Weekend Box Office Report: Daring moviegoers get Unhinged!

Last Updated on July 30, 2021

Russell's rage gets things rolling!

As a couple thousand North American theaters opened their doors this weekend for the first time since March, Russell Crowe stomped on the accelerator and put UNHINGED on top with an estimated $4 million.

Combined with the past week's Canadian ticket sales, the R-rated thriller now has a domestic total of $5 million. In his first major appearance since the 2017 reboot of THE MUMMY, Crowe directs his seething road rage at Caren Pistorius (MORTAL ENGINES). The movie is expected to collect around $15 million worldwide by the end of the weekend.

Directed by Derrick Borte and also featuring Jimmi Simpson (HBO's "Westworld"), the Solstice Studios release cost a reported $33 million. Critics gave the Oscar-winner's vehicular villainy an average of 48% on Rotten Tomatoes and a Metacritic score of 41. Steer on over to the JoBlo review HERE.

Paramount's PG-rated THE SPONGEBOB MOVIE: SPONGE ON THE RUN sponged up another $550,000 from its Canada-only run (it gets a VOD release next year in the US). The animated underwater adventure of the Nickelodeon friends has a total of $2.06 million since it drifted into theaters last week.

Nothing is normal in these coronavirus days, and new options were limited for those in America willing to risk visiting the cinema (or sit in/on/near their cars at drive-in theaters). Released by Roadside Attractions, the teen melodrama WORDS ON BATHROOM WALLS still attracted a few eyeballs with $462,000 on 925 screens.

Directed by Thor Freudenthal ("The Expanse") and adapted from the novel by Julia Walton, the PG-13 romance features Andy Garcia, Taylor Russell, Charlie Plummer and Walton Goggins.

Also finding its way onto 407 screens was the R-rated crime-drama CUT THROAT CITY with $265,000 for the weekend. Directed by Wu-Tang Clan's The RZA, the movie features an interesting cast that includes Wesley Snipes, Ethan Hawke, Shameik Moore, Eiza Gonzalez and Terrence Howard.

The South Korean zombie movie PENINSULA started lurching onto North American screens for $225,000 over the weekend. The sequel to the intense 2016 action-thriller TRAIN TO BUSAN has snatched up more than $32 million worldwide over the course of its international release.

The unrated tale of post-apocalyptic survival currently holds a 55% average on Rotten Tomatoes and a score of 50 on Metacritic. You can chew on the JoBlo review right HERE.

On other domestic screens, writer-director David Ayer's R-rated THE TAX COLLECTOR and the R-rated horror movie THE RENTAL (directed by Dave Franco) are still going, joined this weekend by the re-release of Guy Ritchie's crime comedy THE GENTLEMEN and the experimental Ethan Hawke biopic TESLA.

Meanwhile in China, the fact-based war epic THE EIGHT HUNDRED has lured crowds out of quarantine in huge numbers — the IMAX-filmed siege story is a bona fide blockbuster with $82.6 million for the weekend and $116 million total.

In North America, next weekend finally sees the release of X-MEN spinoff THE NEW MUTANTS, while the comedy sequel BILL & TED FACE THE MUSIC gets a limited release at the same time it appears on VOD.

What is your favorite Russell Crowe performance? VOTE HERE!