‘Bullet Train’ Speeds Into First Place In Week 2 As Newcomers Open Soft
As the tentpoles go into hibernation for the next two months, this is the chance for the little guy to shine, no longer under the shadow of a steady stream of summer blockbusters. However, none of the three smaller films that opened wide were able to even crack the top five, and that’s despite a relatively low grossing set of holdovers. The overall weekend box office was $65.2 million, the lowest since February, and given the thin schedule in the coming months, this may be as good as it gets until mid-October when Halloween Ends releases.

Bullet Train sped into number one in its second weekend with $13.4 million, a drop of 55%, which like its $30 million opening isn’t great but isn’t bad either. The $54.5 million cume is tracking closely with The Lost City’s $55.5 million post-second weekend total, and that film had a solid $105 million finish. The international box office is more important here, and the second weekend hold was better abroad, dropping 40% in holdover markets. The international cume is now $114 million.

DC League of Super-Pets was off 35% in its third weekend with $7.17 million, putting it in second place (or third, depending on how the actuals play out) and bringing its total to $58.3 million. This puts it slightly ahead of its comp The Bad Guys, which had $57.4 million after its third weekend and closed with $96.7 million. Internationally it fell 38% in holdover markets and the global cume is $110 million. The legs are looking good on this one, though perhaps not good enough given the steep $90 million budget on the toon.

If there’s one box office performance to feel great about this weekend, it’s Top Gun: Maverick, which after falling out of the top five for the first time last weekend swooped back into third place (and don’t be surprised if it moves up to second with the actuals) in its 12th weekend with $7.15 million, up 1.6% from last weekend. The film was given extra fuel from its return to PLF screens and 421 total screens more than last weekend. The domestic cume is now $673.8 million, making it less than a week away from passing Avengers: Infinity War ($678.8 million) to become the sixth highest grosser of all time. Globally it is number 13 with $1.378 billion.

Fourth place this weekend is neck and neck between Thor: Love and Thunder and Nope, but the estimates put Thor: Love and Thunder slightly ahead with $5.31 million, dropping 31% for a $325 million total. This is the best of any [bThor film and the 15th best MCU film, and it looks to finish its run as the 13th highest domestic grosser in the franchise and the fifth highest for an MCU film not headlined by Iron Man or Spider-Man. Worldwide it is now at $720 million, not in range of Thor: Ragnarok’s $854 million. However, take away Russia and China, both not in play for Love and Thunder, and Ragnarok has a global cume of $718 million which Love and Thunder has just surpassed.

Nope rounds out the top five in its fourth weekend with $5.3 million, down 37.6%, and the Jordan Peele film now has a cume of $108 million. This puts it past The Lost City to become the year’s top grossing wholly original film, and it looks like it will leg out to beatFree Guy’s $122 million domestic cume to become the top original of the pandemic. The bigger story for the film this weekend is its global launch, though the $6.4 million gross from 19 markets was well below the opening of Us when comparing like for likes.

The best of the wide newcomers is A24’s Bodies Bodies Bodies which expanded from 6 to 1,290 theaters and grossed $3.25 million, coming in eighth place. It’s certainly not Everything Everywhere All at Once, which grossed $6.01 million in its 1,250 theater expansion after two limited weekends, but a good comp might be X, A24’s horror film from this spring which opened to $4.28 million from 2,865 theaters and finished with a cume of $11.8 million. Bodies Bodies Bodies expands to 2,000 screens this coming weekend.

Lionsgate’s Fall came in 10th place with $2.5 million from 1,548 theaters, and the okay B CinemaScore doesn’t suggest strong legs. Thankfully the stakes are low on this one, with Lionsgate’s vertigo-inducing survival-thriller costing just $3 million.

The weekend’s widest new release was also the lowest grossing. The Diane Keaton starrer Mack & Rita, which is the first film from Gravitas Ventures’ new label Gravitas Premiere, came in 13th place with just $1.095 million from 1,930 theaters. Audiences gave the body swap comedy a D+ CinemaScore, so don’t expect much growth from here.

Notable among the limited releases is the official Hindi-language Forrest Gump remake Laal Singh Chaddha, which came in 12th place with $1.47 million from 516 theaters. Also standing out a few slots down is the 40th anniversary IMAX release of Steven Spielberg’s classic E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, coming in 14th place with $1.07 million from 389 theaters.