- Now You See Me: Now You Don’t (review)- $21.3M
Lionsgate pulled a rabbit out of the hate with Now You See Me: Now You Don’t taking the top spot with $21.3M domestic, surpassing The Running Man. The threesequel and first film in the franchise since 2016, scored the lowest debut of them all, but is fairly close in line to the middle chapter. Fortunately, these movies have always been heavily loaded on the international side. This one is no different, earning $54M overseas for a worldwide haul of $75M. The first two Now You See Me films earned over $300M each, so we’ll have to wait and see if this one can conjure up a bit of box office magic.
2. The Running Man (review)- $17M
Questions surrounding Glen Powell as a legit box office star just got louder, as Edgar Wright’s The Running Man stumbled out of the gate with $17M. The adaptation of Stephen King’s book, previously adapted into an Arnold Schwarzenegger 1987 classic, was likely hobbled by middling reviews, 64% from critics on Rotten Tomatoes and 79% from audiences. For Wright, it’s at least a better start than his 2021 psychological thriller Last Night in Soho which finished its run with only $23M. Overseas, The Running Man was slow with $11M for a global total of just $28M.
3. Predator: Badlands– $13M/$66.3M
A heavy slate of new releases dealt a mighty blow to Predator: Badlands, which fell 67% for an estimated $13M. Globally, the franchise’s return to the big screen has $136M and has to be seen as a mild success for Disney.
4. Regretting You– $4M/$44.9M
5. Black Phone 2– $2.65M/$74.6M
6. Nuremberg– $2.6M/$8.6M
7. Keeper– $2.5M
NEON released Ozgood Perkins’ third horror movie in two years, Keeper, into 1950 theaters for just $2.5M. Maybe he should slow down a bit, because critics and audiences alike were against this one. The Tatiana Maslany/Rossif Sutherland film scored just 42% from critics and 49% from audiences on Rotten Tomatoes.
8. Sarah’s Oil– $2.3M/$8.6M
9. Chainsaw Man: The Movie– $1.6M/$41.2M
10. Bugonia– $1.6M/$15.6M
Also…Roadside Attractions released the drug war thriller King Ivory (review) into 752 theaters, earning $97K. The film is led by James Badge Dale, Ben Foster, Michael Mando, and Melissa Leo, and has received mildly positive reviews. I think it’s better than the 69% Rotten Tomatoes score suggests. [BoxOfficeMojo]
