The Little Things: Denzel Washington’s latest tops the weekend box office

Last Updated on July 30, 2021

Denzel gives a thrill at #1

It took a trio of Oscar-winners to earn the highest box office figure since New Year's weekend as THE LITTLE THINGS opened in first place with an estimated $4.8 million.

Written and directed by John Lee Hancock (THE BLIND SIDE), the R-rated thriller stars Denzel Washington and Rami Malek as cops on the trail of a serial killer (played by Jared Leto).

The Warner Bros. movie is the second release to simultaneously arrive in theaters and on their HBO Max streaming service, following the Christmas Day opening of WONDER WOMAN 1984. Back in December, the studio announced their controversial plan to send their entire 2021 slate onto HBO Max day-and-date with the theatrical debuts.

The new 1990-set crime-drama (which has drawn comparisons to SEVEN, although Hancock wrote his script before David Fincher's movie even hit screens) also released in several international territories for a worldwide total of $7.6 million.

While the A-list cast gathered praise, critics generally found the movie formulaic and gave it an average of 48% on Rotten Tomatoes and a score of 54 on Metacritic. Investigate the JoBlo review right HERE.

Universal's animated sequel THE CROODS: A NEW AGE defiantly remains in second place with $1.84 million despite now being in theaters for ten weeks (and available via VOD during half that time). The PG-rated DreamWorks movie has accumulated $43.9 million domestic and $144 million worldwide on a $65 million reported cost.

The DC Comics superhero sequel WONDER WOMAN 1984 held onto third place with $1.3 million on its sixth weekend in theaters (now the only option since it disappeared from the HBO Max streaming platform last weekend, after getting a crazy amount of view time). The $200 million reunion of star Gal Gadot and director Patty Jenkins has a domestic total of $39.2 million and crossed $150 million worldwide. 

After two weekends on top of the chart, the Liam Neeson action-thriller THE MARKSMAN shot down to fourth place with $1.25 million. On its third weekend, the PG-13 Open Road release has a domestic total of $7.8 million on a reported $23 million cost.

The PG-13 videogame adaptation MONSTER HUNTER was in fifth place with $740,000 over its seventh weekend in theaters. The action movie from RESIDENT EVIL director Paul W.S. Anderson has a domestic total of $11.1 million and $22.8 million worldwide, on a reported cost of $60 million.

In sixth place was the Tom Hanks Western NEWS OF THE WORLD with $540,000 . The $38 million drama from director Paul Greengrass has a domestic total of $10.3 million after six weekends.

The R-rated Carey Mulligan revenge drama PROMISING YOUNG WOMAN was in seventh place, followed by the R-rated Hilary Swank/Michael Ealy thriller FATALE in eighth place.

The tireless Robert De Niro family comedy THE WAR WITH GRANDPA was in ninth place on its 17th weekend (!!!), while the R-rated drama OUR FRIEND (starring Casey Affleck, Dakota Johnson and Jason Segel) made $135,000 as it added a few hundred screens on its second weekend.

While studios continue to push their major upcoming releases further out on the schedule (still no word on whether BLACK WIDOW will bail from May 7), the next wide releases on the calendar are the biopic JUDAS AND THE BLACK MESSIAH (another Warner Bros. theatrical/HBO Max release) and director-star Robin Wright's drama LAND, both on February 12.

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