue as to why its budget increased as it did. Though one could also argue the same for most productions releasing now that faced COVID limitations and ballooning budgets, but there hasn’t been much reporting on those cases oddly until now.

    The film did, however, makeup with its release internationally at around $155M. Though China remains the same weak box office release as it has with other productions since they allowed Western productions back in. The rest of the weekend was rounded up with other recent releases. Indiana Jones passed $302M globally while Insidious: The Red Door is showing some good holds. Even Elemental managed to pass the $300M mark and stands proud at $311.7M.

    Source: Variety

  • ‘Indiana Jones 5’ Holds On as the New ‘Insidious’ Takes the Top Spot

    ‘Indiana Jones 5’ Holds On as the New ‘Insidious’ Takes the Top Spot

    That B+ AudienceScore is showing its fangs, as Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny has slipped to the second spot in its second weekend. While not every blockbuster needs to hold on to the top spot, the film simply had a disappointing $60M opening with a $295M production budget. It would need to make at least around $800M to make its money box, and it’ll need to leg out to make back its money.

    Though, while some are calling this a bad slip, it still dropped “only” 56% from its opening weekend. Putting that into perspective with The Flash opening to a $55M but slipping by 72% with a similar rating shows that Indiana Jones at least has some staying power moving forward. Though it also has quite a bit of competition that might bring that hold to a quick end potentially, it drop still could’ve been better which may be why the reactions are surfacing as they are.

    The big winner of the weekend was Insidious‘ return with a $31.4M opening weekend, which is slightly beyond the initial expectations. Insidious: The Red Door was created with only $16M when compared to other films and has shown a curious twist of smaller budgets making up for bigger blockbuster releases. Though, horror moviegoers remain committed while the general audience is a bit more cautious at the moment.

    Joy Ride is the other major release of the weekend that opened with $5.85M. While many are pointing to “smaller budget means more money,” it does seem like that isn’t always the case. The irony is also that the original small-budget release is trailing behind while the IP-focused entry is the one making money. So, we’re just seeing the usual blockbuster developments on a smaller scale than usual.

    Source: Variety, The Wrap

  • ‘Indiana Jones 5’ Underwhelms With $60M Opening Weekend

    ‘Indiana Jones 5’ Underwhelms With $60M Opening Weekend

    Going into the summer, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3‘s opening box office was the talk of the town. Many pointed out that it would be on the lowest end of what has been released yet it somehow managed to be the best-performing live-action blockbuster all season. Animation hits like Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse and The Super Mario Bros. Film have shown some strong legs, it’s been a rough year in 2023 even as cinemas had hit after hit ready to release.

    Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny is the next in line with a soft opening box office at $60M. It is a dream for a smaller project, but the film costs a whopping $295M excluding its marketing costs. So, it would take incredible legs for the film to end up profitable though the B+ CinemaScore is weighing that chance down quite a bit. It almost feels like the box office has lost all momentum, as many films in the previous weeks have just not been performing as one would hope.

    Sadly, the film didn’t do much better internationally, as it pulled in $70M which is lower than even what The Flash did. So far, only Fast X managed to speed past anyone in its international box office while most are trying to even hit Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3′s opening, which was slightly mocked for being lower than Marvel’s usual. Who would’ve known that they were performing as usual just matching the overall year’s performance.

    This weekend proved that not even animation is a safe bet, as DreamWorks debuts its latest film, Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken, at $5.2M over the weekend. That is quite a disappointing box office for the film after the earlier success they saw with Puss in Boots: The Last Wish. So, while The Super Mario Bros. Movie and the latest Spider-Verse film made us believe families are back in theaters, harsh reality has set in once again.

    It gets worse once you realize that The Flash, one of Warner Bros. biggest bets and highest hopes of the summer, fell to the 8th spot in its third weekend. It now only made $5M and hasn’t even crossed $100M yet after that harsh 67% drop. It’s especially painful for high-budget fare that has been whelming or just disappointing at the box office this summer.

    What exactly is the cause? Perhaps exhibitors were just a tad too excited going into the summer as they piled on film after film. Yet, the prices have not gone down and continue to soar which makes people’s choices way more selective going in. Plus, there was already an onslaught of films early in the year which means interest has just slowed down if the film isn’t reaching a much higher threshold than usual; not surprising given what one is looking for to justify the prices or just wait it out until streaming. Add in high production budgets that are all-in on making their money back and Hollywood is facing a bit of an uphill battle.

    Source: Variety

  • ‘Indiana Jones 5’ Heading to a Soft $65M Domestic Opening Weekend

    ‘Indiana Jones 5’ Heading to a Soft $65M Domestic Opening Weekend

    Indiana Jones is a household name and while it’s a franchise that has way more breaks between releases than others, the nostalgia factor alone would seem like the perfect draw for audiences. Yet, it seems that even Harrison Ford’s return to the iconic role isn’t going to be putting a lot of butts in the cinemas. As of now, the film seems to be heading to a $65M opening weekend in 4,500 theaters.

