‘The Invitation’ Leads Slow Weekend
The picture should earn about $6 million in its opening, while George Miller’s specialty film Three Thousand Years of Longing is doing best with the arthouse crowd.
The horror film, which is doing best among younger females, was dismissed by critics, while earning a C CinemaScore from audiences.
George Miller’s Three Thousand Years of Longing: Flop
George Miller’s new film Three Thousand Years of Longing, which world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival to mixed reviews, opened to $1.2 million on Friday from 2,436 locations for a projected weekend gross of around $3 million for a seventh-place finish.
The MGM and United Artists Releasing title had intended to open in far fewer theaters since it is more of a specialty title than a mainstream offering, but cinema operators urged UAR to let them book the film because of a lack of product overall.
Back on the top 10 chart, Sony’s Bullet Train should come in second with around $5.5 million, followed by Top Gun: Maverick or Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero with a projected $5 million each.
Top Gun: Maverick now ranks at No. 9 on the all-time list of top-grossing films, not adjusted for inflation. Domestically, it will finish Sunday with more than $690 million in ticket sales.
Dragon Ball Super is looking at fall of 75 percent or more after topping the chart last weekend with 20.1 million.
Beast, also starring Elba, is expected round out the top five at the box-office this weekend with an estimated $4.3 million.
Overall revenue for the weekend at the domestic box office looks to come in at $54 million, the worst showing since February.
The weekend is down more than 16 percent from the same frame in 2021, when the COVID-19 delta variant was much more of an issue in terms of moviegoing. On the same weekend last year, the horror pic Candyman debuted to $22 million, while Free Guy remained a strong earner in its third weekend with $13.2 million.
Wall Street analysts and others counter that theater chains that aren’t debt-laden, as Cineworld is, are in a far better position to weather current circumstances.
