Our friendly neighbourhood wall-crawler dominates the box office for another week
‘Spider-Man: Far From Home‘ managed to use its webs this past weekend and cling onto the coveted number one position in the U.S box office chart. The second MCU outing for our friendly neighbourhood web-head managed to grab another $45.3million and take its box office domestic tally to $274.5million in the 13 days since release. This puts it at slightly under $60million away from matching the domestic haul of its predecessor, ‘Spider-Man: Homecoming‘ which ended with a domestic take of $334million. With the international box office returns added in, the film currently stands at $847million in total, proving again that Spidey and the MCU are still able to draw in the crowds even after the mammoth haul of ‘Avengers: Endgame’ and almost certainly guaranteeing a third film for the web-crawling superhero. No spoilers from me but after the stingers during and after the end credits, it’s going to be great fun seeing where the MCU is heading after this.
The toys remained in town as Disney/ Pixar’s ‘Toy Story 4‘ held firm in the second position with another $20.6million added to it’s (Toy) chest. After four weekends on release, the film currently sits on $346.3million domestic and $771million worldwide against a $200million budget. Not bad for an over twenty-year-old franchise but and again no spoilers, if a fifth film comes to fruition, it (possibly) will have to do without Tom Hanks and his character of Sheriff Woody after the climax of the film this time around.
Opening its jaws and taking a nice $12million bite out of the box office tills came this week’s highest new entry in ‘Crawl‘ which opened in the third spot. Directed by Alexandre Aja, who directed the remakes of Piranha 3D and The Hills Have Eyes respectively and produced by horror maestro Sam Raimi, the horror/disaster/thriller cost $13.5million to produce. Adding to its tally was a further $4.8million from some overseas markets where the film has opened, giving it a take of $16.8million. The film still has to open in some of the worlds biggest cinema markets yet (The U.K being one of them) and interest in the film is high. I expect the film to make some serious money when it hits movie theatres worldwide. The film, depicting events during a huge storm and featuring a classic battle between human and a very large Alligator left quite the scaly impression on critics, gaining an unexpected 88% critical average.
The action/comedy ‘Stuber‘ opened in the fourth position in the chart with $8million. The buddy cop comedy starring Dave Bautista and Kumail Nanjiani cost a reported $16million to produce. With a further $3million taken internationally, the film sits on an $11million take so far. Not the kind of figures studio executives was aiming for. Adding to the woes of the film was the largely indifferent critical response to the film, only gaining it a 46% average. It seems the audience decided to steer clear of the film.
The musical comedy ‘Yesterday‘ rounded out this weekends top five. Director Danny Boyle’s Beatles inspired film earned itself another $6.7million, dragging itself to a domestic total of $48.3million and a worldwide take of $80.5million against a $26million budget. Audiences have given the film a ticket to ride instead of allowing it to sink like a yellow submarine.
‘Aladdin‘ is still working his magic as he ended the weekend in the sixth position, wishing up a further $5.8million and flying his magic carpet to a current standing of $331.4million domestically and $960.1million around the world.
‘Annabelle Comes Home‘ came, well home, in the seventh position. The third go-around for the possessed doll (Surely, SOMEONE has had to notice that the doll is evil and possessed by now?) managed to scare itself another $5.5million after three weeks of release. The film is now staring with its dead eyes at a domestic total of $60.7million and a worldwide plastic hand grab of $173.6million against a cost of $30million. To be completely honest, even though the box office numbers will inevitably lead to another round of scares from the doll, I think it is past time to take her out somewhere remote and burn her once and for all.
Slow-burning but ultimately satisfying and truly scary horror movie ‘Midsommar‘ ended the weekend in the eighth position. Although the film lost 45% of its audience from last weekend, the $10million budgeted film has a domestic running total of $18.4million. The Florence Pugh/ Jack Reynor starring movie is slowly opening around the world and with good critical reviews behind it, should make a decent return on its budget by the end of its theatrical run.
