As has often been the case during the summer months, we’re starting to get a new #1 each weekend, although this week saw a tighter race for first place than usual. Read on for the weekend box office report.
Although the dust has yet to fully clear, Paramount‘s franchise reboot, “Transformers: Rise of the Beasts,” has won its opening weekend with an estimated $60.5 million in 3,678 theaters, with $8.8 million of that coming from Thursday previews and its opening day take of $25.6 million. Starring Anthony Ramos (“A Star is Born”) and Dominique Fishback (“Judas and the Black Messiah”), the action movie directed by Steven Caple Jr. (“Creed II”) received mixed reviews with 52% on Rotten Tomatoes, but it also received a 91% Audience Score and a respectable “A-” CinemaScore from those polled. Internationally, “Transformers” grossed $110 million in 68 markets (94% of its planned international roll-out) for a global opening weekend of $170.5 million.
Playing in 700 more theaters, Sony’s animated sequel “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” brought in $55.4 million in its second weekend, down 54% from its opening weekend. With $225.5 million grossed domestically in just 10 days, “Across the Spider-Verse” is looking like it will be one of the summer’s biggest blockbusters.
Disney’s “The Little Mermaid” fell to third place with $22.8 million, down 45% with $228.8 million grossed in its first three weeks. The Rob Marshall-directed fantasy-adventure, starring Halle Bailey, added another $29.9 million overseas to bring its international total to $185.4 million and global take to $414.2 million.
Marvel’s “Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 3” managed to pull ahead of 20th Century’s horror film “The Boogeyman,” the latter which dropped 44% in its second weekend with $6.9 million to take fifth place. “Guardians” is estimated to make just over $7 million (down 34%) to retain fourth place with $335.4 million grossed domestically. The gap between the two movies being so close means we might have to wait until Monday actuals to see whether “Guardians” stays ahead. “Guardians” also passed the $800 million mark worldwide, with another $6.7 million grossed overseas for an international total of $470.5 million.
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Although Universal’s “Fast X” hit digital streaming on Friday and has been losing theaters, it still made $5.2 million (down 46%) this weekend to bring its total to $138.1 million. Although it has a lot of competition over the next few weeks, it’s still likely to surpass the domestic gross of the first two movies, although that’s not accounting for ticket price inflation. The movie’s global total stands at $652.8 million, including the $20.6 million made overseas this weekend.
Universal’s “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” enjoyed its ninth week in the Top 10, bringing in $2.1 million for seventh place with $570.2 million grossed domestically so far. More than that, it’s the true global champ with over $1.3 billion grossed so far; no other 2023 movie is even close.
For its second weekend in theaters, Celine Song’s “Past Lives” was expanded by A24 into 26 locations where it made $521,000 or $20,030 per theater. With $867,000 grossed so far, it will continue to expand into a wide release on June 23.
SEE Box office: All time domestic top-grossing movies
There wasn’t a ton of confidence in “Transformers” as only 31 players in the Gold Derby box office prediction game picked it to win the weekend over “Across the Spider-Verse,” and that probably will make the biggest difference whether anyone goes 6 for 6. (Fifth place is pretty divided between three or four choices as well.)
Although 13 players landed a perfect score in the June 2 box office game, regular winners “MellowDrama” and “Max” were ahead of the pack thanks to their Super Bets which had them both surpassing 58,000 points with “MellowDrama” just slightly ahead.
On Friday, three new wide releases hit theaters, including Warner Bros’ “The Flash,” Disney-Pixar’s animated “Elemental” and Tim Story’s horror comedy, “The Blackening.” Check back on Wednesday for Gold Derby’s preview.
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