1. It Chapter Two– $40.7M/$153.8M
It wasn’t all lollipops and roses for Warner Bros. this week, but the good news is It Chapter Two led the way with a strong $40.7M second week. That gives the horror sequel and adaptation of the second-half of Stephen King’s monster novel a $323M worldwide total. It’s going to fall short of It‘s $700M haul from a couple of years ago, but we’re talking about a $1B+ pair of movies and nobody’s going to complain about that.
2. Hustlers (review)- $33.2M
The reason commercial movies such as Hustlers often premiere at fall festivals can be summed up by the movie’s phenomenal $33M debut. If the reviews are good, as they definitely were coming out of TIFF, they can generate buzz that lead to opening weekends just like this. And now there’s genuine Oscar talk going around for star Jennifer Lopez, which only makes Lorene Scafaria’s crime drama more of a must-see movie. Of course, it doesn’t hurt to have the likes of Constance Wu, Cardi B, Lizzo, and Lili Reinhart attracting the casual moviegoer. This is the biggest live-action debut ever for Lopez, which is pretty amazing when you think of her long run of successful rom-coms. It’s also an R-rated movie focused primarily on women of color, with a woman behind the camera. Audiences claim to want greater representation, especially for women, but don’t often come out to support it when Hollywood gives it to them. In this case they did show up and the only question now is whether Oscars hopes pushes Hustlers to a long run.
3. Angel Has Fallen– $4.4M/$60.3M
4. Good Boys– $4.2M/$73.3M
5. The Lion King– $3.5M/$533.9M
6. Hobbs & Shaw– $2.7M/$168.3M
7. Overcomer– $2.7M/$28.9M
8. The Goldfinch (review)- $2.6M
And then there was The Goldfinch. The other half of Warner Bros. mixed bag of a week, the John Crowley-directed adaptation of Donna Tartt’s bestseller opened with a dismal $2.6M, the sixth worst ever for a 2500+ screen release. Reviews for the $45M drama were awful coming out of TIFF, and they only got worse from there. I think that has more to do with the movie’s failure than the seemingly harsh atmosphere towards prestige, mature-skewing dramas. For instance, Crowley’s previous film, Brooklyn, managed to survive just fine a few years ago, riding the tidal wave of Oscars buzz. If there had been better word-of-mouth for The Goldfinch it would’ve performed, because surely there’s interest in a film led by Ansel Elgort, Nicole Kidman, Jeffrey Wright, and others, based on a beloved book. Even the 2 1/2 hour runtime could’ve been overcome if the movie were any good.
9. The Peanut Butter Falcon– $1.9M/$15M
10. Dora and the Lost City of Gold– $1.8M/$56.7M
