The Super Mario Bros. Movie and Evil Dead Rise Resurrect Box Office

April 24, 2023

“Beau Is Afraid” falls short, but with a total of $2.5 billion in 2023, we could see the biggest post-pandemic improvement to date.

“The Super Mario Bros. Movie” (Universal) reaffirmed its potential to be bigger than any upcoming summer movie with a stellar opening of $58,230,000 in its third weekend. Now at $434,330,000 domestic ($872 million worldwide), the Nintendo-animated Illumination adaptation could top all post-Covid titles except “Spider-Man: No Way Home” ($805 million). That includes “Top Gun: Maverick” ($719 million) and “Avatar: The Way of Water” ($684 million).

With a strong $23.5 million opening, “Evil Dead Rise” (Warner Bros. Discovery) also reinforced a sense of better fortunes in theaters — just in time for exhibitors and distributors heading to Las Vegas for Cinemacon.

“SMB’s” third-weekend drop of 37 percent was a better hold than “Maverick”‘s third-weekend high of 2022. Another point of interest: if Universal doesn’t start the PVOD window countdown until a movie grosses less. than $50 million, it still has one more month as a theatrical exclusive.

“Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 3” (Disney) opening on May 5 was looking to kick off the summer with expectations of $130 million or more, but it will be hard to top “SMB”. That said, there are a number of titles expected in the season ahead that will have strong appeal; when a handful outperform like this, it indicates an industry with some momentum.

“Evil Dead Rise” is a pleasant surprise. It cost less than $20 million and at one point was expected to be a more subdued release along the lines of “House Party” and “Magic Mike’s Last Dance.” Instead, New Line’s production not only surpassed that expectation, but countered claims that horror movies were back-to-back this month. That seemed likely after both “The Pope’s Exorcist” (Sony) and “Renfield” (Universal) stumbled last weekend; more likely, if the audience gets what it wants, it will still respond strongly.

Guy Ritchie “The Covenant”

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“The Covenant” (officially with director Guy Ritchie’s name in the title to distinguish it from Renny Harlin’s 2006 Sony film) received decent reviews and an A Cinemascore under $6.3 million. That’s good enough for 3rd place, but not good for a $55 million movie. Jake Gyllenhaal stars as an Afghan veteran who tries to save his local interpreter after the Taliban take over. Co-financed by STX, once released by United Artists (now MGM), Amazon Prime has international rights. Lionsgate was only responsible for domestic distribution.

A24’s “Beau Is Afraid” expanded to 962 theaters. Ari Aster’s three-hour film with Joaquin Phoenix, plagued by personal demons, opened last weekend to a stellar four-theater platform to $320,000. But like “Licorice Pizza,” which had an even stronger opening (its best in three years), it didn’t translate into wider success.

As Aster’s budget grew (it’s $35 million), his earnings declined. A24’s first film, Hereditary, grossed $44 million. “Midsommar” earned $27 million (both added decent foreign numbers). “Beau” will be lucky to reach $8 million domestically. A24 has strong post-theatrical deals and this film reaffirms its image as a producer and distributor of distinctive, original genre titles. Still, it’s a disappointment and a cause for some concern.

Three films, all close to each other in the no. 4-6, had the best hold in the top 10. “John Wick: Chapter 4” (Lionsgate), “Air” (MGM) and “Dungeons and Dragons: Honor among Thieves” (Paramount) fell below 30 percent. . “Wick” is $169 million, “Air” is $41 million, and “D&D” is $82 million. Each has a theatrical release that will likely extend to lucrative platforms later.

The weekend total of $122 million was $28 million better than the same day last year. To date, the annual total is over $2.5 billion, a 37 percent pace from 2022. With this weekend also ahead of the same weekend in 2019, our four-week comparison from pre-Covid is now 14 percent – the highest improvement the metric has ever seen.

This could mean a big horizontal sign: May begins a period when there were several star titles in 2022 and 2019. However, the performance of this year’s cash registers consistently exceeded expectations.

