This was an unprecedented weekend. Not only is it a four-day holiday weekend (thanks to Labor Day in the U.S.), but Saturday was National Cinema Day so most theaters across the country offered $3 tickets to all movies in all formats, including premium screens like IMAX, D-Box, Dolby, etc. This was intended to bolster attendance (and hopefully concession sales) while studios would take a hit from minimal grosses. It’s been several weeks since a major film has dropped and it will be weeks before another one does (Black Panther: Wakanda Forever doesn’t drop until November 11!), so this actually came at a great time for distributors.
But that said, it was really hard to predict just how the weekend would play out with nothing but movies that have been out for weeks playing — as well as last year’s biggest film which has been available to stream and on physical media for months now. In fact, it came down to the wire.
But THIS year’s top flick did a flyby and soared to #1 in its 15th week with $7.9M! 15th!!!Top Gun: Maverick just keeps drawing audiences nationwide, not only on the coasts, which account for most pictures’ biggest revenue. It has just recently been reissued in large-format theaters with added behind-the-scenes footage. This has easily been the highest-grossing movie of 2022 and with this weekend’s haul added in, Maverick is just shy of soaring past $700M stateside. It’s already taken in well over a billion worldwide.
Sony
But National Cinema Day isn’t even a factor in Maverick‘s success as it sold 60% more tickets on Sunday over the $3 Saturday, while Spider-Man: No Way Home – The More Fun Stuff Version, which drew more viewers on Saturday, dropped 60% on Sunday to end up with $6.55M for the extended weekend. But let’s be honest, wouldn’t most fans of Spider-Man rather pay $3 to see 11 additional minutes of footage? As a matter of fact, No Way Home plunged so much in its third day, that Bullet Trainmanaged to choo-choo past it to claim the #2 spot, earning $7.33M for the weekend.
Yes, attendance was definitely up this weekend over last, largely due to National Cinema Day — in fact, attendance was way down with just over one million people hitting theaters on Friday, with over eight million turned out on Saturday. Attendance was also up this weekend over last Labor Day Weekend with 10.5M tickets sold versus last year when Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings came out to the tune of 7.8 million (for all movies). But those admissions were full price, so that weekend made more. All told, this weekend generated $54.4M for all films, but that puts it as the second-lowest grossing weekend of the summer behind the last frame.
Speaking of that, last week’s #1 movie, the low-budget, relatively star-free vampire flick The Invitation plunged from the top spot to #5 due to poor reviews and word-of-mouth.
But among insiders, National Cinema Day has been a rousing success. According to analyst firm EntTelligence Chief Strategy Officer Steve Buck:
“The success of National Cinema Day was measured in patron count this past weekend. It was about bringing back audiences who were still concerned about the return to the theater, and for rewarding loyal moviegoers. Arguably, this is the first time there was a push for moviegoing as opposed to seeing a particular movie. Collectively, the industry succeeded.”
Jackie Brenneman, president of The Cinema Foundation, which is responsible for National Cinema Day, added:
“With National Cinema Day, we wanted to do something to celebrate moviegoing. This event outstripped our biggest expectations. The idea of the day was to thank moviegoers for an amazing summer, and now we have to thank them for this amazing day.”
Here is the Top Five:
Top Gun: Maverick (Paramount) – 3-day $6M/4-day $7.9M/Total $701.23M/Wk 15
Spider-Man: No Way Home (Sony) – 3-day $5.375M/4-day $6.55M/Total $811.3M/Wk 29
DC League of Super-Pets (Warner Bros.) – 3-day $5M/4-day $6.365M /Total $81.7M Wk 6
The Invitation (Sony) – 3-day $4.855M/4-day $6M/Total $15M/Wk 2
Sadly, next week sees no major new releases. As does the week after it. As does the week after that. (I kinda think Disney should have made Hocus Pocus 2 for the big screen instead of Disney+ because at least that would be SOMETHING!)
But look forward as things ramp as we move into the holiday season.