    Globally, it’s not looking too much larger as it’s heading towards $80M with a potential total of $150M worldwide. Now, that isn’t a terrible start mind you but the issue lies in the fact that the film costs around $295M. That is excluding marketing and promotion costs, which makes it the most expensive entry in the franchise. So, the film has a long shot at turning a profit.

    It’s also set to open below Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, which pulled in $100M in May of 2008. That film went on to make $790M globally and remains the highest-grossing entry of the franchise. James Mangold is taking over from Steven Spielberg with Dial of Destiny, but it seems a mixed reception from critics due to a risky Cannes showcase that may be backfiring on Disney and Lucasfilm.

    The film could still make a decent amount but it would need to make at least 600M to cover its production budget with another 200M minimum to cover its marketing budget, which might be far more expensive than we think. So, it’s a high gamble from Disney and who knows if they’ll be willing to do the same. This lower opening also continues to highlight that what some are trying to call superhero fatigue is affecting the entire blockbuster scene. Did theaters overestimate how ready audiences are set to return?

    Source: Variety

  • Animation Wins the Weekend as ‘The Flash’ Drops by 72%

    Animation Wins the Weekend as ‘The Flash’ Drops by 72%

    Ouch! It looks like The Flash isn’t doing so well as it dropped by 72% in its second weekend. DC’s biggest release of the year is not performing as “the best superhero movie” would, as it’s been completely overtaken by two animated projects. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse continues to show its legs and overtook the film while Elemental is only slightly behind. No Hard Feelings shows that R-rated projects still have some energy in them.

    The Flash overall pulled in $15.3M over the weekend, which is a sharp decline in its second weekend. As such, the film is only behind Morbius with the second-worst drop of any superhero film. As such, even bad performers Black Adam and Shazam! Fury of the Gods had better holds in its second weekend, the latter dropping around 69% on an even smaller opening. As such, the film may have passed $200M, but it’s unclear if it’ll even reach $300M at this rate.

    Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse returned to the top spot with $19.3M and already passed $560M globally. Has a decent chance of probably ending its total run at around $700M. Elemental even showed that a bad opening doesn’t mean the film could make up for it. It dropped only 37% which might not quite help with its $200M budget but if it keeps the pacing it could at least try to balance it out as much as possible. As of now, it placed second with $18.5M and stands at $121M.

    Jennifer Lawrence made her grand return to theaters with the raunchy No Hard Feelings, which opened pretty decent. $15M is a good start and better than some other R-rated comedies though won’t compete with Cocaine Bear. The big surprise is that not a single film managed to pass $30M this summer weekend, which is bizarre considering just how stacked the summer was going in. Either we’re seeing people become very selective about what they watch, or the box office still has quite a time to go before it heals.

    Source: Variety, Twitter, The Numbers

  • ‘The Flash’ Stumbles to a 70%+ Drop in its Second Weekend

    ‘The Flash’ Stumbles to a 70%+ Drop in its Second Weekend

    The Flash may be far removed from what Zack Snyder once started, but it seems it’s about to overtake Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice’s box office drop. After a soft opening in its first weekend at $55.7M, far below initial expectations, the film is seemingly on its way to a heavy drop that’ll be likely above 70%. If you have a strong opening you might be able to balance it out, but this isn’t the case. As such, the film is dropping to third place after opening to $4.5M on Friday, which is an 81% drop.

    That drop is quite a bit higher than that of Green Latnern back in 2011, which only made around $116M and it’s unclear if this film will face a similar fate. It’s not looking good for the film to make enough money to make up its $200M+ production budget. Whiles some are liking this to be a sign of superhero fatigue, The Flash isn’t the only film that has lost quite a bit of momentum, and perhaps expectations for blockbusters generally have risen.

    Transformers: Rise of the Beasts proves that fact after a sharp 66% drop in its second weekend, but things are looking up a bit as the third is going a bit softer than initially expected. The film will drop around 45% and could still push the film to pass Bumblebee and Transformers: The Last Knight’s overall domestic box office gross.

    The big surprise though is Elemental is holding on. After the worst opening weekend for a Pixar film, its A CinemaScore is proving useful with a strong hold. It’ll likely only drop around 40% in its second weekend, which would push it further but it is still not likely to take the top spot. At the moment, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse is showing a stronger hold and has a good chance at retaking the top spot with a $18.2M weekend.

    The big release of the week, No Hard Feelings is doing pretty good. It pulled in $6.25M on Friday (incl. Thursday previews) putting it at the top spot for at least a day. It’s projected to make around $12M but it seems likely that the debut will land somewhere around $15M. It did take the day and while it’ll lose momentum it’s still not too bad of a showcase. Comedies sadly generally seem to be struggling at the box office, as many other films like The Machine, Bros, and Easter Sunday struggling with that R-rating.

