Box Office Discussion Thread

Jason Statham's latest exceeds expectations, while Billy Crystal's might be gone tomorrow.
Jason Statham built his career by starring in a series of violent, gritty action flicks, usually where he was the main attraction. As the box office for those efforts started to decline, he left them behind to join the ever-increasing cast of the Fast and the Furious movies and to battle a giant ancient shark in a PG-13 movie. Wrath of Man, a violent gritty action flick where he's the main attraction, and where he's working with director Guy Ritchie for the first time since 2005's barely seen Revolver, is a return to his bread and butter. Based on the weekend results, his time spent racing around the world has paid off, as the film opens better than every other one of his gritty action flicks over the last decade, all of which were released when the country wasn't in the late stages of a global pandemic. Wrath's $8.3 million opening is his best for a solo vehicle since The Mechanic in 2011. There is likely a ceiling to the film--The Mechanic also has the best overall gross, and it topped out at just under $30 million--but its likely that any final gross over $20 million will be seen as a success, and short of an epic collapse, that shouldn't be an issue.

Wrath's strong opening undoubtedly hurt the next two movies, both of which were largely competing for the same audience. Last week's champ, Demon Slayer the Movie: Mugen Train slipped to second with $3.1 million. It's still a stunning success, however, as its gross now stands at $37.2 million, and is looking to finish between $45 and $50 million.

Not so impressive in third is Mortal Kombat, which earned $2.1 million for a total gross of $37.9 million. This film's fast fade is not unexpected, but probably disappointing to Warner's, which was hoping to start a new franchise, and instead will have a film that will finish well below the 1995 version (and just barely outgross the 1997 sequel). The film is doing decent business overseas, and a follow-up still seems likely, but like the 90s franchise, this one might not make it to movie #3 unless Mortal Kombat 2 outperforms this one.

Godzilla vs. Kong continues to creep toward $100 million, taking in another $2 million for a total of $93 million. It's still likely to get there, but there's an outside chance that it might cross that mark after one of the films opening in late May or early June, like Cruella or Quiet Place 2, gets there.

Raya and the Last Dragon stayed steady from last week in 5th, and actually jumped from its gross last week to $1.9 million. Its gross stands at $43.9 million. Horror film Separation held up decently for a film of that genre, grossing $1.1 million for a ten-day total of $3.4 million

Opening in 7th was the comedy-drama Here Today, bringing Billy Crystal back to multiplexes for the first time since Monsters University in 2013 (and the first time in a live action movie since Parental Guidance in 2012). He didn't need to bother. Even co-starring Tiffany Haddish, Here Today opened to only $1 million, and is likely to finish below the gross of his 90s megaflop My Giant, today remembered only as a punchline on Friends.

Rounding out the Top 10 are three solid spring hits on their way out to make room for incoming summer films. Nobody, The Unholy, and Tom and Jerry look to be leaving the Top 10 with grosses of $24.6 million, $14.2 million, and $44.8 million, respectively.

This weekend is looking to be the most crowded opening weekend since the pandemic began, with no less than five new films going wide, two of which will be competing with Wrath of Man for #1. Likely to top the chart is Spiral, a sequel/spin-off of the long-running Saw series. The franchise gets a big upgrade in the bankability of its stars, as Chris Rock plays the lead detective trying to track down a new serial killer operating his or her own twisted game, with Samuel L. Jackson as his father. Jigsaw, the last attempt to revive the franchise, crashed and burned during Halloween 2017, but this one should at least open well. Also hoping for the top spot is Those Who Wish Me Dead, starring Angelina Jolie as a smoke jumper who has to protect a young boy from killers who have set the forest on fire. It will probably be at a disadvantage since it is also available on HBO Max this weekend, as opposed to the theater-exclusive Spiral, but should still do good business. Also opening this weekend is Profile, a thriller about a young female journalist who infiltrates a ISIS group, only to get sucked in, which is told entirely via computer screen (it's actually three years old, having made the festival rounds back in 2018), and Finding You, a drama about the romance between two college-aged kids, one of whom happens to be a movie star. Vanessa Redgrave is the big name in this one, though she's not playing either of the kids. Finally, Army of the Dead, Zack Snyder's latest starring Dave Bautista as a mercenary leading a team to rob a Vegas casino during a zombie apocalypse, could earn some business, but as its a Netflix release, we'll never know for sure. Will Spiral saw its way to the top, or can Wrath hold on? We'll find out next week.

It's almost unheard of for a movie released in April to outgross the big early May releases. It's possible if a May-type summer film opens the last weekend of April, such as the last two Avengers movies. But usually, April might get one or two big titles, and the rest of the newcomers are smaller films, burn-offs, and dumps.

Of course, in the pandemic era, all rules are off the table, which is why two April releases (Mortal Kombat and Demon Slayer) hold the second and third biggest openings of the last year, and why the first two weeks of May have seen nothing top $10 million.

Opening in first is Spiral, a serial killer torture flick that's spun off from the successful Saw series. Unlike its predecessors, which was happy to feature minor stars like Cary Elwes, Danny Glover, and Donnie Wahlberg, Spiral features A, or at least B+ names like Chris Rock and Samuel L. Jackson. The result was by far the lowest opening the franchise has seen, with $8.8 million, well below the previous low-water mark set by Saw VI in 2009. Obviously, this likely would have been higher under normal circumstances, but as the disappointing opening of the first attempt to revive the franchise, Jigsaw in 2017, suggested, maybe this is a series best left to the Aughts.

Last week's top grosser, the Jason Statham actioner Wrath of Man, fell by more than half in its second weekend, taking in $3.7 million for a ten-day gross of $14.6 million. This is a bit better than how Nobody was doing in March at the same point in its run, suggesting Wrath could make it to about $30 million.

Opening rather disappointingly in third is Those Who Wish Me Dead, which probably suffered from going after the same audience as Wrath of Man and Spiral. The Angelina Jolie actioner could muster only $2.8 million and seems likely to finish under $10 million. Luckily for her, she has almost-certain blockbuster Eternals coming out in November.

The aforementioned Demon Slayer continues an impressive run, coming in fourth with $1.8 million and bringing its total to $41.9 million. It seems likely to run out of track before hitting $50 million, but as every cent earned in America is pure gravy, I don't think anyone will be complaining.

Even though Tom and Jerry is still out there, Raya and the Last Dragon is more or less functioning as the only family film out right now, slipping just 11% in its 11th weekend to $1.7 million. It now stands at $46.1 million, and while catching up to The Croods: A New Age seems unlikely, it should make it to $50 million.

