WEEKEND BOX OFFICE: Old Opens at No. 1 w/ Strong $16.5M, Snake Eyes Comes in 2nd w/ $13.35M

Following strong debuts by F9, Black Widow and Space Jam: A New Legacy over the past several weeks, the North American box office slowed down a tad this weekend as two new studio films — Universal’s Old and Paramount’s Snake Eyes: G.I. Joe Origins – debuted in theaters. After a close race, the former title ultimately won the weekend with an estimated $16.5M from 3,355 screens, demonstrating the continued power of horror in the North American marketplace following other recent genre successes such as A Quiet Place Part II, The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It and The Forever Purge.

Directed by M. Night Shyamalan, Old became the latest box office success story for the filmmaker – a run kicked off by 2015’s The Visit ($25.43M opening) and followed by 2016’s Split ($40.01M) and 2019’s Glass ($40.33M). While Old’s opening comes in at the lower end of the spectrum in terms of recent Shyamalan releases, its debut looks impressive in light of the film’s $18M reported budget. It may have been dinged slightly by mixed reviews (it currently stands at a 52% “Rotten” average on Rotten Tomatoes), though its theatrical exclusivity likely boosted grosses as audiences weren’t given an opportunity to watch the film at home this weekend. Sixty-two percent of the opening-weekend audience for Old was over the age of 25, while the crowd was almost evenly split between men (52%) and women (48%). In terms of Shyamalan releases, Old is the 14th film from the director to open above $15M and the seventh to debut at No. 1.

Coming closely behind Old in second place was Snake Eyes, which debuted to an estimated $13.35M – far below the openings of 2009’s G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra ($54.7M) and 2013’s G.I. Joe: Retaliation ($40.5M). The standalone origin story/franchise reboot starring Henry Golding may have been affected somewhat by mixed-to-negative reviews (it’s at 42% “Rotten” on Rotten Tomatoes) and its relative lack of star power; the two previous entries in the series starred heavy-hitters such as Dwayne Johnson and Channing Tatum. Predictably, men made up a full 60% of the opening-weekend audience, while half were under the age of 25. Like Old, Snake Eyes was given an exclusive theatrical window – 45 days in Snake Eyes’ case, after which it will make its debut on the Paramount+ streaming service.

Black Widow finished in third place in its third weekend of release with an estimated $11.6M, a 55% drop from last weekend. The Disney/Marvel release has banked $154.8M so far, putting it just 6% behind the pace of 2018’s Ant-Man and the Wasp, which had taken in $165M by the end of its third weekend. The latter film finished its domestic run with $216.65M. Black Widow is now the fastest pandemic-era film to top $150M.

After opening to $31.05M in first place last weekend, Space Jam: A New Legacy plummeted to No. 4 with an estimated $9.56M, marking a steep 69% drop from its debut. The Warner Bros. release, which debuted day-and-date on HBO Max, has proven to be a front-loaded title in theaters, with its streaming availability likely leading many families with young kids to watch the film at home. The sequel’s total stands at $51.37M to date.

F9 finished in fifth place with an estimated $4.7M in its fifth weekend, bringing the Universal sequel’s total to $163.3M. That paces it about 4% ahead of 2019’s Hobbs & Shaw, which had $157.27M by the same point in its run and finished with $173.96 in North America.

Escape Room: Tournament of Champions dropped to sixth place in its sophomore frame with an estimated $3.4M, representing a steep 61% decline from its $8.8M debut. The $15M-budgeted Sony sequel has $16.05M to date — only about half of what the first film had through the end of its second weekend. It’s likely the film’s audience was cut into somewhat by Old, another PG-13 horror-thriller catering to a similar audience.

Two Universal sequels, The Boss Baby: Family Business and The Forever Purge, took seventh and eighth place in their fourth weekends of release with an estimated $2.7M and $2.3M, respectively. Their totals stand at $50.1M and $40.3M so far.

Paramount’s A Quiet Place Part II slipped to ninth place in its ninth weekend with an estimated $1.25M, giving the horror sequel $157.52M to date.

Focus Features’ Roadrunner: A Film About Anthony Bourdain rounded out the top 10 with an estimated $830k. The heavily-publicized documentary has $3.7M through the end of its second weekend.

The final new release of the weekend, Joe Bell starring Mark Wahlberg, had a soft opening outside the top 10 with an estimated $770k from 1,094 locations, giving it a per-screen average of just $646.

OVERSEAS

Black Widow racked up an estimated $14.5M in 48 territories, bringing its international total to $160.1M and its worldwide total to $314.9M. Top-grossing overseas markets for the MCU entry are Korea ($23.1M), the U.K. ($19M) and France ($12.9M). The film has yet to open in China, where it hasn’t yet received a release date.

Space Jam: A New Legacy grossed an estimated $12.6M from 66 markets, taking its international tally to $42.6M and its global cume to $94M.

F9 took in an estimated $11.59M in 59 territories, bringing its overseas total to an impressive $457.87M and its global total to $621.26M. Notably, the Fast & Furious sequel is the first Hollywood film to top $600M global since Jumanji: The Next Level reached the milestone in January 2020.

The Boss Baby: Family Business grossed an estimated $7.19M in 18 territories, bringing its international total to $11.15M and its global cume to $61.28M.

Old debuted to an estimated $6.5M in 23 markets, including a $2.1M opening in Russia and $1.1M in the U.K. and Ireland.

Studio Weekend Estimates: June 23-25, 2021