Clint Eastwood’s ‘Cry Macho’ Challenges ‘Shang-Chi’
After Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings dominated the box office for two weeks in a row, it faces some competition this weekend from Cry Macho, which sees Clint Eastwood both back in the director’s chair and as leading man. However, the theatrical exclusive Shang-Chi has already shown itself to have solid legs, and there’s a good chance it will reign supreme once again this weekend. It dropped 54% in its second weekend, and a similar hold this weekend would bring in around $16 million. The latest Marvel superhero film hit $150 million on the 12th day of its release, beating Black Widow by four days. At the rate it is going, we may see Shang-Chi surpass Black Widow’s $183.2 million gross by next weekend, which would make it the best grossing film since Bad Boys For Life, released all the way back in January 2020.
Warner Bros.’ Cry Macho, based on the 1975 book of the same name by N. Richard Nash, opens in 3,800 theaters in addition to streaming on HBO Max. The film sees Eastwood, now 91 years old, playing a former rodeo star who gets hired by his ex-boss to bring the man’s son back from Mexico. The book was on Eastwood’s radar in the '80s, and after changing hands a few times, including nearly being made with Arnold Schwarzenegger, it came back full circle to Eastwood, who filmed it during the pandemic.
The modern-day western has a screenplay by Nick Schenk, who wrote the last two films that Eastwood both starred in and directed: The Mule from 2018 and Gran Torino from 2008. Both films showed that Eastwood was still a box-office draw, with Gran Torino grossing $270 million worldwide and The Mule grossing $174.8 million. Expectations are muted for Cry Macho, though. While we have seen some relative successes among WB’s same day HBO Max debuts, they’ve been franchise films (Godzilla vs. Kong, The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It, Space Jam: A New Legacy), and the dramas have under-performed. In The Heights was the biggest grosser of the non-franchise films to simultaneously debut on HBO Max, and that only opened to $11.5 million and finished with $29.9 million, numbers which are in the range of Eastwood’s Richard Jewell and Trouble with the Curve. Reviews for Cry Macho have been mixed so far, with a 51% Rotten Tomatoes score.
Also going wide this weekend is Copshop from Open Road Films, debuting on 2,700 screens. The crime thriller is the latest from director Joe Carnahan (The Grey), and it stars Gerard Butler, Frank Grillo, and Alexis Louder in a game of cat-and-mouse in a small town police station. It’s at 76% on Rotten Tomatoes, with critics praising the film's old-school action charms, but its traffic on IMDb is closer to a typical limited release than a wide.
The highest profile of the limited releases is Searchlight’s The Eyes of Tammy Faye, starring Jessica Chastain as televangelist Tammy Faye Bakker, with Andrew Garfield playing her husband Jim Bakker. It is based on the documentary of the same name from 2000. Helmed by The Big Sick director Michael Showalter, the film is punching above its weight in IMDb traffic, well ahead of the wide release, Copshop. It's also showing more traffic than last week’s limited release success, The Card Counter, had leading up to its release. Reviews are a mixed but leaning positive (66% on Rotten Tomatoes), and Chastain’s performance is widely praised.
Blue Bayou from Focus Features stars Justin Chon, who wrote and directed the film, as a Korean-American who was adopted from Korea as a child and faces a crisis when he finds out he could be deported. Alicia Vikander also stars. Reviews are positive (76% on Rotten Tomatoes).
Lionsgate is putting out a 4k remaster of the iconic anime Ghost in the Shell in select IMAX theaters. It is also being re-released in some international territories, including Japan.
Though its stateside release isn’t until October 22, Dune is launching internationally this week in 24 countries, including Germany, France, Russia, Italy, and Spain. The sci-fi epic, based on Frank Herbert’s classic novel, recently premiered at the Venice Film Festival, and the strong reviews thus far (88% on Rotten Tomatoes) suggest it has lived up to the hype. The WB film will be going to HBO Max day and date with its U.S. release, but for now it is theatrical exclusive internationally.
Warner Bros.’ Cry Macho, based on the 1975 book of the same name by N. Richard Nash, opens in 3,800 theaters in addition to streaming on HBO Max. The film sees Eastwood, now 91 years old, playing a former rodeo star who gets hired by his ex-boss to bring the man’s son back from Mexico. The book was on Eastwood’s radar in the '80s, and after changing hands a few times, including nearly being made with Arnold Schwarzenegger, it came back full circle to Eastwood, who filmed it during the pandemic.
The modern-day western has a screenplay by Nick Schenk, who wrote the last two films that Eastwood both starred in and directed: The Mule from 2018 and Gran Torino from 2008. Both films showed that Eastwood was still a box-office draw, with Gran Torino grossing $270 million worldwide and The Mule grossing $174.8 million. Expectations are muted for Cry Macho, though. While we have seen some relative successes among WB’s same day HBO Max debuts, they’ve been franchise films (Godzilla vs. Kong, The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It, Space Jam: A New Legacy), and the dramas have under-performed. In The Heights was the biggest grosser of the non-franchise films to simultaneously debut on HBO Max, and that only opened to $11.5 million and finished with $29.9 million, numbers which are in the range of Eastwood’s Richard Jewell and Trouble with the Curve. Reviews for Cry Macho have been mixed so far, with a 51% Rotten Tomatoes score.
Also going wide this weekend is Copshop from Open Road Films, debuting on 2,700 screens. The crime thriller is the latest from director Joe Carnahan (The Grey), and it stars Gerard Butler, Frank Grillo, and Alexis Louder in a game of cat-and-mouse in a small town police station. It’s at 76% on Rotten Tomatoes, with critics praising the film's old-school action charms, but its traffic on IMDb is closer to a typical limited release than a wide.
The highest profile of the limited releases is Searchlight’s The Eyes of Tammy Faye, starring Jessica Chastain as televangelist Tammy Faye Bakker, with Andrew Garfield playing her husband Jim Bakker. It is based on the documentary of the same name from 2000. Helmed by The Big Sick director Michael Showalter, the film is punching above its weight in IMDb traffic, well ahead of the wide release, Copshop. It's also showing more traffic than last week’s limited release success, The Card Counter, had leading up to its release. Reviews are a mixed but leaning positive (66% on Rotten Tomatoes), and Chastain’s performance is widely praised.
Blue Bayou from Focus Features stars Justin Chon, who wrote and directed the film, as a Korean-American who was adopted from Korea as a child and faces a crisis when he finds out he could be deported. Alicia Vikander also stars. Reviews are positive (76% on Rotten Tomatoes).
Lionsgate is putting out a 4k remaster of the iconic anime Ghost in the Shell in select IMAX theaters. It is also being re-released in some international territories, including Japan.
Though its stateside release isn’t until October 22, Dune is launching internationally this week in 24 countries, including Germany, France, Russia, Italy, and Spain. The sci-fi epic, based on Frank Herbert’s classic novel, recently premiered at the Venice Film Festival, and the strong reviews thus far (88% on Rotten Tomatoes) suggest it has lived up to the hype. The WB film will be going to HBO Max day and date with its U.S. release, but for now it is theatrical exclusive internationally.