Godzilla vs. Kong continues to slowly rumble its way to $100 million, taking in $1.5 million for a total of $95.1 million. Mortal Kombat continues a fast fade, with $1.3 million for a total of $39.9 million. Unlike Raya, $50 million is unlikely for Kombat.

Opening in 8th is low-key romcom Finding You, which seems likely to wind up a sleeper hit on a streaming service in a few months. It took in $0.9 million, well ahead of the weekend's fourth newcomer, the thriller Profile, which only opened to $0.7 million. Rounding out the Top Ten was Billy Crystal's Here Today, which won't be here much longer with a ten-day total of only $1.9 million.

As Netflix doesn't release their box office totals, we don't have an official number for their zombie heist thriller Army of the Dead, which screened at about 400 theaters ahead of its streaming debut this weekend. But unofficial reports say it earned about $0.8 million, enough to get it in the Top Ten.

Apparently not wanting a new movie to be a second-weekend sacrificial lamb to Quiet Place II and Cruella, both opening next weekend for Memorial Day, the major studios are avoiding this weekend. The only thing going even semi-wide is the British horse racing drama Dream Horse, starring Toni Collette and Damian Lewis. Also opening a year after hitting streaming is Scoob, the Scooby-Doo movie that was supposed to be one of last May's big titles. Will Dream Horse top $1 million? Will Spiral be able to stay above $4 million this weekend? We'll find out next week.

Ever since major studios resumed releasing movies to theaters late last summer, it's felt like every step forward was followed immediately by 3/4ths of a step back. And after two May releases in Wrath of Man and Spiral that were hoped to be a bigger than they turned out to be, everyone was understandably nervous about the two big movies anchoring Memorial Day. If they underperformed, it was not out of the question that many of the movies scheduled later might flee to fall, or to next year, or straight to streaming.

Those worries proved to be unfounded. A Quiet Place Part II came out with a bang, opening to $47.6 million from Friday through Sunday, and $57.1 million through Monday. Those numbers are very close to what the original film opened to back in April 2018. It's by no means a perfect comparison, of course, but it is by far both the biggest three-day and biggest four-day grosses of the pandemic era, and the film looks to be a certain $100 million grosser, something that we still haven't had since Sonic the Hedgehog.

Opening in second was Disney's Cruella, which, like 2014's Maleficent, was a live-action, more sympathetic take on an iconic Disney animated villain, starring an Oscar winner. It took in $21.5 million through Sunday and $26.5 million though Monday, a strong opening, especially in the wake of Quiet Place. As family films have proven to have strong legs throughout the pandemic, this one might be able to stick around for a while.

Not surprisingly, those two films between them were responsible for nearly 90% of movie tickets sold last weekend, leaving scraps for everything else. In third was one of those aforementioned family films with strong legs, Raya and the Last Dragon, which actually jumped 40% from last weekend's gross to take in $2.3 million through Sunday and $2.8 million through Monday, for a total as of Memorial Day of $51.7 million. Spiral, which had spent the last two weeks topping the chart, tumbled all the way to 4th, with $2.2 million through Sunday and $2.7 million through Monday, for a total of $20.2 million. Wrath of Man was the only other movie that made over a million through Sunday, taking in $2.2 million and $2.7 million, which actually put its four-day gross ahead of Sprial's. It's up to $22.7 million.

Making over $1 million over four days was Demon Slayer the Movie: Mugen Train and Godzilla vs. Kong, which are now up to $46.7 million and $98.4 million, respectively. It will be interesting to see if Quiet Place can get past $100 million before Kong does, despite the latter's 8-week head start.

Rounding out the Top 10 was Those Who Wish Me Dead, whose box office absolutely collapsed, Dream Horse, and the Vietnamese family drama Bố Già, which might just be the first film from that country to ever make the North American Top 10, an even more impressive feat considering it is only playing at 20 theaters nationwide. Total grosses through Monday are $6.9 for Dead and $1.7 million for Horse. Bố Già didn't report Monday grosses, but it made $0.4 million through Sunday.

Two new movies go wide this weekend. The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It is the third entry in the main Conjuring series and 8th in the extended Conjuring Universe. The franchise seemed to be running out of steam with both The Curse of La Llorona and Annabelle Comes Home underperforming in 2019, but we'll see if the two year break between movies helped heal some of that fatigue. It should challenge Quiet Place for #1. Meanwhile, Spirit Untamed is a theatrical adaption of the Netflix show Spirit Riding Free, itself based on the largely forgotten 2002 animated feature Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron. This one seems destined for fourth, outdoing whatever Raya does this weekend but falling well short of Cruella. Will Conjuring manage to conjure up the #1 slot? Will Spirit surprise with a muscular opening? Or will Quiet prevail again? We'll find out next week.

It might be early June, but at the box office, it might as well be October, as three different horror movies have topped the box office now for four consecutive weeks. Following in the footsteps of Spiral and A Quiet Place Part II is yet another sequel, The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It, the third entry in the Conjuring series and 8th overall in the Conjuring Universe. The thriller, which sees Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga battling a demonic spirit and the Satanist who brought him, opened to $24.1 million, off from the opening of the first two Conjurings, both of which opened above $40 million, but in this environment, this is an acceptable drop-off. It did beat the opening weekend of Annabelle Comes Home two years ago, though to be fair, that movie opened on a Wednesday. Even at a lower final gross, this should still pull a nice profit, and assuming that Wilson and Farmiga are willing to sign on again, there will likely be a fourth one in a few years.

Slipping to second is A Quiet Place Part II, which, like a lot of horror movies, turned out to be front-loaded. It slipped nearly 60% in its second weekend to $19.3 million, for a ten-day total of $88.4 million. Still, by the end of next weekend, Quiet Place should have both passed Godzilla vs. Kong to take the top spot for 2021, and be the first movie to pass $100 million since the beginning of the pandemic.

Cruella was able to stay above a 50% drop, as it took in $11 million in its second weekend. Its ten-day total of $43.4 million puts it already at 6th for the year, and it should pass Tom and Jerry, Demon Slayer The Movie, and maybe even stablemate Raya and the Last Dragon by next weekend. A final gross between $60 and $75 million seems to be in the cards.

The animated Spirit Untamed had a so-so opening in 4th, taking in $6.1 million. Family movies have had long runs throughout the pandemic era, but those runs have been helped by little competition. With Cruella already in the marketplace and several more high-profile offerings coming up (including one this very weekend), the prospects of Spirit hanging out for long seem dim.

