2023 Domestic Box Office Surges Past $6 Billion This Weekend Due To ‘Barbie’, ‘Oppenheimer’, ‘Turtles’ & ‘Meg 2’ As Strikes Continue – Sunday Update
Sunday AM Writethrough after Saturday AM update: As the Hollywood labor stoppage continues, the 2023 box office rally rages on, as domestic box office soars past $6 billion, +22% over the same January-August period a year ago. This weekend for all movies stands at an estimated $178M. This is the fourth time in box office history to have four movies cross $25M; the last time was Thanksgiving weekend 2018.
We always knew this weekend would beat the first frame of August a year ago ($92M), and that’s happening at +94%. But the current Friday-Sunday is also kicking the first weekend of August 2019’s $148.99M by +20%, and that’s when Hobbs & Shaw ruled the chart.
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Barbie remains box office queen bee with $53M in weekend 3, after a $17M Friday and $20M Saturday. By EOD, Barbie is roughly $40M shy from passing the half billion mark at the domestic box office, with her gross set to stand at $459.4M. A $1 billion running global cume happens today!
That fierce battle for second place we saw yesterday between Paramount’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem, Oppenheimer, and The Meg 2: The Trench is settling down.
The second place winner is Meg 2 with $30M, an amazing one-two punch for the weekend by Warner Bros. No one was expecting Meg 2 to rank in second place. Here’s the takeaway with Meg 2 this weekend: For all those studios clutching their pearls and worried about stars not doing press and looking to dynamite the rest of the 2023 calendar. Meg 2‘s opening was achieved off a screening program campaign, with in-theater and online trailers and TV spots. I hear that Jason Statham and the cast didn’t do that much press here in the U.S. Such is the plus of opening a sequel off the gas of its established IP. The first Meg‘s campy comedic marketing campaign five years ago already did the heavy lifting in establishing the brand. The sequel’s trailers just needed to run with it.
Beamed Jeff Goldstein, Domestic Distribution President of Warner Bros, “This is an extraordinary time for Barbie fans, as the blowout parties continue. Meg 2 delivered the one-two punch and scared audiences everywhere.”
Uni’s Oppenheimer is third with $28.7M. Since opening, per EntTelligene, Barbenheimer, has pulled in 55.5M moviegoers. Broken out, that’s 39M for Barbie and another 16.5M for Oppenheimer.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, after a great Saturday of $10.3M, +11% over Friday’s $9.3M, is coming in at $28M over 3-days and $43M, which is still great for this $70M production.
Wow, that was easy. Everyone played nice. Typically, when there’s a tie in an upper ranking, especially No. 1, it’s a game of chicken among the majors on Sunday morning when calling it. More specifically, there’s a delay in reporting, with snarking all around. One of the more notorious fights over first in recent memory was the weekend of Sept. 29-Oct. 1, 2017 when the opening of Tom Cruise’s American Made, the fourth weekend of It, and the second weekend of Kingsman: The Golden Circle were all ranking in the high $16M range. Kingsman won with $16.935M.
Turtles is a huge win for the Brian Robbins Paramount administration, particularly as he builds out and revives franchises.
Said Chris Aronson, Paramount’s domestic distribution boss, “We’re over the moon with this opening. We exceeded pre-release expectations with this movie, which has been a labor of love for a long time.”
The decision to revive Turtles happened back in 2018, when Robbins was at Nickelodeon with Ramsey Naito, current president, Paramount Animation and Nickelodeon Animation, and they sparked to the idea of Seth Rogen’s involvement, as well as filmmaker Jeff Rowe — both lifelong fans — who truly wanted to lean into the ‘teenage’ part of the IP. Paramount, like all their movies this year, has gotten behind promoting the animated pic 200%, having Rogen show off extended footage at CineamCon, and a work-in-progress cut at Annecy back in June. Props to Paramount: They were the only studio who realized that there would be a full-house crowd down at San Diego Comic-Con: fans unfazed by the strikes. So they took Turtles down to Hall H and showed off more footage to fans with Rowe in tow, as well as TMNT co-creator Kevin Eastman — the latter who just stoked the crowd. Why skip an opportunity? Very smart on the Melrose lot for being fearless and creative sans stars in their promotion. Rival studios, take note.
