Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer will cross $300m on Monday (August 28) after its sixth weekend of release in North America while Greta Gerwig’s record-breaker Barbie will pass $600m this week as the second National Cinema Day in the US sparked a Sunday cinema-going surge with most grosses in the top 10 out-performing Saturday.
Neill Blomkamp’s Gran Turismo based on the videogame opened top of the charts on a confirmed $17.4m in 3,856 theatres.
It stars 2017 Screen Star Of Tomorrow Archie Madekwe, David Harbour and Orlando Bloom and earned $8.6m on Friday, $4.1m on Saturday and $4.7m on Sunday. Universal’s Oppenheimer fell one place to number three and grossed a cnfirmed $8.2m to reach $299.2m, bringing in a little more on Sunday than Saturday according to weekend estimates.
Warner Bros’ Barbie, already the highest grossing North American box office release of the year, added a confirmed $15.1m over the weekend to reach $592.8m in its sixth session and held firm in second place. It grossed a confirmed $4m on Friday, $5.4m on Saturday, and $5.7m on Sunday, suggesting a considerable number of return viewings.
Through the second National Cinema Day initiative orchestrated by The Cinema Foundation tickets at participating venues have been selling for $4.
All eyes are on whether North America can generate an impressive $4bn summer with one week of the season left to go, culminating in the Labor Day holiday weekend which brings the new release of Denzel Washington in The Equalizer 3.
Comscore will reveal updated numbers this week, however as of Friday (August 24) the May 5-August 24 summer had produced $3.839bn, 16.8% ahead of the same period in 2022 and, in an arguably more significant data point, a mere 5.7% behind the summer of pre-pandemic 2019.
Summer surprise Sound Of Freedom at number 13 added another $2m for a magnificent $181m tally after eight sessions through Angel Studios and has been a major contributor to the season.
Warner Bros/DC’s Blue Beetle fell from number one to number three in its second session, dropping a respectable 49% on $12.8m for $46.3m, while Liam Neeson had a weekend to forget as his latest action thriller Retribution arrived in eighth place on a lowly $3.3m from 1,750 through Roadside Attractions.
Paramount’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem in fifth place stands on the cusp of $100m after four weekends and has amassed $98.1m via Paramount. Baseball sports drama The Hill with Colin Ford and Dennis Quaid opened in ninth place on $2.5m in 1,570 sites through Briarcliff Entertainment.
Bottoms, a comedy from Shiva Baby director Emma Seligman about two queer high school students who start a fight club, opened at number 17 via MGM’s Orion on $516,254 in 10 venues for a strong $51,625 per-site average.
As things stand that is the highest average for a film opening on 10 or more screens since the pandemic and confirmed numbers on Monday will show whether Bottoms has indeed overtaken $50,131 set by Everything Everywhere All At Once from 10 screens in March 2022. The comedy from Orion and Brownstone Productions cost $11.3m and expands into approximately 700 additional screens next weekend.
Golda, Bleecker Street’s Golda Meir biopic starring Helen Mirren which premiered at the Berlinale, debuted at number 14 on $1.7m from 883 theatres, and A24’s Sundance horror hit Talk To Me crossed $40m in its 11th session for $41.1m after five weekends in release.
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