Candyman scored a bloody good opening weekend, earning $22.4 million at the domestic box office. This marks the first movie directed by a Black woman, Nia DaCosta, to open at #1, however, it did not make as much as Ava DuVernay’s A Wrinkle In Time, which took in $33.1M in its opening weekend, however that picture debuted at #2, behind Black Panther.
DaCosta also co-wrote Candyman with Jordan Peele and Win Rosenfeld. While Candyman is a pretty high-profile picture, DaCosta REALLY moves into the big time with her next project, The Marvels, the sequel to the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Captain Marvel.
Candyman has great reviews, with an 85% Rotten Tomatoes rating, while exiting audiences gave it a solid B via CinemaScore.
Universal’s Domestic Theatrical Distribution President, Jim Orr stated:
“Nia DaCosta crafted an intense thriller that audiences responded to extraordinarily well this weekend. The debut of Candyman exceeded all industry expectations, and with the very positive audience reaction scores and a three-day holiday in our second weekend, we’re anticipating a strong theatrical run at the domestic box office.”
Meanwhile, Free Guy continues to perform incredibly well. It only dropped by -27% in its third weekend, thanks to rave reviews from critics and audiences.
Slightly lower on the chart, Disney’s Jungle Cruise– another fan favorite– has crossed the $100M mark at the domestic box office, despite being released as a Disney+ Premier Access title.
Below, you can find the Top Five:
- Candyman (Universal/MGM) – $22.4M
- Free Guy (20th Century Studios/Disney) – $13.55M
- Paw Patrol (Paramount) – $6.6M
- Jungle Cruise (Disney) – $5M
- Don’t Breathe 2 (Sony) – $2.8M
Next week sees the release of Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, the first post-pandemic theaters-only Marvel Cinematic Universe offering. Early reviews are phenomenal– 91% on RT– so it should be interesting to see if those, combined with the fact that this film won’t be available to stream, will result in a better performance than Black Widow or Suicide Squad.
Check back to find out!