The second animated take of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles has a Comscore/Screen Engine PostTrak audience score of 88% positive and a 70% recommend, with kids under 12 giving it 94%, and a 69% must-see. That’s enough ooze to keep chugging into the fall. That’s on top of the pic’s already “A” CinemaScore. Men showing up at 60% to women’s 40%, with 56% of the crowd between 18-34. The biggest demo is 18-24 at 34%. Diversity demos are 33% Caucasian, a great 33% Latino and Hispanic, 17% Black, and 16% Asian/other. The South Central and the West are the most robust here for the Nickelodeon/Point Grey production. Oppenheimer still has Imax, but the Turtles have PLFs, which are driving 16% of ticket sales and another 11% from 3D. Adam Aron’s AMC Burbank is the top-grossing movie theater in the nation at $103K-plus so far. Cowabunga.
TMNT:MM saw Canada delivering 5% of the gross with major markets that over-indexed being L.A., Dallas, Houston, Phoenix, San Antonio, and Austin, while the only major markets that under-indexed were Seattle and Toronto. Top theaters came from L.A., N.Y., Phoenix, Orlando, Dallas, Pharr, Texas, El Paso, Nashville, San Antonio, and Houston.
Social media analytics corp RelishMix says that Turtles’ social media universe is 309.8M across Facebook, Twitter/X, Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok combined. Ahead of release, RelishMix said those stats were under family animated averages. But clearly there’s an appetite here for the movie, as it’s greatly over-performing.
PostTrak audiences gave Meg 2 72% in the top two boxes, with a 55% recommend, and a B- to the first chapter’s B+. South Central and South are the biggest-grossing regions. Note, there’s a lot of walk-up business here, like there was on the first movie, from the Latino and Hispanic moviegoers, who are showing up at 25% to Caucasian 41%, Black 15%, and Asian American at 13%. Warners does have some PLFs for the shark that are shared with the Turtles, accounting for 22.5% of the overall gross with another 18% coming from 3D screens. The Regal Fresno Riverpark is leading the pack with $39K in gross (including early shows) so far.
RelishMix counts a social media universe for the sequel of 350.8M, 14% above genre averages next to action-adventure sci-fi titles, with Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom on the high end at 611.3M SMU. “Chatter flows positive on The Meg 2, which makes new waves as the audacious, over-the-top shark sequel being hailed as a high-octane escape into ‘stupid-crazy-fun entertainment’ with endless positive snarky threads. The return of Jason Statham draws a splash as fans gush, ‘Looks amazing, especially with Jason Statham in this epic shark movie.'” reports RelishMix.
Jason Statham, who counts 111M fans on social media, got this modest plug in for the film on Instagram before the SAG-AFTRA strikes began:
The chart with Sunday AM figures:
1.) Barbie (WB) 4,178 (-159) theaters, Fri $17M (-41%) Sat $20M Sun $16M 3-day $53M (-43%)/Total $459.4M/Wk 3
2.) The Meg 2: The Trench (WB) 3,503 theaters Fri $12.2M, Sat $10M Sun $7.8M 3-day $30M/Wk 1
3.) Oppenheimer (Uni) 3,612 (-35) theaters Fri $8.3M (-38%) Sat $11.1M Sun $9.1M 3-day $28.7M (-39%)/Total $228.5M/Wk 3
4) Teenage Mutanta Ninja Turtles…(Par) 3,858 theaters Fri $9.3M Sat $10.3M Sun $8.3M 3-day $28M, Total $43M/Wk 1
5.) Haunted Mansion (Dis) 3,740 theaters Fri $2.68M (-73%) Sat $3.6M Sun $2.69M 3-day $8.97M (-63%), Total $42M/Wk 2
6.) Sound of Freedom (Angel) 3,001 theaters Fri $2.2M, Sat $2.8M Sun $2M, 3-day $7M (-45%), Total $163.4M/Wk 5
7.) Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One (Par) 2,422 (-337) Fri $1.87M (-38%) Sat $2.6M Sun $1.96M 3-day $6.45M (-39%), Total $151M/Wk 4
8.) Talk to Me (A24) 2370 (+30) theates, Fri $1.94M (-54%) Sat $2.4M Sun $1.9M 3-day $6.2M (-40%) Total $22.1M/Wk 2
9) Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prm Kahaani (Moviegoer) 275 theaters (-85) Fri $476K Sat $617K Sun $487K 3-day $1.58M Total $4.6M/Wk 2
10.) Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (Dis) 1,190 (-975) theaters, Fri $460K (-60%) Sat $620K Sun $441K 3-day $1.52M (-62%)/Total $170.6M/Wk 6
FRIDAY MIDDAY: The third weekend of Warner Bros’ Barbie at $51M (-45%) is higher than the opening of the Brad Pitt action movie, Bullet Train, which did $30M during the first weekend of August. It just goes to show how far we’ve come along at the box office. The Greta Gerwig directed take on the Mattel doll is eyeing a third Friday of $16M at 4,178 theaters, -45% from a week ago. Running total by Sunday will be $457.4M.
