Inside Out 2 had a gigantic second weekend, while Bad Boys Ride or Die and The Bikeriders both had solid showings.
The final box office results are in for the weekend (courtesy of ComScore), and Inside Out 2 officially has the biggest second weekend for an animated film of all time. The mega-blockbuster from Pixar made $100 million this weekend for a mighty $355 million domestic haul in only two weeks. Certainly, it’s proving to naysayers that Pixar’s back at the top of the animated heap after a few flops and not in danger of losing prestige anytime soon. That said, it can’t help but feel like the success of Inside Out 2 may pave the way for more and more “safe” movies, like sequels, making me wonder if the days of them tackling more ambitious fare like WALL-E are behind them. We’ll see.
Second, as we predicted, is Bad Boys: Ride or Die, which is holding up even better than expected, with an $18 million-plus weekend and a domestic total of $146.9 million. Many forecasters believe the film will total short of $200 million domestically, making it the second highest-grossing Bad Boys movie ever (after Bad Boys For Life). However, repeat business and word of mouth have been excellent for the fourth film in the franchise.
In third place is Jeff Nichols’s The Bikeriders, which managed to crack $10 million this weekend, which is a solid start for an adult-skewing drama. It gave Focus Features their biggest opening of the year, with them smartly positioning it as adult counter-programming, with an emphasis in marketing on the strong cast, which includes Jodie Comer, Austin Butler and Tom Hardy.
Fourth place is too close to call at the moment, with both Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes and The Garfield Movie making $3.6 million. Apes now has a $164 million total, making it the fourth highest-grossing film in the franchise, behind Rise of the Planet of the Apes, which made $176 million. As for The Garfield Movie, it will likely end its domestic run well short of $100 million, which is a disappointing result for an animated film. It got stronger than expected competition from John Krasinski’s IF, which ended the weekend in sixth place with $2.775 million and a $106 million domestic total. Despite bad reviews, audiences loved the movie, with it showing strong legs at the box office thanks to its A CinemaScore rating.
However, one movie that totally tanked with audiences is Vertical’s The Exorcism, starring Russell Crowe, which nabbed an unholy D CinemaScore rating with a weak $2.4 million total. Horror audiences were likely put off by the bait-and-switch marketing, which sold it as an exorcism movie when it’s really about an actor battling his more metaphorical demons. To note, Thelma, an indie charmer, is playing on half the number of screens and has made almost the same amount of money, at $2.2 million.
Another horror flop is Ishana Shyamalan’s The Watchers, which ended the weekend in ninth place with $1.9 million and a $17 million domestic total. Tragically, Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga fell out of the top 10 this weekend, with the list rounded out by the concert film GHOST: RITE HERE RITE NOW, which made $1.5 million for a $2.6 million total. Furiosa hits VOD on Tuesday, so hopefully, more people will find it then.
Also notable is the fact that Searchlight’s Kinds of Kindness, the latest from Poor Things director Yorgos Lanthimos, opened with $350k in only five theatres, which means each location grossed $70K, which is the year’s highest per-screen-average to date (Poor Things started just a tiny bit better, with a $73k per screen average).
Inside Out 2 seems likely to hold onto the top spot for a third weekend next week despite increased competition from A Quiet Place: Day One and Kevin Costner’s passion project, Horizon. Do you think either movie has a prayer of taking down Pixar’s smash? Let us know in the comments!