If I had a hammer
Last frame, Disney and Marvel Studios’ superhero sequel Thor: Love and Thunder began with $144.1M, the #30 opening weekend of all time.
This frame, it falls -68% to $46.0M, the #75 second weekend of all time.
That’s a sharper drop than any other pandemic-era MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe) title to receive theatrical exclusivity:
- May’s Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (-67%)
- 2021’s Spider-Man: No Way Home (also -67%), though its second weekend fell during arguably the single worst week of Covid-19’s Omicron wave.
- Eternals (-62%)
- Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (-54%)
- It also ties the second-weekend drop of Black Widow (-68%), though that film was released day-and-date simultaneously in cinemas and Disney+.
It’s also a steeper drop than any of Chris Hemsworth’s title character’s five prior installments:
- 2011’s Thor (-47%)
- 2013’s Thor: The Dark World (-57%)
- 2017’s Thor: Ragnarok (-53%)
- 2018’s Avengers: Infinity War (-55%)
- 2019’s Avengers: Endgame (-59%)
Overseas, Hammer stands at $264.6M, for $497.9M globally. Top market totals to date are:
- U.K. ($24.9M)
- Australia ($21.8M)
- South Korea ($21.0M)
- Mexico ($19.0M)
- India ($14.5M)
- Brazil ($13.2M)
- Indonesia ($10.6M)
- Germany ($10.3M)
‘Rise’ and fall
Two frames ago, Universal / Illumination’s animated sequel Minions: The Rise of Gru led with $107.0M, the #59 opening weekend of all time.
Last frame, it fell -57% to $46.1M, the #74 second weekend of all time. Among the five films in the Despicable Me / Minions franchise, that marked the second-steepest percentage drop, behind only 2015’s Minions.
Now in its third frame, it declines -44% to $26.0M, the #85 third weekend of all time.
Among animated films, it earned the #10 opening weekend of all time, the #18 second weekend, and now the #22 third weekend.
Gru has now earned $262.5M domestically. Through the equivalent point in release, that’s:
- +62% above 2010’s Despicable Me ($161.2M)
- +4% above 2013’s Despicable Me 2 ($251.1M)
- <1% above 2015’s Minions ($262.4M)
- +39% above 2017’s Despicable Me 3 ($188.3M)
Overseas, Gru stands at $270.1M, for $532.7M globally. Top market totals to date are:
- Mexico ($28.0M)
- U.K. ($27.6M)
- Australia ($24.9M)
- Germany ($16.3M)
- France ($11.2M)
- Spain ($12.4M)
- Brazil ($10.8M)
Only Carolina will ever know
Sony / Columbia’s historical murder mystery drama Where the Crawdads Sing sang to a $17M opening.
Sony Pictures’ announcement to the press called this result “well ahead of expectations,” although it was in line with Boxoffice PRO forecasting $16.2M.
Compared to some other comparable 2010s titles, it debuted:
- +33% above 2011’s The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo ($12.7M)
- -30% below 2016’s The Girl on the Train ($24.5M)
- -36% below 2019’s Knives Out ($26.7M)
- -54% below 2014’s Gone Girl ($37.5M)
[Read Boxoffice PRO’s interview with Where the Crawdads Sing director Olivia Newman here.]
Mach 8
After debuting with “only” the #40 opening weekend of all time ($126.7M), Paramount’s action-adventure sequel Top Gun: Maverick has since remained in the top-10 for every subsequent frame:
- #8 second weekend of all time ($90.0M)
- #10 third weekend of all time ($51.8M)
- #3 fourth weekend of all time ($44.6M), behind only American Sniper and Avatar.
- #4 fifth weekend of all time ($29.6M), behind only American Sniper, Avatar, and Titanic.
- #4 sixth weekend of all time ($25.5M), behind only Avatar, American Sniper, and Frozen.
- #7 seventh weekend of all time ($15.5M), behind only Avatar, Titanic, Home Alone, American Sniper, Frozen, and Gran Torino.
Now it declines a mild -23% to $12.0M. That’s the #9 eighth weekend of all time, behind only:
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Titanic ($23.0M)
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Avatar ($22.8M)
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American Sniper ($16.4M)
-
Aladdin [1993] ($15.6M)
-
Frozen ($14.7M)
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Chicago ($12.7M)
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Home Alone ($12.6M)
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La La Land ($12.2M)
Domestically, Maverick is the highest-grossing film of 2022 so far, despite debuting with a lower opening weekend than Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, The Batman, Jurassic World: Dominion, and Thor: Love and Thunder.
Maverick has now earned $617.9M domestic, $619.4M overseas, and $1.23B globally. That’s the biggest global total of 2022 so far, including Chinese films.
For weeks, Boxoffice PRO has reported that the film has earned a majority of its receipts domestically, a very rare occurrence for a $1B+ grosser. Of the 50 films to reach that mark, only three had made the majority of their earnings stateside: Black Panther (52.0%), Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (50.4%), and The Dark Knight (53.2%).
This weekend, though, Maverick’s overseas total finally overtakes its domestic total.
Top overseas market totals are:
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U.K. ($89.7M)
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Japan ($67.7M)
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Australia ($57.2M)
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France ($46.8M)
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South Korea ($47.2M)
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Germany ($28.7M)
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Taiwan ($21.2M)
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Brazil ($20.7M)
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Saudi Arabia ($18.2M)
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Mexico ($14.3M)
Play and paws
Paramount’s animated Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank karate-chopped its way to a $6.2M debut in sixth place, about in line with pre-release projections.