Universal’s Oppenheimer will hold on to third place at 3,612 theaters with a $7.8M third Friday (-42%), and third weekend of $27M, -42%, sending its running total by Sunday to $226.8M. Pic is director Christopher Nolan’s fourth highest domestic besting Batman Begins and Dunkirk. It’s also the highest grossing R-rated film of 2023 domestically ahead of John Wick Chapter 4 ($187.1M). Oppenheimer also reps the fastest Universal R-rated release to cross $200M in U.S./Canada, taking 15 days. Previous R-rated $200M Uni champ was 2012’s Ted, which took 37 days to that benchmark.
Third at 3,858 theaters is Paramount/Nickelodeon/Point Grey’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem with a first Friday of $8.5M, 3-day of $27M, and 5-day of $42M, well ahead of its $30M-$40M expectations. Rotten Tomatoes audience score is 94% to go along with that A CinemaScore.
Warner Bros‘ The Meg 2: The Trench at 3,503 theaters is a seeing an $11M Friday, including previews, and a $25M opening — robust for the marketplace. Audiences are so-so on it so far at 66% on Rotten Tomatoes. That’s better than the 43% the first movie notched with RT crowds.
Disney’s second weekend of The Haunted Mansion at 3,740 is seeing a second estimated Friday of $2.8M,-72%, second weekend of $9.5M, -60%, for a running total of $42.5M.
FRIDAY AM: Barbie Crosses $400M, Oppenheimer Nears $200M, Turtles 2-day $15M, Meg 2 Previews $3M+ The spoils of July are spilling over into August as Warner Bros.’ Barbie, after a $11.8M Thursday, jetted across the four-century mark at the domestic box office in her 14th day –faster than Top Gun: Maverick and Super Mario Bros Movie– with a running total of $406.4M at 4,337 locations.
She’s poised to make around $55M in her third weekend, with Oppenheimer ringing in at least another $23M+; all of this spelling for a 3-day box office marketplace that will be exceedingly well north of last year’s $92M for the first weekend of August. The Christopher Nolan-directed movie earned $5.58M yesterday at 3,647 theaters taking its two-week total to $199.86M.
Warner Bros. also has some lagniappe at the weekend box office with The Meg 2: The Trench which is expected to do between $20M-$30M. Last night from previews that began at 3PM, the shark sequel did $3.2M at 3,400 locations. That’s a pretty good result for a sequel that stars a shark: The first Jason Statham movie brought in $4M in previews before churning out a $16.6M Friday, and $45.4M opening off what was a very campy, satirical marketing campaign. The $129M costing Meg 2 has a 50% stake from China’s CMC. Critics on Rotten Tomatoes loathe the sequel at 28% worse than the first movie back in 2018 at 45%. It’s a popcorn film for the masses, not for the tweeds.
Meanwhile, Paramount/Nickelodeon/Point Grey’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem saw its 2-day box office rise to $15M. Thursday was $4.87M at 3,513, -52% from Wednesday, with the Jeff Rowe-directed animated movie ranking third for the day.
Disney’s Haunted Mansion ranked fourth on Thursday with an estimated $1.6M at 3,740, -10% from Wednesday for a first week take of $33M. The previous Eddie Murphy 2003 movie opened on a Wednesday over Thanksgiving and its first seven days grossed $35.4M (unadjusted for inflation).
Angel Studios’ Sound of Freedom booked at 3,411, did $1.47M yesterday, -6%, for a running four week total of $156.4M.
A24’s horror movie Talk to Me at 2,340 theaters did an estimated $1.2M yesterday for a first week of $15.8M. Granted, this title went wide versus A24’s Bodies Bodies Bodies last summer, which platformed, but it’s great to note that this Sundance acquisition has outstripped that Pete Davidson horror comedy’s total stateside cume of $11.4M. Talk to Me‘s first seven days are also 22% ahead of Midsommar‘s which stood at $13M and finaled at $27.4M.
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