One of those long-running family films is the aforementioned Raya, which in its 14th weekend, came in 5th with $1.3 million. With a gross of $53.5 million so far, its run is nearly over, but we'll see if has enough juice left in the tank to make it to $60 million.

In 6th, Wrath of Man was the only other film to make more than $1 million over the weekend, taking in $1.3 million for a total of $24.7 million. It will likely pass Nobody in the next week or two and still has an outside shot at $30 million.

Spiral, which was #1 just two weekends ago, falls to 7th and under a million for the weekend, bringing its total to a disappointing $21.8 million. The performances of Quiet Place II and Conjuring 3 suggests that the problem is a lack of interest in a franchise that is nearing its 20th birthday, not the pandemic.

Rounding out the Top Ten is Demon Slayer The Movie, which is up to $47.7 million, Godzilla vs. Kong, which at $99.2 million is less than a million away from the century mark, and Dream Horse, which is now up to $2.6 million.

This weekend sees two movies going wide, either one of which could end up #1. Peter Rabbit 2: The Runaway is a sequel to the surprise 2018 family hit. This time around Peter (CGI, voice by James Corden) runs away to the city, where hijinks occur. Domhnall Gleeson and Rose Byrne return as the two primary humans on screen. In the Heights, an adaption of Lin-Manuel Miranda's 2008 Broadway musical hit, concerns a life-changing 4th of July weekend for several residents of the Washington Heights neighborhood of Manhattan. With near-unanimous critical raves, this could be the first major Oscar contender of the year. Will Heights soar to the top? Will Peter Rabbit hop over it? Or could The Conjuring do a shocking repeat? We'll find out next weekend.

Father's Day weekend has, since 2015, been Pixar weekend. Inside Out, Finding Dory, Cars 3, Incredibles II, and Toy Story 4 debuted on that weekend in consecutive years. Soul was supposed to open that weekend last year, and ended up being one of the final holdouts among the big releases scheduled for June before finally fleeing. This year, Luca was supposed to open for Father's Day, and it did...on Disney+. I'm still flabbergasted as to why Disney did this, as reviews were terrific, and they almost certainly cost themselves an easy #1 this weekend. We'll see if the Toy Story spinoff Lightyear, set for Father's Day weekend next year, keeps its theatrical release date.

In the absence of Italian pre-teen sea monsters, The Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard, a sequel to the moderate 2017 hit The Hitman's Bodyguard, won the weekend mostly by default. It took in $11.4 million over the weekend. The action comedy diluted its opening by coming out on Wednesday, and took in a more impressive $16.7 million over its first five days, less than $5 million off the first film's three-day opening. Hitman's Wife is probably not built for the long-term, but in these conditions, if it can take in half of its surprisingly leggy predecessor's $75.5 million, it will have to be considered at least a mild success.

A Quiet Place Part II continues to be the overwhelming smash of the early summer, taking in another $9.1 million in its fourth weekend. That's only about $2 million less than the first one made on its fourth weekend. The film now has taken in a total of $125 million, and could end up surprisingly close to the $188 million the original did in 2018.

Peter Rabbit 2: The Runaway hopped up one spot to third, taking in a decent $6.1 million for a ten-day total of $20.3 million. It gets one more weekend with the family audience mostly to itself before Boss Baby 2 arrives for Fourth of July weekend.

The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It continues to fade fairly fast, as it scared up $5 million for a total so far of $53.5 million. It should pass The Curse of La Llorona in the next week, but looks likely to come up short of Annabelle Comes Home, which was the second-lowest grosser of the series with $74.2 million.

Cruella continues to perform decently in 5th, spotting another $4.8 million for a fashionable $64.5 million. For now, it is now the third highest-grossing movie of both the year and of the pandemic era.

In just two weeks, In the Heights has gone from potential breakout smash to possibly the summer's biggest flop. It fell a shocking 64% to $4.2 million, for a ten-day gross of $19.7 million. There's already been plenty of post-mortems about how such a well-reviewed, well-liked movie could end up bombing like it is in the process of doing, and expect plenty more (yes, the controversy about the lack of darker-skinned actors and characters probably played a part, but not a big one). You have to think that producers of the year's other big musicals, like Dear Evan Hanson and West Side Story, have to plenty nervous now.

Spirit Untamed proved very tame, taking in $1.6 million for a total of $13.8 million. This should go galloping off into the sunset well before $20 million.

After a limited release last weekend, Twelve Mighty Orphans, a drama starring Luke Wilson as the coach of the football team at a boys' home during the Depression that unexpectedly wins the Texas high school championship, went wide to marginal business, taking in $0.9 million. Its ten day stands at $1.3 million.

Having an unexpectedly small drop, horror spoof The House Next Door took in $0.6 million for a ten-day of $2 million. Rounding out the Top Ten, Wrath of Man looks to be heading toward the exit with $26.8 million, allowing it to edge past fellow spring vigilante thriller Nobody.

Outside the Top Ten, Godzilla vs. Kong finally lumbered past the $100 million mark in its 12th weekend, with its total now standing at $100.1 million. It becomes the second $100 million grosser of the pandemic era.

Almost exactly 20 years after the release of the The Fast and The Furious, the series has not only dispensed with articles but words themselves in its titles, as F9 roars into theaters. Continuing the franchise's signature fast cars defying the laws of physics wrapped around some sort of plot, Vin Diesel has to go up against his hitherto unmentioned biological brother, played by John Cena (you would think his existence would have come up before, given that each movie uses the word "family" roughly a thousand times each). As usual, most of the characters introduced in previous installments show up here, outside of the spun off Jason Statham and Dwayne Johnson. But Helen Mirren--Helen Mirren!--is back. This will easily open at #1, probably making several orders of magnitude more than whatever ends up at #2. It will likely also beat A Quiet Place Part II's $47.6 million opening. Could it top $50 million? $60 million? We'll find out just how fast and furiously fans rush to the theater next week.

Studios try to avoid releasing their own movies on top of each other. There are exceptions, of course, but in general, its rare for a major studio to release a film on back-to-back weeks and even rarer for a studio to release two films the same weekend. Universal decided to dominate the long 4th of July weekend by ignoring that rule and releasing three of the four wide openings of the last two weekends. The result is a sweep by the studio of the top three slots, the first time a studio has pulled that off since Sony had the top three spots in February 2005 with Hitch, Boogyman, and Are We There Yet?.

