1. Chainsaw Man– $17.2M
Asian cinema, especially of the animated variety, continues to be a massive factor at the box office. Sony and Crunchyroll’s latest, Chainsaw Man: The Movie, beat expectations with $17.2M, surely helped by underperforming new releases. The adaptation of the popular manga and anime series was powered by strong reviews, 96% critical on Rotten Tomatoes and 99% from audiences, and likely means more movies are to come. The film already had $68M internationally coming in, and now has $108M globally.
2. Black Phone 2– $13M/$49M
Blumhouse’s Black Phone 2 had a solid hold for a horror flick, dropping 52% from its top-earning totals from last week. The first of two Mason Thames movies in the top 3, it earned $13M and now has $8-M worldwide after two weeks.
3. Regretting You (review)-$12.8M
The second Mason Thames-starring film is the latest Colleen Hoover adaptation, Regretting You, which is not performing up to the same level as It Ends with Us. The Allison Williams/Dave Franco/McKenna Grace melodrama (I would call it a comedy) opened with just $12.8M, and a pitiful 28% critic score on Rotten Tomatoes. That said, the audience score was much better at 87%, probably because Hoover fans were most likely to buy a ticket.
4. Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere (review)- $9.1M
Despite strong response to Jeremy Allen White’s lead performance as The Boss, Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere opened soft with $9.1M. For recent context, last year’s Bob Dylan biopic A Complete Unknown opened with $11M. Then again, the awards season buzz for both films is vastly different, and I would say that marketing of the Springsteen pic has been muddled. It’s about the creation of his Nebraska album which is more of a cult favorite, but it’s also about Springsteen’s mental health journey during that time. The broad appeal just wasn’t there and I personally think that’s a shame because it might impact White’s viability as a lead actor.
5. Tron: Ares– $4.9M/$63.3M
6. Good Fortune– $3.1M/$11.7M
7. Shelby Oaks (review)- $2.35M
NEON released the debut horror film from YouTuber and film critic Chris Stuckmann, Shelby Oaks, into 1830 theaters for just $2.35M. This was never expected to be a huge hit. It’s more like a test case for Stuckmann as a filmmaker to keep an eye on. So far it seems to be a failed experiment, as the film didn’t perform well with critics or audiences on Rotten Tomatoes, scoring below 60% with both groups.
8. One Battle After Another– $2.33M/$65.7M
9. Roofman– $2M/$19.3M
10. Truth & Reason– $933K/$4.8M
Also…Focus Features platformed Bugonia (review), the latest Yorgos Lanthimos/Emma Stone collab, into 17 locations for $690K. That’s a massive $40K per site average, which bodes well for next week’s expansion of the conspiracy thriller dark comedy remake of Korean film Save the Green Planet!
Vertical released Last Days (review), Justin Lin’s drama about doomed Christian missionary John Allen Chau. The film opened in just 312 theaters for $160K. Lin is mostly known for his big-budget action flicks as the chief director of the Fast & Furious franchise, all of which made more in an hour than this movie will make for its entire run.
