Box Office: Moviegoers say Candyman all the way to number one

This weekend we have another sure-fire winner that adds to the notion that exclusive theatrical releases do solid business at the box office. Candyman opened this weekend and it exceeded expectations by debuting well ahead of its tracking numbers.

Candyman opened to a solid $22.4 million this weekend. The film was tracking in the mid-teen range so this is a fantastic result for the movie this weekend. Also encouraging for the film is that it wasn’t entirely frontloaded. Candyman saw an 8% increase in grosses from Friday to Saturday which is a very rare feat for the horror genre. Candyman carries a $25 million budget and even the film craters next weekend, Universal and MGM will have a moderate hit on their hands.

Falling to second is Free Guy with $13.55 million. The Ryan Reynolds-led film had another fantastic hold as it only fell 27% from last weekend. Much like Candyman which finished in first place this weekend, Free Guy is another solid example that respecting the theatrical window and not also going streaming leads to great box office results. At the end of the weekend, Free Guy has collected a solid $79.3 million to date. Free Guy also opened in China this weekend to an impressive $23.9 million which brought its global total to $179.9 million

In third place, we have Paw Patrol which grossed $6.6 million. The film dropped 50% from its better than expected previous weekend but we have to keep in mind that the movie is also available to stream on Paramount+. After two weekends, the film has collected $24 million and I’d have to imagine that the studio is pretty ok with its performance thus far.

In fourth place, we find Jungle Cruise which crossed a significant box office milestone after pulling in $5 million this weekend. The Disney film crossed the $100 million mark which is something to be celebrated during the pandemic-era box office. Also of significance is that the film only dropped 21% this weekend which is a great hold for a movie in its fifth weekend. To date, Jungle Crusie has grossed $100.1 million.

Rounding out the top five is Don’t Breathe 2 which grossed $2.8 million. The film fell 48% weekend-to-weekend which is a pretty solid hold given the fact that Candyman also entered the marketplace as the horror movie of choice this weekend. We’ve already discussed that Don’t Breathe 2 has not had the same legs as its 2016 predecessor but with a budget of $15 million, its $24.6 million gross to date has already eased the film into moderate profitability.

In sixth place, we have Respect which grossed $2.2 million. I still maintain that a winter release closer to Oscar season would’ve benefitted the film more. The film became available on PVOD over the weekend so I suspect more people will discover the movie via that platform. To date, Respect has pulled in $19.7 million.

In seventh we have The Suicide Squad which fell 40% to $2 million. To date, the film has grossed $52.8 million and I’m still wondering how Warner Bros. feels about its performance so far. As of this weekend, The Suicide Squad is off of HBO Max after 30 days of availability and it’s still not quite clear how well the film has performed on that platform.

In eighth and ninth place we have new releases from last weekend that barely registered and continued to be non-performers in weekend two. The Protege pulled in $1.65 million, falling 40% from its lackluster debut last weekend. To date, The Protege has grossed $5.7 million. The art-house horror film The Night House follows The Protege in ninth place with $1.2 million. The film collapsed 58% from last weekend which is standard for horror and even more standard for a horror film that wows critics but leaves the general moviegoing public scratching their heads. I suspect that The Night House will find its life after it exits theaters but for now, we have a subpar gross of $5.1 million which is not a good result for a film that Searchlight paid $12 million to acquire.

Rounding out the top ten is Black Widow which grossed $855,000. It’s a slim decline of 23% and the film still has the bragging rights of being the highest-grossing domestic release of the year. To date, Black Widow has grossed $181.5 million.

What are YOUR thoughts on this weekend’s box office?