Leading the charge for the second weekend in a row is F9, which drove away with another $23 million on the Friday-Sunday portion of the weekend, for a ten-day total of $116.1 million. That puts it in second for the year so far, and is easily the fastest to $100 million of the pandemic era, hitting that total on Friday, its 8th day of release (in contrast, A Quiet Place Part II took 15 days to top $100 million). While it shouldn't have any issue passing the aforementioned Quiet Place in the next couple of weeks, its rather steep drop from last weekend probably puts $200 million out of reach, particularly with Black Widow arriving on Friday going after the exact same audience.

Opening in 2nd is Boss Baby: Family Business, in which Alec Baldwin's now grown former boss baby is returned to infancy by his niece (Amy Sedaris), also a boss baby. The first film, from 2017 was a big hit, despite decidedly mixed reviews. The sequel got worse reviews, and ended up with a decent-but-not-great opening of $16 million. To be fair, that's the best opening this year of a PG-rated movie (beating out Tom & Jerry's $14.1 million in February), though I'm sure Universal was hoping for more. The good news is that family films have had good legs during the pandemic, but Boss Baby has Space Jam: A New Legacy opening in two weeks, which could have an impact.

In third is The Forever Purge, the fifth entry into the popular action/horror franchise. Like other sequels, it opened well off the other entries in the franchise, with $12.6 million start, below the previous lowest opening, the $17.4 million opening weekend of The First Purge three years ago. That film still made it to nearly $70 million, a total that looks out of reach for The Forever Purge. Like Boss Baby, it two will get direct competition in two weeks with the arrival of Escape Room: Tournament of Champions.

A Quiet Place Part II, which for now is still the highest-grossing film of the year, brought in another $4.1 million for a total of $144.3 million, and seems likely to finish around $160 million. In fifth, The Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard was able to earn another $3 million for a total of $31.4 million.

Cruella, which is going for an older audience than Boss Baby, held up will in 6th, taking in $2.4 million for $76.4 million, and seems to be heading to a final between $80 and $85 million. Peter Rabbit 2: The Runaway fell hard for the first time with direct PG competition, grossing $2.2 million for a total of $34.4 million. The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It picked up $1.3 million for a gross of $62.6 million.

Opening in 9th is the one wide release of the last two weekends not made by Universal. Zola, from indie distributor A24, made $1.2 over the weekend, for a total of $2 million since its Wednesday opening. The comedy-drama apparently did very well at art-house theaters, but fell flat at more mainstream places.

Rounding out the Top 10 is In the Heights, which continues to be in the depths with a gross of $1.2 million for a total of $27.2 million. However, it still helps make history as this is the first time since March 2020 that all ten films in the Top Ten have grossed at least $1 million for the weekend, another sign that things are very slowly creeping back toward normal.

At least on theater screens, the pandemic forced the MCU to take a two-year hiatus, but that ends this weekend with the arrival of Black Widow, set between Captain America: Civil War and Avengers: Infinity War. Scarlett Johansson is joined by Florence Pugh, playing her sister, as well as David Harbour and Rachel Weisz. The film is gunning for F9's two week old record for best opening of the year (and pandemic), and early reports suggests it will take it. It has an outside shot of becoming the first pandemic movie to open to $100 million, though it will likely have to settle for less. How big will Black Widow be? We'll find out next week.

After a pandemic record opening last weekend, most observers expected Black Widow to easily win its second weekend. Instead, it fell far harder than expected, allowing a sequel to a 25-year-old movie to take the top spot.

Space Jam: A New Legacy put points on the board, opening to a better-than-expected $31.1 million. That number looks less impressive compared to the original Space Jam, which opened to $27.5 million two weeks before Thanksgiving 1996. And that Space Jam ended up earning 30% of its final gross that weekend, a percentage that the new one will be lucky to beat. Indeed, the odds are good that A New Legacy will finish below the first film's $90.4 million. But then again, we are in a different era, where HBO Max subscribers could watch the movie for free from their couches, and Covid numbers are rising again. In that environment, this opening has to be considered a success. Plus, if it introduces a new generation to the Looney Tunes and their original cartoons (most of which are far, far, far, far better than either Space Jam), it will be worth it.

Black Widow nosedived from its $80.4 million opening last weekend to $25.9 million this weekend, the steepest second weekend dive for an MCU movie, ever (even arguably the least-liked MCU movie, 2008's The Incredible Hulk, fell only 60%). It had almost the exact same fall that F9 had in its second weekend, though the fact that that film was so front-loaded wasn't really a shock. This continues a troubling trend, where most movies this summer have had sharp second weekend drops. At any rate, Widow has a ten-day gross of $131.6 million, and still seems likely to become the highest-grossing movie of the year for the time being. However, it also seems likely to become the first MCU entry to not hit $200 million since Ant-Man in 2015.

Opening in third was horror entry Escape Room: Tournament of Champions, which escaped with $8.8 million, a comedown from the first film's $18.2 million opening in January 2019. To be fair, 2 1/2 years is a long time for a horror sequel, and this, like most of the summer's lineup, was supposed to come out last year. Luckily, the film is cheap, and another Escape Room seems like a decent possibility.

F9 sputtered into fourth, with $7.7 million. Its vroomed to $154.9 million, and has by now likely passed A Quiet Place Part II to become the highest grosser of the year. The Boss Baby: Family Business has yet to match the first film's opening weekend, as it took in another $4.7 million for a total of $44.7 million (the first film opened to $50.2 million in the spring of 2017). The Forever Purge purged out another $4.1 million, for a total of $35.9 million.

A Quiet Place Part II spent its final weekend as the highest-grossing movie of the year in 7th, with $2.2 million. It is up to $155 million, and seems likely to be heading to $165-$170 million, which would be only a bit off from the first film's $188 million.

Surprisingly opening in 8th is the rare documentary to make the Top 10. The rather controversial Roadrunner: A Film About Anthony Bourdain chronicles the life and legacy of the late chef, author, TV show host, and world traveler. It opened to $2 million.

Cruella is looking like it is close to being done, as it brought in $1.2 million for a total of $83.5 million, a bit of a disappointment, but Disney will happily take it.

Rounding out the Top 10 is Pig, the well-received thriller starring Nicholas Cage as a chef trying to track down his prize truffle-hunting pig. It opened just below $1 million.

