Weekend Box Office: The Woman King conquers the top spot

It was another mediocre weekend at the box office, with the top ten accumulating just $42.6 Million, making it the 4th worst weekend of 2022. 

The Woman King finished first among all newcomers this weekend with an estimated $19 Million. If I may toot my own horn a bit, that number puts it right on point with my prediction from Thursday when tracking had it opening in the $12 Million range. I saw that reviews were strong, and I think people were just intrigued by seeing Viola Davis in a different type of role. The excellent reviews helped get people to the theaters, while the rare A+ CinemaScore means those that saw it loved it, helping it over-perform on Saturday and Sunday! That bodes well for the future of this Maria Bello-produced film.

The well-reviewed horror film Barbarian is coming in second place in its second week of release. The film had a pretty small drop-off for a second-week horror film of just 40% (generally, horror films are front-loaded and have second-week drop-offs in the 60% range) and finished the weekend with $6.3 Million. It seems people are hearing this isn’t your standard horror thriller and are heading to theaters to see what all the fuss is about. Expect this one to pull in solid numbers throughout the Halloween season.

Third place went to Pearl. The second film in the newly announced trilogy actually opened one spot higher than its predecessor did back in March of this year. However, Pearl gross is slightly smaller as Pearl opened with $3.1 Million while X saw a $4 Million start. Luckily these films are made on the cheap (with this one costing a reported $1 Million), and a $3 Million opening already puts Pearl into profitability. The third film in the trilogy, Maxxxine is already in production and expected to release sometime in 2023. 

Opening in fourth place is See How They Run, starring Sam Rockwell and Saoirse Ronan, with an estimated $3.1 Million. This is a movie that could have easily just been dropped on a streaming service and probably done just fine, so I give the studio kudos for giving this one a theatrical release, even if the marketing budget wasn’t very strong. The studio seems to know they weren’t working with a big awards contender, just a fun murder mystery with some great actors. This may be one of those titles that fade away fast at the box office but will find new life when it hits home video as it is a fun little movie with great acting.

Despite finishing the above predictions, The Woman King does not hold the weekend’s best per-screen average. That honor belongs to the David Bowie documentary Moonage Daydream which opened on just 170 Imax screens and saw an amazing $7,200 per theater average, allowing the film to crack the top ten with $1.2 Million in ticket sales this weekend. That is quite an impressive number and shows that even six years after his death, David Bowie is an icon to be reckoned with. 

The remainder of the top ten saw the standard tiles we have seen the past few months: Bullet Train rounding out the top five with $2.5 Million as it inches ever closer to the $100 Million mark. While spots six through nine went to Top Gun: Maverick with $2.18 Million; DC League of Super Pets with $2.17 Million; The Invitation with $1.7 Million, although the unrated cut of this film is now available on demand, and that could be cutting into its PG13 box office just a bit; and Minions: The Rise of Gru finishing with $1.3 Million.

Next week sees the re-release of the highest-grossing film of all time: Avatar in 3D, Imax 3D, and a new 4K High Frame Rate conversion. Personally, I am not a fan of High Frame Rates in theatrical films unless they are in 3D, as the HFR helps smooth out some of the 3D effects. Not in 3D, it tends to make movies look a bit more like you shot it on your camcorder than a big budget movie. But we shall see, James Cameron has earned the benefit of the doubt, and I bet he will make it look amazing. 

Also being released next week is the highly controversial film Don’t Worry Darling, directed by Olivia Wilde and starring Florence Pugh, Harry Styles, and Chris Pine. It will be interesting to see how this one fares at the box office as the behind-the-scenes drama has far outweighed news of the actual film, which may be a good thing as most reviews have been less than impressed with it so far.

Did you head to the theaters this weekend? Let us know in the comments what you saw and if you think we should see it as well, and don’t forget to vote in our Poll where we ask what your favorite female-fronted action films are.