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A24 bet big and it’s paying off so far.
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The studio released Alex Garland’s ***Civil War***, managing to snatch their biggest debut and the first film from the studio to top the box office. The weekend also saw the re-release of DreamWorks’ ***Shrek 2***, which pulled solid numbers in 1,512 theaters. ***The Long Game*** had a weak start, while ***Suga – Agust D Tour ‘D-Day’ The Movie*** cracked the Top Ten despite playing just on Saturday.
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The Top 10 earned a combined $68.3 million this weekend. That represents an awful 52% drop from last year, when ***The Super Mario Bros. Movie*** stayed at #1, and ***The Pope’s Exorcist*** and ***Renfield*** opened. Needless to say, April 2024 ain’t beating last year’s April, and 2024 will continue behind 2023 in total gross.
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Debuting in 3,838 theaters, their widest release, A24’s ***Civil War*** opened with a pretty good $25.7 million this weekend. It almost doubled the debut of ***Hereditary*** ($13 million), which was their highest debut. In one single weekend, it has already passed the lifetime domestic grosses of Alex Garland’s ***Men*** ($7.5 million) and ***Ex Machina*** ($25.4 million), and it should pass the domestic total of ***Annihilation*** ($32.7 million) in the coming days. It’s also already A24’s ninth highest grossing film in the market.
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Credit must go to A24 for betting big. Last October, it was reported that the indie studio planned to expand into more commercial films, which would include “action and big IP projects.” And this was their first test; at $50 million, ***Civil War*** is the studio’s most expensive film. While Garland has not been an audience favorite, he delivered something worth watching: aren’t people interested to see how a modern Civil War would unfold? While Garland is often known for delivering character drama over action, A24 chose to market the film as an epic action thriller. They wisely premiered it at SXSW, where it received a great response (83% on RT), letting more people talk about the film. The film was also walk-up heavy; 64% the audience bought tickets on the same day.
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According to A24, a massive 73% of the audience was male, and 57% in the 18-34 demographic. Interesting stat: 48% of those who watched the film are curious about a sequel. The film succeeded in attracting an audience, now the test is in keeping it. Despite strong reviews, the audience gave the film a weak “B–” on CinemaScore and a poor 53% “definite recommend” on PostTrak. That shouldn’t come as a surprise, given that the film will not be the full-on action thriller audiences expect from the trailers, and the film choosing to skip vital details over its story.
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Now the question is the profitability of the film. Deadline reported that A24 sold foreign rights to the film, and spent only $20 million in marketing. That allows them in turning a small profit before the film opened, so now it’s a matter of how much it needs domestically to fully recoup its investment. For now, a $60 million domestic total should be enough to break even for the studio. And there’s another question: will the film manage to pass ***Everything Everywhere All At Once*** ($77 million) to become the studio’s biggest film domestically? Stay tuned.
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All in all, it’s a very good win for A24 for now. Their transition into “bigger and commercial films” is off to a good start. And you can see they’re serious about it; some of their recently announced films include: a Mark Kerr biopic starring The Rock, a ***Death Stranding*** adaptation, and a ***Talk to Me*** sequel and prequel. Let’s see how it all goes.
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In second place, ***Godzilla x Kong*** continued descending. The film dropped another 50% and added $15.5 million. The good news is that by this point, competition is very minimal for the rest of the month. The film has earned $158 million domestically, and it officially has no chance of hitting $200 million.
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After its rough drops, ***Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire*** stabilized by declining 36% for a $5.7 million weekend. A good drop, albeit arriving too late to make a difference. The film has made $96.9 million and it will hit $100 million by next weekend, but it won’t make much further than that.
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***Kung Fu Panda 4*** moved up a spot by easing just 29% and grossing $5.5 million. That takes its domestic total to $173.7 million.
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***Dune: Part Two*** also moved up to the Top Five, easing 42% and adding $4.3 million. The film has made $272.1 million so far.
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There was hope that ***Monkey Man*** could hold well through the month, but those hopes died this weekend. The film collapsed 60% and made just $4 million this weekend. That drop is rough, especially considering its small opening. Through ten days, the film has amassed just $17.7 million and will now finish below $30 million.
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In seventh place, 20th Century Studios’ ***The First Omen*** dropped 54% and made $3.8 million. That drop isn’t actually that steep, considering horror films often fall more than 60% in their second weekend. Nevertheless, with just $14.6 million in the bank, the film is still not a success story.
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Universal re-released DreamWorks’ ***Shrek 2*** to commemorate its 20th anniversary and the film pulled an okay $1.4 million in 1,512 theaters. Funny enough, this was higher than the entire domestic totals of Disney’s re-releases of ***Soul*** ($946K), ***Turning Red*** ($1.3 million) and ***Luca*** ($1.3 million). This helped the film take its total to $443.3 million domestically.
