Box Office Report for the Week of April 28

As we enter the summer movie season next week with The Fall Guy, this week was far more diversified than most “pre-May” release windows, with Luca Guadagnino‘s Challengers crawling to the top spot of the box office this weekend. Its insanely positive critical reception and strong word-of-mouth from early access IMAX screenings helped the film reach a decent $15 million opening. With its total cume, the film has already made half its $55 million budget back, with a $25 million global tally. A grand slam for both Guadagnino and moviegoers!

Faith-based drama Unsung Hero is, and the pun is absolutely intended, the unsung box office hero this weekend, as the buzz on the film was virtually non-existent. However, the faith-based market is incredibly strong, and when its marketing targets the right demographic, these movies are usually guaranteed box office hits. With only a $6 million budget, the film already made its money back with a strong $7.8 million opening. After The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare petered out at the box office last week, this news makes the film one of Lionsgate’s biggest hits of the year so far.

But that excitement is unfortunately not shared with another Lionsgate film released this weekend, Boy Kills World, which bombed tenth place with a meager $1.5 million opening. Despite a star-studded cast and mostly positive reviews from the Toronto International Film Festival, it wasn’t enough for the film to make an impact. It’s worth noting that the critical reception has diminished since its TIFF premiere, with the Rotten Tomatoes aggregate score dropping from a decent 75% to 60% (as of the time of this article’s publication). And it also looks like it won’t recover or gain any legs in its second weekend.

Before the summer movie season begins, figuring out which movie takes the top spot as the highest-grossing film of that period will be interesting. So far, Dune: Part Two is the movie to beat, and I don’t see any movie topping that for a good amount of time. Of course, many high-profile blockbusters are gearing up to release, including Deadpool & Wolverine, Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, and Twisters, to name a few, and many are expecting one of those to reach $1 billion.

However, I conservatively do not believe any film this year will be hitting that mark, with the exception of Despicable Me 4, which still has an incredibly strong fanbase. Minions: The Rise of Gru almost made over $1 billion, and I expect the fourth installment to make at least $900 million, potentially reaching that mark. Maybe I’ll be wrong, and time will only tell, but I remain skeptical of Deadpool & Wolverine being the highest-grossing film of the summer. What movie do you think will be the highest-grossing of the year? Or what is your most anticipated film of the summer? Please sound off below, and let’s get excited for what will hopefully be a great summer at the movies!

Here is the full list of the top ten highest-grossing films of the weekend:

1. Challengers (Amazon MGM Studios): $15.0M – 3,477 theatres
2. Unsung Hero (Lionsgate): $7.8M – 2,832 theatres
3. Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire (Warner Bros): $7.2M (-25%) – 3,312 theatres
4. Civil War (A24): $7.0M (-38%) – 3,518 theatres
5. Abigail (Universal): $5.3M (-49%) – 3,393 theatres
6. The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare (Lionsgate): $3.9M (-57%) – 2,845 theatres
7. Kung Fu Panda 4 (Universal): $3.6M (-24%) – 2,767 theatres
8. Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire (Sony): $3.3M (-27%) – 2,627 theatres
9. Dune: Part Two (Warner Bros): $2.0M (-33%) – 1,334 theatres
10. Boy Kills World (Lionsgate): $1.7M – 1,993 theatres

Source: Comscore