Topline
Gran Turismo, a racing film inspired by a video game of the same name, is narrowly beating out Barbie for the No. 1 spot at the box office, according to early figures from The Hollywood Reporter and Variety, bringing in $17.3 million compared to the Greta Gerwig-directed hit’s $17.1 million.
The “Gran Turismo” cast, (L-R) Maximilian Mundt, Geri Halliwell, Orlando Bloom and Archie Madekwe … [+]
Key Facts
Gran Turismo’s top spot comes with a caveat as the $17.3 million premiere weekend figure includes about $3.9 million (according to The Hollywood Reporter) or $5.3 million (according to Variety) from weekends of early showings and fan showings that served as promotion, after the racing movie’s premiere date was pushed back because of the actors’ strike and press tour limits.
Barbie brought in more than $17.1 million on its sixth weekend in theaters and is rapidly nearing the $600 million mark for domestic revenue.
Blue Beetle—the 14th installment of the DC Extended Universe—brought in $12.8 million and was third for the weekend, according to Variety, dropping two spots from its premiere last week in which it knocked Barbie from No. 1 for the first time since its opening.
Oppenheimer continued to have success in theaters for the sixth week, as well, collecting $9 million and making the film Christopher Nolan’s third-highest grossing, according to The Hollywood Reporter; Deadline estimated Oppenheimer will hit $300 million domestically by the end of Sunday.
What To Watch For
Sunday is National Cinema Day, and movie theaters nationwide are offering $4 tickets to any movie at any time. The Hollywood Reporter said it’s unclear how this will influence weekend box office numbers, cautioning that while early reports show Barbie leading, the final weekend numbers could change by Monday.
Tangent
Last week, Barbie surpassed The Super Mario Bros. Movie to become the year’s highest-grossing film at the domestic box office after being in theaters for only 35 days. It’s likely Barbie will soon hit the same milestone internationally as it has earned $1.3 billion globally, compared to The Super Mario Bros. Movie’s more than $1.35 billion, according to Variety.
Key Background
Warner Bros. is reportedly not happy with how Sony is handling Gran Turismo’s preview box office figures. If Gran Turismo’s opening weekend didn’t include the preview weekend figures, Barbie would have reclaimed No. 1 for a fifth week, causing frustration at Warner Bros., Deadline reported. Before Barbie was knocked off its top spot by Blue Beetle last week, it had held the No. 1 box office spot for 28 consecutive days, according to Box Office Mojo, and the Gerwig-directed film has broken a handful of other records, including becoming Warner Bros. highest grossing film and getting Gerwig the title of highest-grossing female director of all time. Meanwhile, Gran Turismo is working to continue the trend of video game-based movies doing better than they have in past decades, trying to at least surpass its $60 million budget. The film—which shows the true story of a teen Gran Turismo player turned racer—has a 60% critic rating and 98% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes.
Further Reading
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/mollybohannon/2023/08/27/gran-turismo-debut-earns-173-million-competing-closely-with-barbie-for-box-office-dominance/