The summer’s box office may have been a thrilling one for exhibitors. However, the most recent weekend was one of the most underwhelming of a red-hot two-month period, but on the flip side of that, the weekend also provided a surprising bout of theatrics as two films claimed victory at the box office table, withGran Turismocrossing the finish line ahead ofBarbie, something that Warner Bros. took something of an issue with.Barbiegrossed $15.1 million, $2 million fewer than the predicted $17.1 million that Warners had been anticipating. However, that could still have been enough to take the top spot, were it not for the fact that Sony, the studio behindGran Turismo —which is based on a true story — included 9 days of previews in the box office total, attempting to claim the film had an 11-day opening weekend.
Warner Bros. has been unhappy with this, according toDeadline. However, they have previously pulled extended weekends like this too. Amidst the painful days of the pandemic, when theaters had just reopened, Warners factored in eleven days of screenings when it tallied up the $20 million opening “weekend” forChristopher Nolan’sTenet.
Equalizing the Playing Field
Sony is attempting to take a one-two punch next week following the release ofEqualizer 3on September 1, predicted to earn $30 million plus over its opening four days, alongsideGran Turismo.As for the official numbers themselves,Barbie‘s Sunday came in at $5.7 million, +6% over Saturday’s $5.4 million, whileGran Turismo‘s Sunday was $4.7 million, +15% over Saturday’s $4.1 million. Both film’s tallies were helped out byNational Cinema Day’s $4 tickets, which assisted in boosting attendance in theaters across the country.
Blue Beetle,the DC film whose distribution is also being handled by Warner Bros. continued its disappointing run at the domestic box office witha second weekend of $12.2 million, which represented a 51% drop from its opening weekend. The film was undoubtedly hindered by the fact that promotion for it was completely hamstrung by the fact that its starscouldn’t take part in anything ahead of release.
Oppenheimer, Nolan’s follow-up toTenet, continued its strong display, crossing the $300 million domestic mark fora worldwide tally of $777 million. It now looks guaranteed to pass Nolan’sInceptionworldwide,having already done so domestically, which ended with a tally of $837 million in 2010, and will become the director’s highest-grossing non-superhero film, a remarkable achievement.
BarbieandGranTurismoare both currently playing in theaters. Check out the trailer forGranTurismobelow.
