- Star War: The Mandalorian & Grogu (review)- $81.9M/$102M
The first theatrical Star Wars film in seven years, The Mandalorian & Grogu got off to a solid but unspectacular start with $81.9M over the weekend. Through the Memorial Day holiday, it’s expected to hit $102M domestic, and a worldwide haul of $165M. This is lower than the $84M debut of the much-maligned Solo: A Star Wars Story did during this same weekend in 2018. I’d warned that Disney/Lucasfilm was playing with fire by releasing a film that many casual fans will wait to see on Disney+, especially since the show is already so popular. That said, those who did see it were pretty high on it. Critics hold it at 62% on Rotten Tomatoes, but audiences have it at 89% which is the highest of the Disney Star Wars era, just ahead of Rogue One‘s 87%.
2. Obsession– $22.4M/$52.7M
Word of mouth still holds a lot of weight, especially when it comes to buzzy horror titles. Obsession leaped 30% in grosses in week two, earning $22M, taking its domestic total to $52M. Worldwide, Curry Barker’s film about a wish gone wrong has $79M and seems poised to pass $100M before too long. It cost just $1M to produce, so big win all around.
3. Michael– $20M/$314.2M
4. The Devil Wears Prada 2– $12.5M/$196.1M
5. The Sheep Detectives- $8.9M/$43.5M
6. Passenger– $8.7M
Without a lot of promo support and mostly a word-of-mouth campaign, Paramount Pictures opened horror director André Øvredal’s Passenger into 2500 theaters and earned $8.7M. That’s not too shabby for a film led by Jacob Scipio, Lou Llobell, and Oscar winner Melissa Leo, none of them huge box office draws.
7. Mortal Kombat II– $6.1M/$72.7M
8. I Love Boosters (review)- $3.7M
NEON released Boots Riley’s latest gonzo socio-political comedy I Love Boosters, and only earned $3.7M. That’s not good, as it was the distributor’s most expensive effort ever at $20M. Boots is a unique cat. His voice won’t be silenced, but this isn’t a good look. Reviews were strong, 92% from critics on RT, and 75% from audiences, so there’s a chance it sticks around for a while.
9. The Super Mario Galaxy Movie– $3.1M/$423.6M
10. Project Hail Mary– $2.7M/$339.6M
Also…Black Bear gave a limited four-theater debut for Daniel Roher’s acclaimed crime film, Tuner (review), starring Leo Woodall, Havana Rose Liu, and Dustin Hoffman. It got off to a hot start with $102K and a $25K per site average. This is one of my favorites of the year so I’m hoping it keeps on rollin’.
IFC Films opened Natalie Erika James’ Sundance horror fave Saccharine (review) into 385 theaters and earned just $56K. This was always meant to be a slow rollout to get the film some buzz during a busy stretch, as it’s likely to fare much better when streaming to Shudder. IFC and Shudder followed a similar model successfully with James’ breakthrough, Relic, in 2020.