Two new titles arrive this weekend to challenge Space Jam for the top spot. After two underwhelming attempts to replicate the success of Transformers in 2009 and 2013, Paramount allowed the G.I. Joe franchise to become dormant. However it's back with the prequel Snake Eyes, which chronicles the early years of arguably the most popular member of the Joes. Henry Golding gets his first solo lead in the title role. Paramount isn't exactly hiding the fact it's a G.I. Joe movie, but its also not going out of its way to advertise that fact. Meanwhile, Old is the latest thriller from M. Night Shyamalan, about a family that discovers an isolated tropical beach, only to realize that, for whatever reason, it is causing them to age very, very rapidly. Hollywood will be watching this one carefully because it is only the second big studio non-franchise movie since Memorial Day, and we all saw what happened to In the Heights. Aiming for the lower half of the Top 10 will be Joe Bell, a drama starring Mark Wahlberg as a man who decides to walk across the country in honor of his late son, who committed suicide after being bullied for being gay. The film, which played last year at Sundance, got a rather muted reaction from critics, but Wahlberg's name could get people into theaters. Will Space Jam get another slam dunk to stay on top? Will Snake Eyes roll box cars and take the top spot? Will Old be the new champ? We'll find out next week.

Jungle Cruise, the latest Disney title to be based on one of the studio's theme park attractions, won't be the next Pirates of the Caribbean. However it won't be the next Country Bears, either. The action comedy opened to $35 million, the fourth best opening of the year so far and by far the best not involving an ongoing franchise (assuming you don't count "Disney Theme Park Adaptions" as a franchise). It's a few million better than Space Jam: A New Legacy and Godzilla vs. Kong opened to, and not too far off the pace of what A Quiet Place Part II, also starring Emily Blunt, did back in May. That should mean that Jungle Cruise has a solid chance of becoming the year's 5th $100 million grosser, but it will have to avoid the incredibly steep second weekend drops that most summer movies this year have experienced. The fact that the film's Saturday total was almost even with its Friday total is a good sign that maybe this one might have some decent legs.

Cruise utterly dominated moviegoing this weekend, making over six times what last week's champ, Old took in in its second weekend. The M. Night Shyamalan thriller fell to $6.9 million, and has a ten-day total of $30.7 million. It looks to be heading to around $50 million or so.

In third was the weekend's second newcomer, the medieval actioner The Green Knight, starring Dev Patel. Despite strong reviews, it could only muster up $6.8 million for the weekend.

In fourth, Black Widow brought in $6.5 million for a total of $167.1 million. It should pass F9 in the coming days to become the highest-grossing film of 2021.

Opening in fifth is Stillwater, which, as a serious, Oscar-baity drama opening wide in July, couldn't really compete with the action spectacles all around it, even with Matt Damon in the lead. It brought in $5.2 million, and didn't really get the reviews needed to sustain a long box office run.

Films 6-10 consist of fast-fading franchise entry, with Space Jam: A New Legacy ($4.3 million/$60.8 million), Snake Eyes (replacing In the Heights as the flop of the summer, taking in $4.1 million for a ten-day gross of only $22.4 million), F9 ($2.7 million/$168.6 million), Escape Room: Tournament of Champions ($2.2 million/$20.6 million), and Boss Baby: Family Business ($1.4 million/$53.5 million). In 11th was another fast-fading franchise entry, The Forever Purge, but its $1.1 million take this weekend marks the first time during the pandemic that a $1 million weekend gross wasn't enough to make the Top Ten.

This weekend's one wide release is The Suicide Squad, not to be confused with 2016's Suicide Squad, even though it's about the same supersortahero team, and features several of the same actors, including Margot Robbie and Viola Davis. This one has an R rating, direction by Guardians of the Galaxy mastermind James Gunn, far better reviews, and John Cena and Idris Elba instead of Will Smith. Unless Jungle Cruise holds up extremely well, Squad should be #1 for the weekend, though it will be interesting if it can top the pre-pandemic, somewhat disappointing $33 million opening that Birds of Prey (And the Superlong Subtitle I'm Not Going to Bother Looking Up Though I Remember It Ends With Harley Quinn) had in February 2020. We'll find out if opening better was a suicide mission or not next weekend.

Going into this weekend (the first anniversary, incidentally, of major studios beginning to release films back into theaters), most box office observers were really worried about Free Guy. Despite star Ryan Reynolds's popularity, it was an original film, i.e. not based on any prior work, and with the Delta variant running rampant, there were concerns it would debut under $20 million, which would be a sobering outcome heading into the fall.

Instead, Free Guy opened to a terrific $28.4 million, with a Saturday take almost exactly equal to its Friday take. In a summer during which films have routinely open strongly on Friday before slumping on Saturday, this is a very good indication of strong word-of-mouth and a sign that Free Guy might not suffer the devastating second-weekend drops that have plagued movies all summer long. While I think the most realistic final outcome will be a gross close to Cruella's $85 million, if it is able to find a strong pair of legs, it could make it to $100 million.

Opening far back in second is Don't Breathe 2, the sequel to the surprise 2016 hit about three burglars forced to play a cat and mouse game with the blind, homicidal owner of the house they broke into. Understandably, Stephen Lang is the only one returning from the first one, as he goes after the kidnappers of a young girl. With the pandemic suppressing grosses and the five year gap between entries, this was always going to open much smaller than the original (which took in $26.4 its opening weekend). So, in that light, its $10.6 million opening is actually pretty good. However, it is a horror movie, so it will be lucky to even reach a final gross of $26.4 million. Luckily, the film was fairly cheap.

Jungle Cruise continues to chug along in third, earning $9.1 million. It's now flowed past $82.3 million and will likely make it to $100 million.

Opening in fourth was the Aretha Franklin biopic Respect, starring Jennifer Hudson as the legendary Queen of Soul. Its $8.8 million opening isn't too far off from the August 2014 opening of another biopic of a legendary African-American musician, Get on Up, in which the late Chadwick Boseman played James Brown. That opened to $13.6 million (against the opening weekend of Guardians of the Galaxy), and finished with $30.7 million. That's probably more than Respect can hope to earn, but any finish in the mid $20 million range will be considered a success.

Despite strong reviews and word-of-mouth, The Suicide Squad compounded its disappointing opening with one of those aforementioned devastating second-weekend drops, plunging over 70% to $7.8 million. That brings its ten-day total to $42.6 million, and it seems unlikely to get much above $50 million. So far, every single movie that Warner Bros. has released simutaiousnly to both theaters and on HBO Max has fallen over 50% in its second weekend, which explains why the studio has already announced that theatrical exclusivity will return next year. With expensive tentpoles like Dune and The Matrix 4 coming up, I wouldn't be shocked if WB figures out a way to end the program even earlier than that.