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Mucho Mas Releasing released the sports biopic ***The Long Game***, starring Dennis Quaid and Jay Hernandez, in 1,030 theaters. However, the film failed to impress, hitting just $1.3 million this weekend.
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Rounding up the Top 10 was concert film ***Suga – Agust D Tour ‘D-Day’ The Movie***. Despite opening in just 792 theaters, it still cracked $990,000 and that’s despite playing just on Saturday and with very limited showtimes.
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There was another release, a ***Don’t Tell Mom the Babysitter’s Dead*** remake. We can’t blame you if you didn’t hear of it, as no one did. It opened with a disastrous $215K in 637 theaters. That translates to an awful $338 per-theater-average. Ouch.
#**OVERSEAS**
***Godzilla x Kong*** added another $33 million overseas, allowing it to pass $437 million worldwide. The Top 5 are China ($108.8M), Mexico ($27.7M), UK ($14.6M), India ($12.8M) and Australia ($9.5M). It will open in Japan this week.
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***Kung Fu Panda 4*** added $25 million, crossing $450 million in the process. Top 5 markets are China ($44.9M), Mexico ($33.1M), UK ($21.5M), Germany ($14.1M) and Italy ($10.9M).
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In some local news, ***Detective Conan: The Million-Dollar Pentagram*** had a terrific $21.8M opening in Japan. This is the best opening of the 27-film franchise and the the second-best opening weekend ever in Japan, behind ***Demon Slayer – Kimetsu no Yaiba – The Movie: Mugen Train***. Its debut impacted ***Oppenheimer***, causing it to fall below $1 million in the market this weekend.
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Adding more markets, ***Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire*** added $10.8 million, taking its worldwide total to $159.9 million. Its biggest debut was France, but it had a soft $2.2 million start. It will reach South Korea this week, although don’t expect much, as ***Afterlife*** didn’t even crack $1 million in the market.
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***The First Omen*** added $7.7 million and took its worldwide total to $35.4 million. That was a good 41% drop, although the small debut is not exactly favorable. Its best markets are Mexico ($3.3M), Indonesia ($1.5M), UK ($1.5M), Brazil ($1.1M) and Korea ($1.1M).
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***Dune: Part Two*** added $7.2 million, and its worldwide total now stands at $684 million.
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With $92 million in China, ***The Boy and the Heron*** has now hit a huge $294 million worldwide. It will pass $300 million in the coming days, the second film by Miyazaki to hit that mark.
#**MOVIES THAT ENDED THEIR RUN THIS WEEK**
Movie | Release Date | Studio | Domestic Opening | Domestic Total | Worldwide Total | Budget |
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*Migration* | Dec/22 | Universal | $12,453,275 | $127,306,285 | $294,393,981 | $72M
– And so Universal/Illumination’s animated film ***Migration*** ends its run with $294 million worldwide. That’s a great run considering its small budget, although it’s quite far off from all their previous films. While a success, it marked Illumination’s lowest grossing animated title, and was their least attended in North America. It had great legs, although its small opening, holiday legs and lack of animated competition made it easier. A profit, but it pretty much ends there.
#**THIS WEEKEND**
We’ve got a few newcomers.
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The first is Universal’s new horror film ***Abigail***. The project is helmed by Radio Silence (***Ready or Not*** and the past two ***Scream*** films) and is a reimagining of ***Dracula’s Daughter***. The film stars Melissa Barrera, Dan Stevens, Kathryn Newton, William Catlett, Kevin Durand, Angus Cloud (in one of his final performances before his death), Giancarlo Esposito and Alisha Weir (in the title role). While horror is a profitable genre, the genre seems to be struggling this year; the highest horror film of the year is ***Night Swim*** with just $54 million worldwide. With solid reviews so far, can this surprise?
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The other release is Lionsgate’s ***The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare***. The film is directed by Guy Ritchie, and stars Henry Cavill, Eiza González, Alan Ritchson, Alex Pettyfer, Til Schweiger, Henry Golding and Cary Elwes. The film portrays a heavily fictionalized version of Operation Postmaster. Ritchie is coming up two box office duds, while Henry Cavill has struggled in the past years with his leading man status, especially losing the Superman role and starring in the disastrous ***Argylle***. While things can change, it’s very likely the film will struggle in recouping its costs.
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Another release is Crunchyroll’s ***Spy × Family Code: White***, which already opened in Japan last year, where it made $40 million in the market. With a growing interest in anime, don’t sleep on this film over-performing.
#**ANNOUNCEMENTS**
Due to real-life stuff, next week there won’t be a write-up. Only the actuals will be posted.
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And a reminder that we’ll have our first “Long Range Prediction” game on Wednesday. We’ll predict ***IF***, ***Back to Black*** and ***The Strangers: Chapter 1***. We’ll predict their opening weekends and total.
by SanderSo47