    Source: Variety

  • ‘The Flash’ Stumbles to $55M in its Opening 3-Day Weekend

    ‘The Flash’ Stumbles to $55M in its Opening 3-Day Weekend

    It’s not looking good for releases this Juneteenth holiday weekend, as some of the biggest releases of the summer are not performing as one would hope. While most expected Elemental to have a softer opening due to Pixar’s unique situation with the Disney+ releases throughout the last few years, The Flash is a very different story. Yes, it was a troubled production due to its star but with a B CinemaScore, expectations still had it hitting around $70M throughout the three-day weekend.

    Early estimates after a softer-than-expected Friday did retract that to them reaching that high throughout a four-day weekend with at least $60M in the bank. Mixed word-of-mouth might not carry it throughout the upcoming weeks. However, it still had the potential that people pick it up afterward due to long-time fans wanting to relive the DCEU before it is closed completely. Though that B CinemaScore has been quite detrimental to recent films as it stands for an “I’ll get it on streaming later” kind of tepid reaction.

    Now, the film has hit a snag and is likely to open around $55.1M over three days. Four-day predictions range from a low $62M to $64M which doesn’t look good for the film to make up its ballooning budget. It would place the film even behind Black Adam’s $67M that it made in just three days. Though, that film had the star power of Dwayne Johnson to push it forward a bit even with a C-list character. Yet, one could argue that The Flash is one of the biggest members of the Justice League and should be a crowd-pleaser.

    Elemental continues to show a different side of the streaming issue due to it being set to open around $29.5M over a three-day weekend. That would make it the lowest opening weekend for any Pixar title since the original Toy Story almost 30 years ago. Also, it only pulled in $17M in its first 17 markets. Even an A CinemaScore will have to go a long way to build up that loss in box office revenue.

    Source: The Hollywood Reporter

  • ‘The Flash’ Losing Momentum as ‘Elemental’ Fizzles Out on Opening Weekend

    ‘The Flash’ Losing Momentum as ‘Elemental’ Fizzles Out on Opening Weekend

    It’s not looking too good for Warner Bros. Discovery’s ambitious direction with The Flash. They were all-in by not even promoting most of their DC line-up ahead of the DC Cinematic Universe revival. all their chips were set in the film that was mired with controversies due to its leading star, Ezra Miller, being caught in a slew of criminal acts. Now, the film has finally been released after a nine-year-long production hell and sadly, it’s not keeping up with what CEO David Zaslav may have hoped for.

    After a decent take of $9.7M in previews, the film opened to around $24.5M on Friday, which includes those previews. While the film is very likely still take the top spot, it doesn’t seem like the film might hit the hoped $85M over the weekend. It’s heading towards a similar opening to 2022’s Black Adam and 2018’s Aquaman. Though the latter had the holiday season to rack up more at the box office than the former.

    The film went all-in with a multiverse storyline, nostalgia bait with Michael Keaton back as Batman after 31 years, and Snyderverse callbacks like the return of Michael Shannon’s Zod. Most of the promotion mostly ignored Miller and primarily used the rest of its cast to promote the team. Yet, the big issue is the B CinemaScore, which puts it lower than Black Adam and Shazam! Fury of the Gods.

    Audiences have become quite a bit pickier in their cinematic flair. So, just doing the usual won’t keep you strong at the box office. Even Marvel isn’t safe as Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania pulled in a similar CinemaScore but seems to have a bigger life once it hit streaming. After training audiences that release windows are quite a bit shorter, they are willing (especially families) to wait it out if there’s not something that keeps them coming back.

    Deadline believes the film is heading to a likely $60M 3-day opening, which is even further away from the lower expectations the films had. It could use the Juneteenth holiday to grow to $70M over 4 days but that is even lower than what an Ant-Man film managed in its opening weekend earlier this year. Perhaps billing this film as “the greatest superhero movie ever made” has greatly backfired with the film having a low PostTrak exit of only 59% recommendation.

    That isn’t the only depressing news, as Elemental isn’t looking much better either. It’s likely not going to open above $30M, as it currently is projected to hit $28.5M over three days. It likely not even outpace Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse going into its third weekend. Estimates did, however, expect an opening around that size. It did get an A CinemaScore and people seem to love it. So, perhaps it can make up for it in upcoming weekends similar to some of Pixar’s earliest releases.

    Surprisingly, it seems that this weekend is generally not a good one for cinemas. Transformers: Rise of the Beasts has dropped considerably in its third weekend, as it currently stands to drop 68%, which could rival any of the biggest superhero drops throughout the last few years. It is ahead of Transformers: The Last Knight slightly, but it’s unclear if it might even break $130M in cinemas.

    Source: Variety, Deadline, The Wrap