Rounding out the Top 10, Old came in sixth with $2.4 million, for a total of $42.9 million, Black Widow was seventh with $1.9 million, for a total of $178.1 million, with Stillwater ($1.3 million/$12.5 million), The Green Knight ($1.2 million/$14.7 million), and Space Jam: A New Legacy ($1.1 million/$68.1 million) following.

This will be the busiest weekend for new releases in a while, as four titles arrive at the multiplex. The one most likely to challenge Free Guy for the top spot is Reminiscence, starring Hugh Jackman as a scientist working with technology that allows people to vividly relive their fondest memories. Rebecca Ferguson and Thandiwe Newton co-star. Also opening is The Night House, a horror flick about a woman (Rebecca Hall) who is convinced her house is haunted, The Protégé, an action thriller starring Maggie Q as an assassin seeking revenge for the death of mentor Samuel L. Jackson, and what will likely be the bane of parents of preschoolers everywhere, Paw Patrol: The Movie. Will any of them make it to the top? Or will Free Guy stand freely again? We'll find out next week.

1992's Candyman, based on a Clive Barker story and starring Virginia Madison as an urban folklorist investigating a supposed legend about a hook-handed killer who emerges from mirrors when you say his name, got mixed reviews and so-so box office. However, post-theatrical, it became a big enough cult hit to inspire a theatrical sequel and a straight-to-video sequel, and now, nearly 30 years later, has a reboot/remake that did much better than expected, opening easily at #1 with $22 million. As a horror film, it will likely fade fast, but should still finish with at least $45 million in the bank, a quite successful performance for the thriller.

Holding up very well at #2 is late summer hit Free Guy, which fell only 29% in weekend #3 to $13.2 million. That's actually the best third weekend gross of any movie since Sonic the Hedgehog, toward the end of the Before Times. The Ryan Reynolds action comedy now has a gross of $78.9 million and should be over $100 million in the next couple of weeks.

Paw Patrol: The Movie didn't hold together so well in its second weekend, falling nearly 50% with a total of $6.7 million. Still, the animated rescue dog film has a ten-day total of $24.1 million, and looks to be heading to around $40 million, a nice gross for this type of movie.

Jungle Cruse became the year's 5th $100 million grosser by hitting that total almost exactly on the dot by the end of business on Sunday, thanks to a gross of $5 million. It will be interesting to see if Jungle or Free Guy will ultimately outgrows the other.

Horror hit Don't Breathe 2 continues to do solid business, even if its totals aren't anywhere near the original's in 2016. The film took in another $2.9 million for a gross of $24.6 million. It will likely finish between $30 and $35 million.

Respect, in 6th, hasn't really earned much, as the biopic sings up another $2.2 million for a disappointing $19.7 million gross. The Suicide Squad added another $2 million to its underwhelming grosses, and is now up to $52.7 million. Last week's flops The Protégé and The Night House brought in $1.6 and $1.2 million, respectively, for ten-day grosses of $5.7 million and $5.2 million. At least they're doing better than Reminiscence, which is already under $1 million and already out of the Top 10. It is one slot under Old, which could only manage $0.8 million for a gross of $46.5 million.

Labor Day is traditionally the quietest of the year's three-day weekends, but with Covid still playing havoc on the release schedule, this is the second year in a row that the weekend has seen a major blockbuster. Last year, the arrival of Tenet failed to jumpstart the box office, but hopes are higher for the latest Marvel entry, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. This is the first Marvel movie with the title character making their MCU debut since Captain Marvel, the first to focus on a character of color since Black Panther, and the first ever with an Asian lead and indeed a mostly Asian cast. Obviously the grosses of Captain Marvel and Black Panther suggest that Shang-Chi will do quite well, though both Brie Larson and Chadwick Boseman were much better known than Shang-Chi star Simu Liu, who is best known for co-starring in the cult Canadian sitcom Kim's Convenience. Luckily, Awkwafina and Michelle Yeoh, both of whom co-starred in the last major Hollywood movie with a mostly Asian cast, Crazy Rich Asians, will be on hand to provide star power. Shang-Chi will almost certainly debut at #1, but how high could it go? It almost certainly won't reach Black Widow's opening, but anything north of $50 million should be considered a win. We'll see how Shang-Chi handles Labor Day next week.

During the summer, movies dropping by 2/3rds or more in their second weekends became almost routine. This seemed like a scary new normal for Hollywood where movies were falling off faster than ever and weren't even getting the big opening weekend box office to somewhat make up for that. However, as the calendar turned to August, an odd thing started to happen--movies started having relatively normal dropoffs again. Jungle Cruise, Candyman, Don't Breathe 2, and especially Free Guy actually developed legs. That all four movies were generally well received by audiences didn't hurt much, either.

That brings us to Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, which, as opposed to Black Widow's 67% second-weekend tumble, only fell about 54% from last weekend's Labor Day-fueled opening. It took in $34.7 million in its second weekend, bringing its ten-day total to $144.5 million. That's both the best second weekend gross and best ten-day total since before the pandemic. There's little reason to think that Shang-Chi, which is already up to fourth on the highest-grossing movies of 2021, won't not only eventually pass Widow for the top spot, but it will be the first movie since Bad Boys For Life to top $200 million domestically.

In a rather distant second, the aforementioned Free Guy continues to perform at a steady pace, earning $5.6 million to raise its total to $101.6 million, becoming the sixth movie of the year to pass the century mark. If weekly falls continue to be relatively small, it could top out at around $120 million.

James Wan gifted Warner Bros. with the first two Conjuring movies and Aquaman. His reward was getting to write and direct the relatively low-budgeted horror-thriller Malignant, which comes complete with a crazy twist that everyone who saw it couldn't stop talking about. For whatever reason, however, Warners dropped the ball on promotion, so Malignant could only muster up a third-place opening of $5.4 million, or only about a fourth of what the more hyped Candyman opened to just two weeks ago. Perhaps word-of-mouth will help, but WB hasn't gotten any long-term traction on any of its 2021 releases, most likely thanks to the HBO Max debacle, and there's no reason to think Malignant will be different. This is likely going to top out only a bit over $10 million.

A sign of just how weak Malignant was was that it didn't even make a million more than the third weekend of the aforementioned Candyman, which took in $4.8 million for a total of $48 million. Jungle Cruise rounded out the Top 5, earning $2.3 million for a total of $109.8 million.

Paw Patrol: The Movie and Don't Breathe 2 continued their moderately successful runs in sixth and seventh, respectively. Paw Patrol grossed $2.3 million for a total of $34.7 million and Don't Breath took in $1.2 million for $30.3 million.

