Maxance Vincent
This weekend at the box office was quite slow, but Disney has two hits on their hands. Both of their new releases, Barbarian, and Brahmāstra: Part One – Shiva, are the top films of the weekend. The Zach Cregger horror film managed to snag $10 million, which is impressive considering that the movie had little to no marketing.
It was all intentional, of course, to keep the specifics of the film as vague as possible and to create word of mouth surrounding the movie. And having seen the film, this is one where you have to go to the theater, read and watch nothing about it beforehand and trust your instincts. It looks like that risk has paid off and could hopefully inspire confidence for more studios to do the same film. Release one vague teaser, create some buildup on social media to pique the audience’s curiosity, and let the results play out once the movie releases.
On the other hand, Ayan Mukerji‘s first installment in India’s highly anticipated Astraverse had massive marketing push from Disney. The movie is one of the most expensive Indian films ever made, has top stars attached to the project, and was released in IMAX 3D. In only 810 theatres, it managed to make over $4 million dollars. It may not have the same crossover effect that S.S. Rajamouli‘s RRR did, but the film’s success in India and in North America could mean we will be getting Part Two: Dev very soon.
In other new releases, the Christian drama Lifemark ended up in seventh place with a $2 million opening in 1,531 theatres. It’s impressive that the movie made this much money because it has a limited theatrical run through Fathom Events.
Other movies like Bullet Train, Top Gun: Maverick, DC League of Super Pets, and The Invitation are still attracting consumers to the big screen, but not at the same heights as they did when they opened. But it’s great to see Maverick still drawing audiences to theatres four months after its initial release. That’s wild.
Here’s the full list of top ten films for the week:
- Barbarian (Disney): $10M – 2,340 theatres
- Brahmāstra: Part One – Shiva (Disney): $4.4M – 810 theatres
- Bullet Train (Sony): $3.2M (-43.8%) – 3,056 theatres
- Top Gun: Maverick (Paramount): $3.1M (-47.3%) – 3,005 theatres
- DC League of Super-Pets (Warner Bros/DC): $2.8M (-43.7%) – 3,043 theatres
- The Invitation (Sony): $2.6M (-46.3%) – 3,117 theatres
- Lifemark (Fathom Events): $2.2M – 1,531 theatres
- Beast (Universal): $1.8M (-55.3%) – 2,793 theatres
- Minions: The Rise of Gru (Universal): $1.6M (-53%) – 2,274 theatres
- Spider-Man: No Way Home: The More Fun Stuff Version (Sony/Marvel Studios): $1.3M (-75.9%) – 3,215 theatres
Source: Box Office Mojo
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