Barbenheimer is not going anywhere for the foreseeable future, and neither Meg 2: The Trench nor Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem could do much to alter that projected course this weekend. Still, it’s a rare weekend where four movies earned over $25 million in the same weekend and are trying to compete with the status quo attained back in 2019. Despite the writer’s strike, the movie business has never been any more significant.
Barbie has officially passed $1 billion, looking to challenge The Super Mario Bros. Movie for gold once the worldwide tallies wrap up at the end of this year. It feels almost like a “Rocky 2” fight on hand while Warner Brothers continues its momentum with a corporate takeover of the IP. Greta Gerwig’s massive win is at $459.3 million domestically and $1.03 billion worldwide, and it should have enough in the tank to make a case for $600 million domestically, showcasing why it’s the ‘Top Gun: Maverick’ or ‘Black Panther’ of 2023 regarding legs. Margot Robbie may also be relieved she finally got that awaited box office hit since Suicide Squad and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.
Oppenheimer fell to third place this weekend but still held well with a 39% drop for $28.7 million, bringing it to $228.5 million domestically and $552.8 million worldwide. It is now the highest earning feature based on WW2, beating out Saving Private Ryan and Dunkirk, and is on pace to possibly top $750 million worldwide when it wraps up. Nolan has solidified his name as a bona fide director, and we’re eager for the next installment of his to transform his selection once more.
Meg 2: The Trench couldn’t do much to deter the family demographics for Barbie, so its reception overseas was much more promising. Ben Wheatley’s shark feature took in $112 million overseas to blossom its worldwide total, despite poor reviews and a B- from CinemaScore. It’s not unexpected for it to earn one-third below its predecessor, but at least the opening in China ($53 million) puts it in rarified air for a Hollywood sequel to open higher in China since 2019. For the other newcomer, TMNT: Mutant Mayhem pulled in $43 million over its first five days of release, with stellar reviews and an A from CinemaScore. Being budgeted correctly instead of an abysmal $200 million “should” make this a win for Paramount as the animation territory has been reawakened following Across the Spider-Verse‘s numbers.
In other news, Haunted Mansion took a nosedive with a 63% drop in its second weekend for $8.97 million and $42 million domestically. Budgeted at $150 million guarantees another box office misfire, something one would think Disney would’ve learned by now. Opening closer to the spooky season might’ve been more befitting of its nature. Sound of Freedom continues its fantastic legs for $7 million in its fifth weekend, ending at around $180 million domestically.
And Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning Part One suffered the most of any film in this wondrous summer season, not even past $500 million worldwide in its fourth weekend. Tom Cruise was wary of the incoming Barbenheimer train, and his latest feature from a (relatively) rocksteady IP took the brunt of it. Maybe it could salvage towards $550 million at the least (and top Mission: Impossible 2), but that doesn’t bode well if its budget of around $291 million takes the stand. Cruise’s latest feature will disappointingly join that territory in a year of high-budgeted features flopping or missing their marks (The Flash, Fast X, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, etc.).
Next weekend sees the release of The Last Voyage of the Demeter, Jules, and Inside Man.
