Amazon MGM Studios’ Challengers opened with a good (albeit unspectacular) $15 million to lead the last weekend of April 2024, with touches of some gloomy debuts for other newcomers (Unsung Hero and Boy Kills World), while the March blockbusters continue to carry their weight over. Rock-solid reviews and continued star-rising performance from Zendaya (after her performance in Dune: Part Two, which has crossed $700 million worldwide and continues to leg out further) make her another prospect in the ever-evolving cinema realm in terms of drawing power.
The romantic sports drama shows the viability of “non-IP” programming just before the summer blockbuster season hits, akin to I Feel Pretty (with $16 million before Avengers: Infinity War) and The Other Woman ($24 million before The Amazing Spider-Man 2). Time will tell by next weekend if it takes a hit against Ryan Gosling’s The Fall Guy, but it will face an uphill battle against its $55 million (even with Zendaya lending $10 million herself) budget for Amazon. However, there is something of a silver lining here, as we could see further potential for Zendaya at a time when studios are banking on the next hit (sans IP) to keep their paychecks rolling in. Ask Tom Cruise (and maybe Will Smith, if Bad Boys 4 can cover up his Oscars 2022 mishap). Lionsgate’s Unsung Hero opened with $7.7 million, on par with Arthur the King, while Bill Skarsgard’s Boy Kills World collapsed with $1.65 million in its debut.
Meanwhile, A24’s Civil War has earned $56.2 million domestically, becoming A24’s second-highest-earning domestic feature. With its recent dip this weekend, yours indeed may be one to believe it could stretch to $65-70 million domestically and maybe (fingers crossed) $90 million worldwide. Challengers did steal some of its glory with its “adult-skewing” demographics, but A24 will live and continue to conquer with their next title. Abigail earned $5.25 million in its second weekend, an underwhelming turnout, while Ungentlemanly Warfare earned $3.86 million.
Kung Fu Panda 4 has started gradually hitting PVOD but has surpassed $500 million worldwide. It probably will top its predecessor’s total ($521.1 million) even while earning less in China, and it could challenge for $200 million domestically. Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire will grasp $190 million worldwide, and Monkey Man has passed $30 million (a win for a feature scheduled to go straight to streaming). Alien and The Mummy were re-released and earned $1.563 million and $1.04 million, respectively.
Next weekend sees the release of The Fall Guy (domestically), Tarot, I Saw The TV Glow, and Wildcat.
