‘Barbarian’ Passes $20 Million As ‘Brahmāstra’ Sinks

In holdover news at the weekend box office, Barbarian held up unusually well for a horror film, earning $6.3 million in weekend two for a mere 40% drop. That gives the under-$5 million 20th Century Studios release a $20.915 million domestic cume. A normal rate of descent would give Zach Cregger’s original, buzzy and unapologetically grotesque (in a fun way) grindhouse horror flick a $35 million domestic finish, on par with The Boy in 2016. It could leg out past that, but Don’t Worry Darling, Smile and Halloween Ends (along with, very much relatively speaking, Terrifier 2) will supply horror-specific competition over the next month, so let’s not get too excited. Still, this is a big win for spoiler-free marketing and another example of how CinemaScore can be a little hinky when it comes to horror movies, which is fine if everyone understands.

Sony’s Bullet Train earned another $2.5 million (-24%) in weekend seven for a new $96.38 million domestic cume. Credit old-school ‘last biggie of summer’ legs or credit being double-billed with The Woman King at the drive-in theaters, but Brad Pitt’s R-rated actioner should crawl past $100 million by the end. The $90 million David Leitch-directed flick sits at $222 million worldwide, so it’ll reach the 2.5x mark even as its eventual EST, VOD and DVD revenue should take it from ‘break even’ to ‘actual hit.’ If not, it’ll be Netflix’s most-watched movie for a few days in several months. Paramount’sPARA
Top Gun: Maverick earned another $2.1 million domestic and $4 million overseas for a new $709.055 million domestic and $1.463 billion global cume. No new milestones this weekend, while the Tom Cruise film is still available only in theaters and on EST (priced to buy digital) until November 1.

Warner Bros.’ DC League of Super Pets earned $2.175 million (-18%) in its eighth weekend for a new $87.86 million domestic cume. Over the next week, it will pass Where the Crawdads Sing ($88.9 million by tomorrow) and The Black Phone ($90 million thus far) to crack this summer’s top ten among domestic earners. It’s not a hit, as the $90 million Dwayne Johnson/Kevin Hart toon has earned ‘just’ $177 million worldwide, but post-theatrical should put it into eventual profitability. Sony’s The Invitation, which dropped on PVOD in rated and unrated versions (it’s pretty good, even if I feel guilty for waiting to rent the unrated cut), earned $1.7 million (-36%) this weekend for a $21.5 million 24-day domestic total. Universal and Illumination’s Minions: The Rise of Gru earned another $1.32 million (-24%) in weekend 12 for a new $364 million domestic and $913 million worldwide.

Brahmāstra: Part One – Shiva earned just $1.1 million (-76%) in its second weekend for a $6.8 million ten-day domestic total. The $51 million Bollywood fantasy has earned $30 million in India and $38 million worldwide. The Astroverse wanted to be the next MCU. We’ll see if it becomes the next Dark Universe. Universal’s Beast earned another $820,000 (-54%) to top $30 million domestic and $55 million, which is good enough for a $36 million ‘Idris Elba versus a lion’ thriller with solid PVOD/EST/DVD potential. Sony’s Where the Crawdads Sing has earned $88.9 million domestic and $127 million worldwide on a $24 million budget. Inflation aside, that would have been solid for a female-led melodrama in 2002 let alone 2022. Jordan Peele’s Nope has earned $122 million domestic and $169 million worldwide. Jurassic World Dominion sits with $375 million domestic and $997 million worldwide. So close…