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SATURDAY AM: Refresh for more …and chart…The second weekend of September looks to jump past $100M for the first time since pre-Covid 2019 thanks to Warner Bros’ Beetlejuice Beetlejuice rally at the box office, set for a second $50M weekend after a second Friday of $14.4M.
This weekend is 61% ahead of a year ago when New Line’s Nun II battled through the actors strikes when casts weren’t permitted to promote. Back in 2019 at this time, New Line’s It: Chapter Two during its second frame drove a marketplace that counted $110.8M per Box Office Mojo.
As we told you yesterday, Blumhouse/Universal’s Speak No Evil is coming in ahead of forecasts with $12.3M after a $4.9M Friday. This movie in its essence feels arthouse with its UK setting, and dialogue driven quiet thriller narrative. For a movie like this, based on the 2022 Danish horror sensation Gæsterne, that’s pretty impressive.
The weekend is not without its causalities and that’s unfortunately Lionsgate’s Dave Bautista action comedy, The Killer’s Game, which at $2.5M-$3M, could wind up being the actor’s lowest opening to date of his career under the 2018 ensemble Hotel Artemis at $3.2M. More on this in a bit.
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FRIDAY EARLY AFTERNOON: Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is holding better than expected with a $50M second weekend after $14M second Friday, -55% at 4,575 locations. That’s still the second best second weekend of September behind It‘s second frame of $60.1M. Running total by Sunday is $186.4M.
Blumhouse/Universal’s Speak No Evil is also looking better than forecast with $12.5M for Friday-Sunday at 3,375 theaters for a $5M Friday that includes last night’s $1.3M previews.
Marvel Studios/Disney’s Deadpool & Wolverine won’t leave the top 5, staying in third, with $5M at 3,075 theaters in weekend 8, -29%, for a running total of $621.3M by Sunday.
The Matt Walsh right wing docu Am I Racist? booked at 1,517 sites is seeing a Friday estimated at $1.6M, 3-day around $4M. By the way, when it comes to best openings for wide release documentaries in the past ten years, Angel Studios’ After Death last year is the top at $5M.
Lionsgate’s Dave Baustista movie, The Killer’s Game, which is a distribution deal for the company on the less than $30M production, is seeing a Friday take of $1M-$1.5M (including $300K Thursday previews) for a 3-day in the range of $2.5M-$4M, which would get it to fifth place on the higher end. Note this project was in development for 20 years, an adaptation of Jay Bonansinga’s novel. Wesley Snipes was attached to start at one point at the early part of the millennium when it was parked at New Line. There were several filmmakers courted for the pic including John Woo, Wolfgang Petersen, Alex Proyas and more. Paramount took over the project with Andrew Lazar producing and Michael Keaton kicking the tires to headline. Two years ago stuntman-turned-filmmaker J.J. Perry approached Lionsgate to help find a way through with it.
FRIDAY AM: If it’s Friday the 13th, and you’re a studio (especially Blumhouse), you don’t miss the opportunity to program a genre film, and that’s Speak No Evil this weekend. Directed, written and produced by James Watkins the movie made $1.3M from Thursday previews that began at 2 p.m. The Universal-distributed R-rated title is expected to do around $10M off good reviews at 87% certified fresh on Rotten Tomatoes. Audience score stands at 86%.
The pic starring James McAvoy, Scoot McNairy and Mackenzie Davis follows a family who gets invited to spend a whole weekend in a lonely home in the countryside, but as the weekend progresses, they realize that the family who invited them has a dark side.
Meanwhile, Warner Bros. Beetlejuice Beetlejuice minted $4.5M at 4,575 theaters Thursday, ending its first week at $136.4M. The pic is pacing 14% behind the first week of 2017’s It, also a Warner Bros title under its New Line label, which did $158.7M, finaling at $327.4M. The Tim Burton-directed sequel is expected to do around $40M+ in Weekend 2, which will be the second-best weekend at the September domestic box office.
Lionsgate has the R-rated Dave Bautista action comedy The Killer’s Game, which grossed $300k from Thursday night’s preview shows. The film opens Friday in 2,623 locations. Critics don’t have a sense of humor about the pic at 36% on Rotten Tomatoes. Directed by J.J. Perry off a screenplay by Rand Ravich and James Coyne, the pic is expected to file around $5M.
Also going wide this weekend in around 1,500 sites is the right-wing political commenter Matt Walsh documentary, Am I Racist?, which will debut in the single digits.
In other news on Thursday, Deadpool & Wolverine in 3,400 sites ends Week 7 with $9.4M after a $558K Thursday, -7% from Wednesday for a running total of $616.3M.
Showbiz Direct’s Reagan is doing fantastic ending its second week with a running total of $20.3M — that’s more than the domestic run of Lionsgate’s Borderlands ($15.4M), and it’s about to fly past Apple/Sony’s Fly Me to the Moon ($20.5M). Granted, you can’t compare the demographics on those movies, but it just gives you an idea of a little engine that could from a frosh distributor in the face of bigger studios with bigger fish. Thursday was $475K, -13%, with Week 2 finaling at $7M.
The Vance Null-directed drama God’s Not Dead: In God We Trust received a Fathom release Thursday night, making $365K at 1,392 theaters. Blurb: Amid political and spiritual turmoil, Reverend David Hill (David A.R. White) steps up to run for Congress. Opponent Peter Kane (Ray Wise) aims to erase religion from policy, and the fight becomes a beacon of hope for people seeking moral leadership in a divided world.
20th Century Studios’ Alien: Romulus at 2,560 did $5.6M in Week 4, a running $98.9M cume about to face-hug the century mark this weekend, after a $352K Thursday, -16%.
