Box Office Report for the Week of July 12

It was another quiet weekend at the cinemas. The calm before the storm, if you will. Next week, Christopher Nolan is finally unveiling The Odyssey to the world, and IMAX temples are already packed to the brim with many IMAX 70mm showings sold out for the first two weeks of its release. Before that, however, Disney had been wanting to capitalize on the Moana IP and hoped that a live-action remake would deliver the same level of commercial profitability as the animated films had.

After all, Moana 2 was not as well-received by critics as the Oscar-nominated first installment, but still raked in over $1 billion at the global box office. And speaking of billion-dollar hits, Michael has officially become the second movie released this year to cross that threshold, becoming the highest-grossing biopic of all time, outpacing both Bohemian Rhapsody and Oppenheimer.

Regarding the live-action remake of Moana, the movie fell short of many expectations. First, it was poorly received by critics, currently sitting at a 34% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, even if it is ostensibly the same movie as the 2016 original, which has a 96% approval rating. Secondly, its $250 million price tag definitely puts it at risk of becoming Disney’s biggest commercial failure, as it has only raked in $43 million domestically and $95 million globally.

Next week won’t fare any better for the Thomas Kail-directed remake, as families are choosing to see other offerings, such as Disney’s Toy Story 5, which will likely reach close to the $1 billion mark or surpass it, and Minions & Monsters, which isn’t doing as well as previous Despicable Me films, but could leg out in the weeks to come. In any event, Moana will be splashed out of first place and could drop as precipitously as Supergirl in the wake of The Odyssey’s arrival, dumbest internet discourse of the year be damned. Will Christopher Nolan’s latest make $1 billion? It’s debatable, but there’s no denying it will be a massive hit.

This weekend also didn’t fare well for Sébastien Vaniček‘s Evil Dead Burn, which opened in fourth place with a $13.7 million tally. The sixth installment of the popular horror franchise couldn’t make the top three, as Toy Story 5 and Minions are flooding cinemas and appealing to families, while this one isn’t fully destined for younger moviegoers. On a $20 million budget, however, it might be able to recoup its costs and be yet another win for horror, which has had quite the moment this year.

In fact, Curry Barker’s Obsession has now become the highest-grossing horror movie of the century, with $411 million worldwide. A $750.000 horror movie beating Star Wars. Beating He-Man. Beating Minions. Beating Moana. This is an achievement unlike anything we’ve seen this decade, and a paradigm shift is definitely on the way. How will this take shape? Only time will tell, but this era of moviegoing has certainly become more exciting…

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

1. Moana (Disney): $43.0M – 3,875 theatres
2. Minions & Monsters (Universal): $20.5M (-45%) – 4,244 theatres
3. Toy Story 5 (Disney): $18.5M (-39%) – 3,575 theatres
4. Evil Dead Burn (Warner Bros.): $13.7M – 3,004 theatres
5. Young Washington (Angel Studios): $6.4M (-67%) – 2,771 theatres
6. The Invite (A24): $5.7M (+712%) – 1,610 theatres
7. Obsession (Universal): $3.8M (-27%) – 2,069 theatres
8. Supergirl (Warner Bros.): $3.5M (-59%) – 2,584 theatres
9. Disclosure Day (Universal): $3.2M (-44%) – 2,204 theatres
10. Backrooms (A24): $1.4M (-54%) – 1,262 theatres

Source: Comscore