‘The Secret Life Of Pets 2‘ fell to a ninth-placed finish, earning a further $3.1million and coming close to hitting $300million worldwide. Closing out the top ten came the abysmal ‘Men In Black International‘, that managed to grab a further $2.2million as it eyes the top ten exit door.
Dropping out of the top ten biggest films this week, the Elton John biopic ‘Rocketman‘ ran out of fuel and departed alongside, for the second time, ‘Avengers: Endgame‘ which is now only a few million dollars away from topping ‘Avatar‘ as the biggest grossing film of all time. The film is still playing in a reduced capacity in multiplexes around the world so it may, just, pull off what its been trying to achieve after all.
Opening in limited release and making an $87,000 average per screen came PG-rated family comedy/drama ‘The Farewell‘. The film, starring Awkwafina has the rare privilege of actually (at the time of writing) holding a 100% critical average. Could the film really be that good? I must confess that I haven’t heard of the film until now so cannot comment on the content or quality of the film but it certainly looks like its something to investigate and keep an eye on.
Also opening in limited release but only taking $17,000 per-screen average was Jesse Eisenberg’s R Rated dark comedy ‘The Art Of Self-Defense‘ And no, it DIDN’T gain a 100% critical average!
Next weekend, Disney unleashes its third live-action remake of the summer and the one everyone has been waiting for as ‘The Lion King‘ roars in from the jungle to take on all comers for the box office crown. I fully expect it to maul the rest of the chart and emerge as the number one film at the box office next weekend, whether it deserves to or not is another matter entirely. Ok, I admit I’m most certainly not the greatest Lion King fan there is. Yes, the animated film was enjoyable. Yes, the songs were good. But I don’t think it can be considered on the same classic level as, say, ‘The Jungle Book‘, ‘Fantasia‘, ‘Dumbo‘, ‘Pinnochio‘ or ‘Alice In Wonderland‘. They WERE classics. Although it comes close, ‘The Lion King‘ isn’t in the same class as those wonderful films, despite what the critics may say.
And herein lies the problem the film faces. The animated film is considered by many to be one of Disney’s finest. I’m not going to argue with the people who hold it dear. I have my opinion, they have theirs and both are valid and welcome. However, the critics also have theirs and this time around and even with Jon Favreau again in the director’s chair as he was for ‘The Jungle Book‘ live-action remake, the critics haven’t been too kind to the film. Opinions range from the film being an inferior copy of the animated film to opinions of its good but it doesn’t offer anything new on the material. And the audiences may, even though I seriously doubt it, be swayed by the critical reaction and not lay down their hard-earned cash and see the film. And I DO believe the film deserves more than that. Any film that has a voice performance by the legendary James Earl Jones deserves to be seen on the big screen. And Jon Favreau has a great track record, his ‘Jungle Book‘ remake surprising me with the sheer enjoyment I got out of the film, thanks in no small part by Bill Murray and Christopher Walken’s winning voice performances. However, I did say that I believed ‘Aladdin‘ would struggle after the first trailer was released and look how completely wrong I was about that!
And now, readers, it’s over to you once again. How much do you think The Lion King will bite off and chew at the box office upon its debut? Or will Spider-Man cast his webs again and cling onto the top spot? What are YOUR predictions for the top ten films next weekend? Why not send us an email or reply with your thoughts on the box office top ten.
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Until next week, when all will be revealed again, happy movie going!
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Carl Roberts is a Senior Staff Writer and Books and Literature Correspondent for The Future of the Force. He is passionate about Star Wars, Marvel, DC, Indiana Jones and Horror movies. Follow him on Twitter @CarlRoberts2 where he uses the force frequently!
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Carl Roberts is the News Editor of The Future of the Force. Aside from being our horror genre aficionado, he is also passionate about Star Wars, Marvel, DC, and the Indiana Jones movies. Follow him on Twitter where he uses the force frequently!
