I don’t want to get too far into this, but movie theater chains are HURTING right now. Regal Cinemas just filed for bankruptcy. All theaters were closed for most of two years, then last year, things started to turn around, particularly with the massive success of Spider-Man: No Way Home. Older audiences, particularly women, were slow to return, but with the releases of Top Gun: Maverick and Elvis, even that elusive demographic was starting to turn out.
But as I’ve covered in the past few weeks, the studios, after puffing up theaters, have now left them high and dry with no major new releases for close to two months. The quirky Bullet Train was not going to be enough to sustain them for that long. At this point, cineplexes are grasping for anything to draw viewers and luckily a few smaller releases succeeded.
Crunchyroll’s Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero went Super Saiyan and took #1 with $20.1 million, drawing mostly males, either older nerds, or little boys and their dads. The film was front-loaded, with most viewers checking it out early and dwindling over the course of the weekend.
Crunchyroll spent very little to promote DBZS: Super Hero, instead relying on the dedicated built-in fan base. (They apparently didn’t run ANY TV ads!) Indeed, despite the lack of promotion, this flick trended heavily on social media.
According to Crunchyroll’s SVP of Global Commerce, Mitchell Berger”
“We have this special one to one connection with our fans, talking with them on social media and at in-person events. They give us great feedback.”
Its Rotten Tomatoes score is 92%, but the fan base would turn out regardless of reviews. The fan score is a slightly higher 95%.
Another new movie debuted at #2, the mid-tier Idris Elba thriller Beast in which the action star fended off a killer CGI lion. (Reportedly, the CGI isn’t bad and some have said this lion looked better than Disney’s Lion King.) Beast sank its teeth into $11.57M, which isn’t massive but was still welcome at such a slow period at theaters.
Idris Elba is a well-known and respected actor, but he tends to flourish in ensembles. This is one of his first films in which he is THE star and this opening is respectable.
Reviews are not great, with its RT score at 68% and its audience score better, but still middling at 77%. Also on the downside, unlike with DBZS: Super Hero, Universal spent quite a bit to promote Beast. Exiting audiences gave it a B via CinemaScore and 68% positive via PostTrak.
Perhaps knowing that Beast was a bit of a dud, Universal has already scheduled this flick to hit PVOD in 17 days and it will roll onto Peacock for free* shortly after. (*Not counting your monthly subscription fee.)
Much like Top Gun: Maverick, Beast is drawing an older audience, with close to half over 35 and one-third over 45.
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- Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero (Crunchyroll) – 3-day $20.1M/Wk 1
- Beast (Universal) – 3-day $11.57M/Wk 1
- Bullet Train (Sony) – 3-day $8M/Total $68.9M/Wk 3
- Top Gun: Maverick (Paramount) – 3-day $5.85M/Total $683.3M/Wk 13
- DC League of Super-Pets (Warner Bros.) – 3-day $5.77M/Total $67.4M Wk 4
Top Gun: Maverick continues to soar, clocking in at $1.403 billion worldwide, becoming the ninth-highest-grossing film of all time. Domestically, with $683.3M, it is the sixth-highest-grossing film, edging past Avengers: Infinity War. Avengers freakin’ Infinity War!
Paramount is milking this for all it’s worth and who can blame them at this point? (Print that money!) Top Gun: Maverick was rereleased on large format screens with added behind-the-scenes footage, resulting in it punching back into the Top Five. And the studio is holding off on a digital release. Maverick will finally be available to BUY only digitally on August 23, complete with over 110 minutes of bonus content. It won’t be released on physical media until November 1! (Not sure when or if it will be available to rent in either digital or physical.)
Minions: The Rise of Gru finally opened in the lucrative China Market, and scored the highest opening for a Hollywood animated movie with RMB 21.74M ($3.2M). It already set a record in the U.S. with the highest July 4th opening. Even without the China boost, this film has already scooped up $807.7M worldwide. Could it cross the $1B mark? It’s… SO close! (Also, this puts Universal at over $3B for 2022, so not bad there!)
Along those lines, the film that was considered something of a disappointment, Jurassic World: Dominion, has now taken in $984.7M globally. It’s just shy of that elusive $1B mark. But in the U.S., it’s now on physical home video. This picture has quietly exploded worldwide.
I didn’t see Dragon Ball Z Super: Suoer Hero or Beast as being significant contenders. But during a drought, you gravitate to what’s available. Will more surprise hits arrive in the coming weeks? Let’s hope!