“Knight”

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Unfortunately, the niche market continued to undercut expectations. Searchlight’s “Chevalier,” starring “Luce,” the directorial debut of Kelvin Harrison Jr. and Ray Romano, “Somewhere in Queens” (Roadside Attractions) averaged just over $1,000 per theater (“Chevalier” at 1,275 theaters, “Queens ” in 602) . Romano’s film posted a strong 53 percent increase on Saturday, indicating decent word of mouth and a foundation for further expansion.

The platform “Carmen” (Sony Pictures Classics) with Paul Mescal and the acclaimed French drama “Other People’s Children” (Music Box) opened in three theaters each with a theater average under $5,000. Further expansion of Kelly Reichardt’s “Showing Up” (A24) and “How to Blow Up a Pipeline” (Neon) suggests that both titles will reach $1 million or higher at best. The second weekend of “Joyland” (Oscilloscope) and “Wild Life” (Picturehouse) showed some niche interest.

The Top 10

1. The Super Mario Bros. movie (Universal) Week 3; #1 last weekend

$58,230,000 (-%) in 4,350 (-21) theaters; PTA (Theatrical Average): $13,386; Total: $434,330,000

2. Evil Dead Rise (Warner Bros. Discovery) NEW – Cinemascore: B; Metacritic: 68; Evening. budget: $17 million

$23,500,000 in 3,402 theaters; PTA: $6,908; Total: $23,500,000

3. The Alliance (Lionsgate) NEW – Cinemascore: A; Metacritic: 63; Evening. budget: $55 million

$6,282,000 in 2,611 theaters; PTA: $2,406; Total: $6,280,000

4. John Wick: Chapter 4 (Lionsgate) Week 5; Last weekend #3

$5,750,000 (-29%); PTA: $1,896; Total: $168,880,000

5. Air (MGM) Week 3; Last weekend #5

$5,550,000 (-29%) at 2,823 (-684) theaters; PTA: $1,966; Total: $41,260,000

6. Dungeons & Dragons: Honor among Thieves (Paramount) Week 4; Last weekend #6

$5,400,000 (-28%) in 2,960 (-364) theaters; PTA: $1,824; Total: $82,187,000

7. The Pope’s Exorcist (Sony) Week 2; #2 last weekend

$3,315,000 (-63%) at 3,178 (unchanged) theaters; PTA: $1,043; Total: $14,939,000

8. Renfield (Universal) – Week 2; #4 last weekend

$3,110,000 (-61%) in 3,378 (+3) theaters; PTA: $921; Total: $13,623,000

9. Beau is afraid (A24) Week 2; #14 last weekend

$2,711,000 (+746%) in 962 (+958) theaters; PTA: $2,809; Total: $3,147,000

10. Suzume (Sony) Week 2; #7 last weekend

$1,625,000 (-68%) at 2,170 theaters (unchanged); PTA: $2,304; Total: $5,000,000

“Somewhere in Queens”

Other titles

Films (limited, extended, limited release, and award-oriented release) are listed by week of release, starting with those released that week; after the first two weeks, only films grossing more than $5,000 are listed.

Knight (Searchlight) NEW – Metacritic: 61; The festivals are: Toronto 2022

$1,500,000 in 1,275 theaters; PTA: $1,176

Somewhere in Queens (Roadside Attractions) NEW – Metacritic: 67; Festivals include: Tribeca 2022

$681,770 at 602 theaters; PTA: $1,132

Other people’s children (Music Box) NEW – Metacritic: 79; Festivals: Venice, Toronto 2022, Sundance 2023

$14,811 at theaters; PTA: $4,937

Carmen (Sony Pictures Classics) NEW – Metacritic: 57; The festivals are: Toronto 2022

$12,838 in theaters; PTA: $4,279

Mafia Mama (Bleecker Street) Week 2

$477,666 at 1,613 (-389) theaters; PTA: $296; Total: $3,304,000

It’s mean (Soli Deo Gloria) NEW

$620,000 at 757 (-146) theaters; PTA: $819; Total: $2,398,000