“Free Guy” held on to its spot atop the box office in its second weekend, making another $18,790,000 domestically. The theater-only release has worked wonders on “Free Guy,” and its worldwide gross is now up to $111,912,975.
Fans of the “PAW Patrol” TV series were in for a treat, as it made $13 million in its domestic debut. Add another $21.5 million internationally and the children’s movie had a worldwide debut of $34.5 million. “PAW Patrol: The Movie” proved to be a popular alternative for family moviegoers with younger children.
It was not a great weekend for sequels, as “Don’t Breathe 2” and “The Suicide Squad” both dropped a similar amount in their second and third weeks in-theaters with the former dropping 52.5% ($5,050,000) and the latter dropping 54.4% ($3,410,000). It is still important to note that “The Suicide Squad” is still available to stream on HBO Max until early September, and it appears that viewers are still choosing to stay in while watching. “Respect,” the Aretha Franklin biopic, also had a steep drop in its second week of 56.7%, making $3,810,742 this weekend.
“Old” won’t be as successful as other recent M. Night Shyamalan movies, but its haul this weekend did push it past $80 million worldwide.
The last three new releases all came in together at 7-9 at the box office. “The Protégé,” made $2,935,000 in its domestic debut. “The Night House” had an opening haul of $2,869,000 in 2,240 theaters. Finally, “Reminiscence,” the latest day-and-date release from Warner Bros. and starring Hugh Jackman, made $2 million domestically and another $3 million internationally this weekend. It is also available to stream on HBO Max at the ad-free subscription for 30 days after its release.
There is only one major release coming next weekend, that being “Candyman,” Nia DaCosta’s sequel to the 1992 film of the same name. Similarly to how “Halloween” (2018) retconned the onslaught of sequels that proceeded the original classic, DaCosta is bringing to life a sequel that will presumably ignore the other two that came out in the nineties. The film star Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Teyonah Parris, and Colman Domingo, the latter of which has been on a hot streak as of late with “If Beale Street Could Talk,” “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom,” and this summer’s “Zola.” Being that “Candyman” is an R-rated horror flick, it will be interesting to see if it is able to dethrone “Free Guy” next weekend. It does have an IP to back it up, and only the box office receipts will show if audiences care about this franchise.
