Sometimes it just feels like mid-April at the box office. Nothing is really dominating. New movies are earning low-double/high-single digits and competing for second place. Moviegoers start looking forward to what’s in store for them this summer and then realize all the “original” movies are opening now. We certainly have another one of these weekends coming up before May opens the door to a more exciting phase of theatergoing, but for now we get movies that are not sequels but stuff we’ve kinda seen before.
King of the Crop: Civil War Earns Second Victory in a Row
Alex Garland’s Civil War managed to fend off two new factions and remain in power for a second weekend, despite dropping 56% to finish with $11.1 million. Now with $44.8 million, the film has become one of the top five grossing films ever for A24 and will be passing Talk To Me, Lady Bird, and Uncut Gems this upcoming week. It still, however, appears destined to remain No. 2 for the studio. Right now its numbers are wedged between 10 Cloverfield Lane ($12.5 million second weekend, $45.1 million 10-day total) and Zack Snyder’s Dawn of the Dead ($10.6 million, $44.4 million). (Happy Rebel Moon weekend, by the way.) Continuing along that path, Civil War appears headed for somewhere in the mid-60s — good for the A24 chart, but maybe not as great when you consider its $50 million budget. Let’s hope the international community chips in a bit more.
The Top 10 and Beyond: Disappointing Debuts for Abigail and Ungentlemanly Warfare
In second place is the new film from Radio Silence (aka directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett). After two financially successful entries in the Scream franchise, they return with the vampire ballerina film Abigail. The Universal release opened with $10.2 million; definitely on the low end of April horror releases, which, apart from A Quiet Place, has thrived with the genre thanks to brand names like Evil Dead and remakes of A Nightmare On Elm Street, Pet Sematary, and The Amityville Horror. Universal has had some decent openings thanks to Blumhouse films like Truth or Dare and Unfriended, but while Abigail opened better than last year’s The Pope’s Exorcist and this year’s The First Omen, it still feels like a bit of a disappointment considering its $28 million budget, especially with just $5 million internationally so far. That’s much better than last year’s Renfield debacle (grossing $17.2 million on a $65 million budget), but it may end up in the vicinity of the directing duo’s debut, Ready or Not, which also featured someone brought to a big gothic house under false pretenses, then forced to run around from the danger inside, ultimately ending up with a bunch of people exploding. That film finished its run with $28 million.
In third place we have Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire with $9.4 million. After its fourth weekend, Warner Bros.’ Monsterverse film is over $171 million. That’s the 13th-best 24-day total for a March release, and it’s trying to squeeze itself in the wheelhouse of a $200 million finish. Right now it is about $8 million off the pace of Zack Snyder’s 300, though that film had a better fourth weekend with $11.4 million. So trailing off that pace, it may be headed just shy of the milestone with around $195 million. But with the film headed towards half-a-billion worldwide ($485 million right now), every dollar is just gravy at this point.
In fourth place is Guy Ritchie’s The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare, his third release in the last 13 months and very possibly his third big loser in a row. Opening with just $9 million, the $60 million production joins a growing list of Ritchie busts that have been supplemented by occasional hits like Snatch and The Gentlemen and blockbusters like 2019’s Aladdin and the Sherlock Holmes films with Robert Downey Jr. Beyond that, there is a lot of red, led largely by King Arthur: Legend of the Sword ($149 million worldwide, $175 million budget), but post-Aladdin with Operation Fortune: Ruse de guerre ($48 million worldwide, $50 million budget) and The Covenant ($21.6 million worldwide, $55 million budget). His last collaboration with Ministry star Henry Cavill (The Man from U.N.C.L.E.) made just $110 million worldwide on a $75 million budget. It may be time for that third Sherlock Holmes movie.
Rounding out the top five is the latest anime offering from Sony’s Crunchyroll division. Spy x Family Code: White made $4.8 million over the weekend. That is on par with last year’s April release of Suzume, which itself opened to $5 million. That’s less than half of what their Demon Slayer films have been opening to. Behind the anime is the animated Kung Fu Panda 4, adding $4.6 million to its total, which is now just shy of $180 million domestic and over $480 million worldwide as it hopes to join its predecessors as half-a-billion grossers.
It took five weekends but Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire finally crossed the $100 million mark with $4.4 million. Its total stands at $102.9 million domestic and $176 million worldwide. Speaking of Rebel Moon: Part Two, Dune: Part Two is in weekend eight in the top 10 with $2.9 million. It is now over $276 million domestic and on the verge of hitting $700 million worldwide with $695.8 million. Rounding out the top 10 are the new releases from just two weeks ago. Dev Patel’s Monkey Man made $2.2 million and carries a total of $21.6 million, while 20th Century Studio’s The First Omen finished its third weekend with $1.7 million and a total of $17.7 million. It has added over $27 million internationally, bringing its global total to over $45 million.
In limited release news, Bleecker Street widened Sasquatch Sunset into 856 theaters and it had just a $529 per theater average, resulting in $453,000. Focus expanded Housekeeping for Beginners in to 251 theaters, but it only grossed $80,000 for a total of $237,000.
On the Vine: Luca Guadagnino’s Challengers Looks to Score
After being delayed from last September during the strikes, next week Zendaya tries to spice up the game of tennis in Luca Guadagnino’s Challengers. Also, Lionsgate releases another faith-based family story called Unsung Hero, about members of the Smallbone family who went on to become the Christian singing group For King & Country. Can it pull off an upset next week? Will any film gross at least $10 million? Tune in for the final week before the start of the summer season.
Full List of Box Office Results: April 19-21, 2024
81%
Civil War
(2024)
- $11.1 million ($44.8 million total)
85%
Abigail
(2024)
- $10.2 million ($10.2 million total)
54%
Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire
(2024)
- $9.4 million ($171.6 million total)
72%
The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare
(2024)
- $9 million ($9 million total)
96%
Spy x Family Code: White
(2023)
- $4.8 million ($5 million total)
72%
Kung Fu Panda 4
(2024)
- $4.6 million ($179.9 million total)
43%
Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire
(2024)
- $4.4 million ($102.9 million total)
93%
Dune: Part Two
(2024)
- $2.9 million ($276.5 million total)
88%
Monkey Man
(2024)
- $2.2 million ($21.6 million total)
81%
The First Omen
(2024)
- $1.7 million ($17.7 million total)
Erik Childress can be heard each week evaluating box office on Business First AM with Angela Miles and his Movie Madness Podcast.
[box office figures via Box Office Mojo]
Thumbnail image by ©A24
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