Opening in 8th was the acclaimed drama The Card Counter, with Oscar Isaac and Tiffany Haddish. It brought in just over $1 million. Opening in 9th, with roughly $0.7 million, was the Christian documentary Show Me the Father. Respect rounded out the Top 10, with a total gross of $23.2 million.

While Shang-Chi stands a good chance to threepeat this weekend, two new movies arrive to challenge the Marvel hit for its title. 91-year-old Clint Eastwood might very well be the oldest actor to star in a major studio movie, might very well be the oldest director of a major studio movie, and is almost certainly the oldest to do both in the same film, specifically Cry Macho, where he plays an aging cowboy sent to accompany a teenage boy from Mexico to the United States. Meanwhile, Copshop is a violent shoot-em-up set at a police station, where a pair of hitmen (Gerard Butler and Toby Huss) try to take down a con man (Frank Grillo) while a surviving cop (Alexis Louder) tries to survive. Also opening, and possibly making the lower rungs of the Top 10, are the biopic The Eyes of Tammy Faye with Jessica Chastain and Andrew Garfield, and the immigrant drama Blue Bayou, starring Justin Chon and Alicia Vikander. We'll find out who wins next week.

Another week, another win for Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, which won its fourth straight weekend with $13 million. It becomes the first film since The Croods: A New Age to top the box office for four weekends, and the first since Tenet to top it for four straight weekends. That dominance of September has led to a total gross of $196.2 million, putting Shang-Chi well ahead of Black Widow to become 2021's highest grosser to date. By the end of the upcoming weekend, it should be well above $200 million.

Not putting up much of a fight in second is Dear Evan Hanson. The Ben Platt-starring musical could only wave through a window at Shang-Chi, finding only $7.4 million, coming in below even modest expectations. It looked like 2021 might be the year of the musical, but with both this and In the Heights flopping, and Annette, Everybody's Talking About Jamie, and Cinderella shuttled off to streaming and already largely being forgotten, you have to think that Disney is getting at least mildly concerned with West Side Story at Christmas.

Free Guy continues its excellent showing in third, adding another $4.1 million to its steadily growing total. It is up to $114.2 million, and could easily add another $20 million or so before its game over. Candyman is also having a sweet run, as the horror thriller picked up $2.6 million for a total of $56.9 million, heading for a final gross over $60 million.

As expected, HBO Max took the legs right out from under Cry Macho, as the Eastwood drama could only come up with $2.1 million in its second weekend. Its ten-day stands at a dismal $8.3 million. With the very expensive Dune coming up in only a few weeks, WB officials have to hope that the films visuals will prompt its subscriber base off their couches and into theaters.

Jungle Cruise continues to chug along, picking up another $1.7 million for a total of $114.9 million, a bit of a disappointment given the grosses of Shang-Chi, but then again, Shang-Chi was a theatrical exclusive. Another film ruined by HBO Max, Malignant, brought in $1.5 million for a gross of $12.3 million. Despite solid reviews, Copshop didn't find much in the way of new moviegoers in its second weekend, taking in $1.3 million for a ten-day total of $4.5 million. Paw Patrol found another $1.2 million for a decent gross of $38.8 million.

Opening in tenth was the Indian romantic melodrama Love Story, which despite playing on only 300 screens, was able to pull in $1 million. It also kept The Eyes of Tammy Faye, which is looking like the biggest flop of September, out of the Top 10. Opening way down the list was the tenth anniversary re-release of Courageous, which opened to less than $0.3 million, despite some newly shot scenes and an opening on over a thousand screens.

While Shang-Chi would have been a smash no matter when it opened, its grosses were admittedly helped by the lack of competition in September. October, by comparison, is packed to the gills with potential blockbusters, starting this weekend with three major new releases. Likely displacing Shang-Chi at the top of the box office will be Venom: Let There Be Carnage, a sequel to the big 2018 Spider-Man spin-off starring Tom Hardy as a muckraking journalist in an uneasy relationship with the man-eating alien symbiote in his body. The sequel finds an even more vicious symbiote invading the body of a serial killer (Woody Harrelson), after which all hell breaks loose. Since this is PG-13, there will be a limited amount of carnage (as opposed to Carnage) on screen, which will likely help it score an easy #1 opening.

Also opening is the animated Addams Family 2, which features the creepy, kooky, mysterious, and spooky clan going on a road trip. The first did good business leading up to Halloween two years ago, and with family audiences not having much to choose from (one of the reasons Jungle Cruise and Paw Patrol have stuck around for so long) there's no reason to think that this one won't do decent business as well. Then, there's the weekend's big question mark, The Many Saints of Newark, a prequel movie to the beloved mobster series The Sopranos. While the series still has passionate fans, it did cut to black 14 years ago, and it remains to be seen how many people really want to see this portrait of a mafioso as a young man. The fact that it (of course) will also be available on HBO Max is another negative. Possibly playing in enough theaters to hit the lower half of the Top 10 is Titane, a bizarre French horror movie about a female serial killer attracted to cars. This one was the talk of Cannes over the summer. Will Venom be able to pull anywhere near the $80 million the first one opened to three years ago? Could the Addamses or the Many Saints pull an epic upset? We'll find out next week.

No Time to Die, the 25th official James Bond movie (sorry, Never Say Never Again) and fifth and final appearance of Daniel Craig in the role, opened after a year-and-a-half delay to $55.2 million, a solid opening, but one that came in below expectations. It comes in below the openings of Skyfall, Spectre, and Quantum of Solace, and seems likely to end up as the lowest-grossing Bond movie since The World is Not Enough. Still, the fact that a $55.2 million debut, just four months after that would have been the best opening of the pandemic, can be thought of as disappointing is a sign of just how far the box office has come in a few short months. And while there will be lots of competition, good word of mouth could boost the final take of No Time to the level of Quantum or Spectre.

Last week's champ, Venom: Let There Be Carnage has a fully expected drop, coming in with $31.8 million, with a ten-day total of $141.4 million. It becomes the 8th pandemic-era film to top $100 million. $200 million is still on the table, though it's going to have to hold up a lot better in the coming weeks.

The Addams Family 2 had a relatively small drop, bringing in $10.1 million for a ten-day total of $31.2 million. It has one more week before Ron's Gone Wrong comes in.

In fourth, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings continues to chug along, with $4.3 million for a total of $212.6 million.

The many saints of Newark apparently had better things to do than see The Many Saints of Newark, which had a worse tumble than Venom did to $1.4 million. The Sopranos prequel has a ten-day total of $7.8 million, probably ensuring that any future spin-off projects stick to HBO and/or HBO Max.

