‘Bob’s Burgers’ Nabs $15 Million, ‘Doctor Strange 2’ Nears $900 Million

The only other opener of the weekend alongside Top Gun: Maverick was Bob’s Burgers: The Movie. The 2-D animated feature, a continuation of the popular Fox primetime animated show, earned $12.6 million over the Fri-Sun frame, a sadly frontloaded weekend after a $5.7 million Friday. The fans showed up in the first 36 hours, but $15 million over four days isn’t too shabby for a film that most of us hoped might crack $10 million over the holiday.

The film has an 86% fresh, a 95% “verified audience” score from Rotten Tomatoes and an A from Cinemascore. I don’t know if this one can expand beyond the preexisting fanbase, but kids’ flicks have been leggy this year. The 20th Century Studios release, distributed by Walt Disney, is one of the last three “delayed by Covid” 2020 releases still left alongside Top Gun: Maverick and this July’s Minions: The Rise of Gru.

In holdover news for the weekend box office, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness earned another $16.7 million (-48%) in its fourth weekend for a $21.5 million Fri-Mon haul and new cume of $375 million by Monday. That pushes it past The Batman ($370 million) to become the 2022’s biggest domestic grosser, even if that benchmark may be challenged by both Jurassic World: Dominion and Top Gun: Maverick. Even if the MCU sequel ends up third at the domestic box office for the summer, that doesn’t make it any less of a big hit.

We’re still talking about a Doctor Strange sequel that’s going to earn just a little less than Iron Man 3 ($409 million in 2013) and Captain America: Civil War ($408 million). The $200 million Sam Raimi-directed sequel has earned $868 million worldwide and will soon pass The Battle of Lake Changjin’s $905 million global cume to sit behind only Spider-Man: No Way Home ($1.891 billion) as the second biggest Covid-era grosser. It may not crack $1 billion, but it didn’t need a penny from China to be a massive commercial winner.

Focus Features’ Downton Abbey: A New Era earned $5.91 million (-63%) over the weekend for a likely $7.5 million holiday haul and $30 million 11-day domestic total. Granted, that’s about what the first Downton Abbey grossed on its Fri-Sun opening weekend in September of 2019, but I’d also argue that Downton Abbey 2 is one of those sequels that “disappoints” by performing only about as well as what we expected from the first film. The over/under $30 million flick has grossed $69 million global.

DreamWorks and Universal’s The Bad Guys earned $4.63 million (-25%) in its sixth weekend for a $6.1 million holiday gross. That’ll give the $80 million animated heist comedy an $83.34 million domestic cume as it races to $200 million globally in the next day or three. This despite being concurrently available on PVOD for the last few weeks. It’s not the next Croods or How to Train Your Dragon, but it will do, and my kids will happily watch the inevitable Netflix episodic.

Paramount and Sega’s Sonic the Hedgehog 2 dropped on Paramount+ and priced-to-buy VOD this week, but it still earned $2.52 million (-38%) in weekend eight. It should earn around $3.4 million over the holiday weekend for a new $186 million domestic cume. The $110 million video game sequel has earned $199 million overseas and should have around $385 million worldwide by Monday night. Oh, and Fantastic Beasts 3 has earned $300 million overseas for a new $394 million cume.

A24’s Everything, Everywhere All at Once earned another $2.51 million (-20%) in its tenth weekend for a likely $3.19 million four-day gross and new $57.5 million domestic cume. The Michelle Yeoh-starring multiverse fantasy is already A24’s biggest domestic earner and recently passed Lady Gaga’s House of Gucci ($53 million) to surpass every one of last year’s Oscar season releases save for Dune ($108 million).

If the pattern continues, Everything, Everywhere took a hit from a major new release but will bounce back next weekend sans much competition. Either way, with $65.5 million worldwide, it has passed Moonlight ($64 million) to become A24’s third-biggest global grosser behind Lady Bird ($79 million) and Hereditary ($81 million). That seems like a bridge too far, but this film has been doing the impossible for the last nine weeks.

Paramount’s The Lost City earned $1.795 million in weekend ten, jumping up 15% and clearly benefiting from some Top Gun: Maverick drive-in double-bills. The Sandra Bullock/Channing Tatum rom-com adventure should earn around $2.25 million for the holiday for a $102 million domestic total. This marks Bullock’s 11th $100 million grosser since Speed in 1994, including seven since The Proposal in 2009. The $70 million, star-driven original has earned $175 million worldwide thus far. This despite being available on Paramount+ and “priced to buy” VOD for the last two weeks.

A24 and Alex Garland’s Men earned just $1.223 million (-63%) in its second weekend, along with a likely $1.51 million holiday haul. That’ll give the divisive Jessie Buckley and Rory Kinnear-starring arthouse horror flick just $6.277 million after 11 days. Well, they can’t all be Ari Aster’s Hereditary. Heck, they can’t all be Ti West’s X, which topped out at $11 million which is pretty good for a 1970’s slasher flick set on a porn set.

Universal and Blumhouse’s Firestarter earned $285,000 (-86%) in weekend three as it lost 2,414 theaters. The Stephen King re-adaption/remake will earn $344,000 over the holiday for an $8.175 million 18-day cume. Well, uh, The Black Phone is terrific! Meanwhile, Robert Eggers’ The Northman will top $34 million domestic and $67 million worldwide by Monday and The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent will pass $20 million domestic. Next weekend will see only Neon’s Crimes of the Future (courtesy of David Cronenberg) and IFC’s Watcher.