Compared to other comparable pandemic-era animated titles:
- +2 ahead of July 2021’s Spirit Untamed ($6.1M)
- -14% behind October 2021’s Ron’s Gone Wrong ($7.3M)
- -26% behind March 2021’s Raya and the Last Dragon ($8.5M), released day-and-date simultaneously in cinemas and Disney+.
- -35% behind 2020’s The Croods: A New Age ($9.7M), released during the pandemic pre-vaccine.
Weekend comparisons
Total box office this weekend came in around $129.6M, which is:
- -45% below last weekend’s total ($238.3M), when Thor: Love and Thunder led with $144.1M.
- +8% above the equivalent weekend in 2021 ($119.2M), when Black Widow led with $80.3M, debuting day-and-date simultaneously in cinemas and Disney+.
- +2% above the equivalent weekend in the last pre-pandemic year 2019 ($126.9M), when Spider-Man: Far from Home led for a second consecutive frame with $45.3M.
YTD comparisons
Year-to-date box office stands around $4.44B. That’s:
- 3.22x this same point in the pandemic recovery year of 2021 ($1.37B), down from 3.42x after last weekend.
- -28.9% behind this same point in 2019, the last pre-pandemic year ($6.24B), up from -30.2% last weekend. This marks the highest YTD standing versus 2019 attained so far this year.
2022 also nearly equals 2021’s year-end domestic total of $4.48B, which it will reach or exceed later this week.
The comparison isn’t exact, since 2021 had a significantly limited release schedule from January through April, as the Covid-19 vaccination rolled out. Still, it’s a notable benchmark to achieve on cinema’s road to recovery.
Top distributors
Paramount still leads, as they have since late May, but Universal is closing in on the billion-dollar mark which Paramount achieved earlier this month. Universal is potentially poised to overtake Paramount within the next week or two.
- Paramount ($1.06B)
- Universal ($955.2M)
- Disney ($766.6M)
- Warner Bros. ($582.5M)
- Sony Pictures ($504.9M)
Sunday’s Studio Weekend Estimates:
| Title | Estimated weekend | % change | Locations | Location change | Average | Total | Weekend | Distributor |
| Thor: Love and Thunder | $46,000,000 | -68% | 4,375 | $10,514 | $233,271,136 | 2 | Walt Disney | |
| Minions: The Rise of Gru | $26,000,000 | -44% | 4,111 | -316 | $6,324 | $262,567,505 | 3 | Universal |
| Where the Crawdads Sing | $17,000,000 | 3,650 | $4,658 | $17,000,000 | 1 | Sony Pictures | ||
| Top Gun: Maverick | $12,000,000 | -23% | 3,292 | -221 | $3,645 | $617,962,568 | 8 | Paramount |
| Elvis | $7,600,000 | -32% | 3,305 | -409 | $2,300 | $106,200,411 | 4 | Warner Bros. |
| Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank | $6,250,000 | 3,475 | $1,799 | $6,250,000 | 1 | Paramount | ||
| The Black Phone | $5,310,000 | -32% | 2,271 | -288 | $2,338 | $72,046,175 | 4 | Universal |
| Jurassic World: Dominion | $4,950,000 | -42% | 2,647 | -604 | $1,870 | $359,709,000 | 6 | Universal |
| Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris | $1,900,000 | 980 | $1,939 | $1,900,000 | 1 | Focus Features | ||
| Lightyear | $1,300,000 | -58% | 1,350 | -740 | $963 | $115,498,750 | 5 | Walt Disney |
| Marcel the Shell with Shoes On | $575,370 | 79% | 153 | 105 | $3,761 | $1,695,817 | 4 | A24 |
| Everything Everywhere All At Once | $146,530 | -39% | 170 | -116 | $862 | $67,930,040 | 17 | A24 |
| Gone in the Night | $121,000 | 136 | $890 | $121,000 | 1 | Vertical Entertainment | ||
| The Bad Guys | $85,000 | -64% | 272 | -46 | $313 | $96,553,760 | 13 | Universal |
| The Bob’s Burgers Movie | $79,000 | -49% | 180 | -20 | $439 | $31,896,686 | 8 | 20th Century Studios |
| Gabby Giffords Won’t Back Down | $75,000 | 302 | $248 | $75,000 | 1 | Briarcliff | ||
| Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness | $72,000 | -71% | 80 | -60 | $900 | $411,196,771 | 11 | Walt Disney |
| Fire of Love | $63,362 | 183% | 14 | 11 | $4,526 | $117,523 | 2 | Neon |
| The Killer | $50,000 | 56 | $893 | $72,096 | 1 | Wide Lens | ||
| Both Sides of the Blade | $37,000 | 93% | 81 | 77 | $457 | $67,346 | 2 | IFC Films |
| Official Competition | $24,000 | -75% | 72 | -94 | $333 | $526,890 | 5 | IFC Films |
| Mr. Malcolm’s List | $21,962 | -91% | 158 | -899 | $139 | $1,845,495 | 3 | Bleecker Street |
| Anonymous Club | $10,275 | 3 | $3,425 | $10,275 | 1 | Oscilloscope | ||
| Murina | $7,822 | 30% | 10 | 9 | $782 | $25,337 | 2 | Kino Lorber |
| Costa Brava, Lebanon | $4,450 | 1 | $4,450 | $4,450 | 1 | Kino Lorber |
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