Late summer hit Free Guy continues to inch upward, as it takes in $1.2 million for a total of $119.6 million. Dear Evan Hanson is proving to be an even bigger flop than In the Heights was, as it could only come up with $1 million for a total of $13.7 million.

Opening in 8th is Icelandic horror flick Lamb, which brought in an OK $1 million on its opening weekend.

In 9th, Candyman continues to wrap up a successful run, as its total is now up to $60.1 million.

The Metropolitan Opera's performance of Boris Godunov was sent out live on Saturday night to theaters from coast to coast, and it brought in just enough to make the Top Ten, earning $0.4 million.

This week sees three movies aiming for the Top 10. Likely dethroning No Time To Die is Time For Everyone to Die, aka Halloween Kills, the second movie in the current revival series, the third in the current timeline, the sixth to feature Jamie Lee Curtis as Laurie Strodie, the tenth in the original series stretching back to 1978, the eleventh to feature Michael Myers as the antagonist, and the twelfth in the entire Halloween franchise, including Halloween III and the Rob Zombie remakes. Three years ago, Halloween '18 opened to $76.2 million. With the three-year wait and the fact that the movie is going to be streaming on Peacock this weekend, I'd be surprised if it made that much, but with no big new horror movies out right now (unless you want Icelandic subtitles or PG-rated cartoon characters) two weeks before Halloween (the holiday), Halloween Kills should slice off a decent total.

Also opening is The Last Duel, one of two new Ridley Scott movies out this fall. This one has an impressive cast, including the first significant on-screen teaming of Matt Damon and Ben Affleck (who co-wrote the screenplay) since Dogma, along with Adam Driver and Jodie Comer, fresh off of Free Guy. It seems likely to challenge No Time to Die for second. Father down the chart, the documentary The Rescue has a shot at cracking the lower rungs of the Top Ten. Will Halloween Kill its way to the top? Will The Last Duel shoot down the competition? Will No Time to Die find it's Time to repeat in the #1 slot? We'll find out next week.

Of October's big four blockbusters, Dune was always going to be the hardest sell. It is the only one that's not a sequel, its source material is a doorstop of a sci-fi novel that has always been more of a cult success rather than a mainstream one, and the last movie version is remembered as being wildly incomprehensible. In addition, star Timothée Chalamet may have spent the last four years as one of Hollywood's most buzzed-about young actors, but he had yet to headline a tentpole film, and there's the entire HBO Max factor as well.

To the immense relief of Warner Bros. executives, Dune opened pretty much as expected, taking in $41 million in its first weekend. That should be a good enough start to get it over $100 million by the end of its domestic run. Its start is easily the best of any movie that also debuted simultaneously on HBO Max, and second-best of any movie offered free to subscribers of a streaming service (behind last week's launch of Halloween Kills, also on Peacock). All that, combined with strong overseas grosses, was enough for the studio to belatedly announce that Dune 2 would be arriving in theaters (and presumably only in theaters) in October 2023.

Speaking of Halloween Kills, the second weekend was murder for the horror flick, as it plunged over 70% to $14.5 million. Horror movies, of course, are notorious for their steep drop-offs, but they're usually not this steep. The drop puts the chances of the movie, which has a ten-day gross of $73.1 million, in danger of missing the $100 million mark. The fact that next weekend is actually Halloween might help stabilize the grosses a bit, but expect further big drops come November.

No Time to Die continues to perform adequately, if below the levels of its Craig predecessors, pulling in $12.2 million for a total of $120.4 million. Its overall gross is a bit above where Casino Royale was at this point in its run, but a bit below where Royale's weekend grosses were. In short, it's probably not going to make it to the $160 million level both Royale and Quantum of Solace finished at, meaning this will be the lowest grossing outing for 007 since The World is Not Enough in 1999.

Sony is likely satisfied with the performance of Venom: Let There Be Carnage, which swallowed another $9.3 million this weekend. That said, the film has just now gotten to a overall gross ($182 million) double that of its opening weekend, and might still fall short of $200 million, things that the studio probably wasn't expecting with that monster opening.

In fifth, animated newcomer Ron's Gone Wrong, about a malfunctioning robot, malfunctioned itself, opening to a dismal $7.3 million. A leftover from 20th Century No Longer Fox from before the Disney purchase, it's understandable why the Mouse House didn't invest much money in getting this out to the public. Expect this to be long-forgotten by the time Disney's Encanto arrives at Thanksgiving.

In a sign of how week Ron was, it couldn't even double the fourth-weekend gross of The Addams Family 2, which scared up another $4.5 million. It stands at $48.5 million, and could still pass The Boss Baby: Family Business as the year's highest-grossing animated title--assuming Encanto doesn't get there first.

The Last Duel, another no-longer Fox holdover, at least held onto a higher percentage of its audience in the second weekend than Halloween Kills, did, but that's cold comfort when it only made $2.1 million, for a ten-day total of $8.5 million. It should top $10 million, but $15 million looks out of reach.

Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings is wrapping up its very successful run just as the next entry from the MCU arrives in a week and a half. The actioner took in another $2 million to bring its total to a pandemic-best $221 million.

Opening in ninth was the weekend's other movie featuring Timothée Chalamet amid an all-star cast, Wes Anderson's The French Dispatch, which arrived with an impressive $1.4 million from just 54 theaters. As the film goes wider this weekend, we'll see if those numbers can hold up against more mainstream fare.

Rounding out the Top Ten is Indian comedy Honsla Rakh, which, unlike most Indian movies that make the Top 10, managed to stay in it for a second weekend. The ten-day gross is $1.8 million.

Halloween weekend is usually a slow one, as potential audiences are usually pre-occupied with festivities and studios usually treat the weekend as a dump ahead of the first big holiday movies arriving the next weekend. That's probably unfair to this weekend's big opening, Last Night in Soho, a stylish-looking thriller starring relative newcomer Thomasin McKenzie (best known as the Jewish girl being hidden by Scarlett Johansson in Jojo Rabbit) as a fashion designer in modern-day London who finds she's able to travel to the 1960s, where she meets a singer played by Anya Taylor-Joy. It has a shot at the top slot, though it will likely have to be satisfied with a top five opening. Also arriving is the horror thriller Antlers, staring Keri Russell and Jessie Plemons, the anime My Hero Academia: World Heroes Mission, based on the popular TV show, and hoping to make the bottom rungs of the Top Ten, the drama A Mouthful of Air, and the disaster flick 13 Minutes. Will any of them break through, or will Dune reign again? We'll find out next weekend.