Box Office Report for the Week of September 21

There wasn’t much movement this week regarding new releases at the box office. While the Jordan Peele-produced (not directed) film Him made a respectable $13.5 million, considering its budget of only $27 million, the movie received dismal reviews from critics, and all signs point to it dropping significantly next weekend.

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – The Movie: Infinity Castle remains the number one movie of the week, despite a massive 76% drop over its record-setting opening. Still, the film has crossed the $500 million mark in only two weeks and has now become the highest-grossing Japanese film worldwide and the highest-grossing anime film of all time. Its momentum won’t be stopped, and there’s an inkling that it could very well stay in the top ten this week, despite overwhelmingly positive word of mouth from critics on Paul Thomas Anderson‘s One Battle After Another, which could be Warner Bros’ first commercial disappointment since Mickey 17 in March!

Time will tell exactly how audiences will respond to what was, quite frankly, one of the worst-marketed movies in recent memory. This does not, in any way, judge the quality of the film itself, as this writer has currently not seen it and has no opinion on the movie other than the abysmal marketing campaign, which includes eye-rolling Fortnite tie-ins?? This said, the significant push for 70mm IMAX (the movie will be presented entirely in 1.43:1 on those screens, alongside GT Laser venues) and VistaVision screenings could actively work in its favor and overperform expectations.

On the flip side, Kogonada‘s A Big Bold Beautiful Journey did not do very well, opening in sixth place with a dismal $3.5 million tally. The film has a much heftier budget to reach than Him, which, in the latter’s case, can do quite well, considering the appetite for horror that many moviegoers still have. In the case of Kogonada’s film, bad reviews ensured the movie would be dead on arrival by the time it was released, and the reception seemed to have soured much more than Justin Tipping‘s football-driven horror film.

Here is the full list of the top ten films of the weekend:

1. Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – The Movie: Infinity Castle (Sony): $17.3M (-76%) – 3,342 theatres
2. Him (Universal): $13.5M – 3,168 theatres
3. The Conjuring: Last Rites (Warner Bros): $12.9M (-49%) – 3,413 theatres
4. The Long Walk (Lionsgate): $6.3M (-46%) – 2,845 theatres
5. Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale (Universal): $6.3M (-65%) – 3,711 theatres
6. A Big Bold Beautiful Journey (Sony): $3.5M – 3,330 theatres
7. The Senior (Angel Studios): $2.7M – 2,405 theatres
8. Toy Story: 30th Anniversary Re-Release (Disney): $1.4M (-59%) – 2,340 theatres
9. Sight & Sound Presents: NOAH – Live! (Fathom Events): $1.3M – 933 theatres
10. Weapons (Warner Bros): $1.2M (-54%) – 1,186 theatres

Source: Comscore