Most films technically open on Fridays, but major releases get Thursday night previews, the ticket sales from which are then folded into their Friday grosses. This is business as usual. But Sony pulled a move that allegedly has at least one rival studio fuming.
Sony put out the video game adaptation Gran Turismo in limited release last week but is now folding the $3.9 million in ticket sales from those NINE DAYS worth of limited screenings into the film’s actual opening weekend, bringing it to $17.4M. This makes the movie landing the number one spot. Sony held these preview screenings because the cast — which includes Orlando Bloom and David Harbour — couldn’t promote the movie due to the SAG strike, so the studio had to rely on positive word of mouth from audiences to hype interest. That’s fair, I suppose.
BUT, take that $3.9M out and the film is actually the second-highest performer of this weekend with $13.5M. That would put Barbie back in the #1 spot with $15.1M. Instead, the Mattel phenomenon lands at #2 and the studio behind it, Warner Bros., is reportedly crying foul.
However, most other studios have chosen to look the other way and not contest Sony’s creative accounting.
This race was tight. Mucking things up (in a good way) was the fact that Sunday was National Cinema Day with all tickets to all movies costing just $4. This initiative kicked off last year in an effort to attract audiences back to theaters post-COVID. But ultimately, Gran Turismo managed to pull ahead.
This picture isn’t a total killer with critics. Its Rotten Tomatoes score is at a tepid 61%, but audiences just LOVE it! Its certified audience score is 98%. Exiting audiences gave it an A CinemaScore and a 90% PostTrak. Looks like Sony’s preview screenings worked and excellent word of mouth did the trick.
Barbie may not have taken the top spot, but the film got a mind-blowing consolation prize. Having earned $1.34 billion globally, it has now surpassed Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 to become the highest-grossing movie in Warner Bros.’ 100-year history. On top of that, with $594.8M domestically, it has surpassed The Super Mario Bros. Movie to become the #1 movie of 2023.
Sure to pad those figures even further is the upcoming IMAX re-release of Barbie that will include a never-before-seen post-credits scene. Barbie didn’t play in IMAX initially, as those screens went to Oppenheimer. So fans will get their first opportunity to see this pink spectacle on a larger scale, when the re-release happens on September 22.
It looks as though the Barbenheimer pairing has broken up. WB’s Blue Beetle is nestled in at #3 behind Barbie and just ahead of Oppenheimer which took #4. Rounding out the Top 5 is Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem.
Check out the Top Five and their numbers below:
- Gran Turismo (Sony) – 3-day $17.3M (huge astrix there)/ Wk 1
- Barbie (Warner Bros.) – 3-day $17.1M/ Total $594.8M/ Wk 6
- Blue Beetle (Warner Bros.) – 3-day $12.7M/ Total $46.3M/ Wk 2
- Oppenheimer (Universal) – 3-day $9M/ Total $300M/ Wk 6
- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem (Paramount) – 3-day $6.1M/ Total $98.1M/ Wk 4
Late summer/early fall tends to be dominated by movies that skew toward older males. For whatever reason, Sony, which distributed Gran Turismo, is competing with itself next weekend with the release of The Equalizer 3, the latest in the series of Denzel Washington shoot-’em-up vehicles.
While this franchise is no John Wick, it has drawn an audience and is made on TINY budgets making them extremely profitable. The first film, released in 2014, earned $192.3M on a $55M-$73M budget. The first sequel, in 2018, made $190.4M on a $62M-$79M budget.
Reportedly, The Equalizer 3 cost about $80M to make. With little competition, it should hopefully follow the trend of the first two installments. Dakota Fanning co-stars with Washington.
As stated, this film isn’t facing much competition… and it won’t. The early fall season is always light (maybe if something like Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One or even Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny had opened in this period rather in the thick of summer, they would have done better).
Opening in September are The Nun II, The Inventor, A Haunting in Venice, Expend4bles, Dumb Money, Paw Patrol: The Mighty Movie, The Creator, and Saw X, among others. Not a lot of big draws here. Once again, maybe if some of the big-budget tent poles that were crammed into the summer, with one opening after the other, had shifted to this light frame, they may have performed better.
Are any of these pictures a must-see for you?
