‘The Invitation’ Tops Barren Weekend With $7 Million

In yet another inexcusably barren weekend at the domestic box office, Jessica M. Thompson’s The Invitation topped the charts with a grim $7 million gross. Save for the summer of 2020, that’s just the fourth time we’ve had an August chart-topping opener below $10 million since (unless I missed one) The Crow: City of Angels ($9.7 million) and The Island of Doctor Moreau ($9.1 million) in 1996 and Honeymoon in Vegas ($7.3 million) 1992. The movie that opened on this weekend two years ago was The New Mutants which earned $7.5 million despite indoor theaters in New York, LA (I saw it at a drive-in) and elsewhere closed due to Covid concerns.

I don’t think Sylvester Stallone’s Samaritan (an okay grimdark-for-kids superhero fantasy that feels like it time-traveled from 1994) would have been a hit. Had it remained theatrical instead of going to Amazon, it may have topped the domestic box office by default. Heck, last weekend was the 16th anniversary of Snakes on a Plane. That film disappointed with a $13.85 million launch, becoming a key example of how online hype doesn’t translate into general audience interest. Today, a movie like Snakes on a Plane (or Idris Elba’s Beast) opening with nearly $14 million would be almost miraculous. Ten years ago, Sony’s The Possession opened with $17.3 million, which was considered business as usual.

The poorly reviewed (29% and 4.9/10 from Rotten Tomatoes) vampire chiller, loosely based on Bram Stoker’s Dracula, stars Nathalie Emmanuel and Thomas Doherty. It cost $10 million. I suppose a $6.5 million debut is better than Sony’s Umma, which earned $2 million in total this past March. I’m curious enough to try and check it out this week if time allows. Here’s hoping 20th Century Studios’ Barbarian (a buzzy and pretty enjoyable original horror romp) can open closer to whatever business-as-usual is when it opens on September 9. We’re at a point where the $9.4 million Fri-Sun launch of Tenet two years ago is once again aspirational. The demand is there, but the supply is not.

George Miller returned to cinemas with United Artists Releasing’s Three Thousand Years of Longing. The visually dynamic and generally compelling fantasy about a lonely workaholic who stumbles upon a genie and must figure out how to make wishes that won’t backfire probably wouldn’t have been much of a hit even 20 years ago. Tilda Swinton and Idris Elba are more respected thespians than butts-in-seats draws, and Miller was never much of a marquee filmmaker. Nevertheless, the picture earned $2.876 million in its opening weekend. The flick cost a reported $60 million, and the money is mostly on the screen. At least it got a wide theatrical release, unlike Ron Howard’s $55 million 13 Lives.

The next biggest new release was the IMAX reissue of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. The Disney reissue, timed to promote Disney+’s Andor debuting on September 21, earned $1.1 million over the weekend for a new $533.277 million domestic total. As a sign of the times, it will post the best per-theater average ($4,313) for any movie this weekend. If it miraculously avoids sinking like a stone next weekend, it could crawl past The Dark Knight ($534.9 million in 2008) on the all-time domestic chart. The Felicity Jones-led Star Wars story is now the tenth-biggest IMAX title ever with $105 million, although Top Gun: Maverick is riding its tail with $104.7 million.

Bleecker Street’s Breaking earned just $1.022 million in 902 theaters this weekend. The well-reviewed hostage drama concerns a Marine vet who robs a bank and takes hostages after being denied support from the Veterans Affairs. It would be nice if folks (correctly) arguing that John Boyega got screwed by Star Wars and/or that Nicole Beharie got screwed by Sleepy Hollow would also show up for non-franchise flicks, but c’est la vie. Still, a certified downer about unresolved social issues wouldn’t have been much of a hit 30 years ago. Unless Focus Features’ Honk for Jesus Save Your Soul breaks out, the two biggest newbies will be over Labor Day weekend will Jaws and Spider-Man: No Way Home.