Box Office Preview: ‘John Wick 4’ Targets Huge $70 Million Opening Weekend

The Super Mario Bros. Movie has broken box office records in its opening weekend.The video game adaptation took $376.5million (£303m) at the global box office in its first five days of release, beating Frozen II’s ($358m) record for the most successful global opening of all time for an animated film.The film also scored the best opening ever for a movie based on a video game, and beat Ant-Man And The Wasp: Quantumania as the biggest film opening in 2023 so far.According to The Hollywood Reporter, it also broke domestic records in the US with $204.6m (£165m) in takings: earning the second best three-day weekend for an animated title behind The Incredibles 2, the biggest five day launch ever after beating Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen ($200m) and the biggest opening ever for studio Illumination (Despicable Me, Minions).Directed by Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic, The Super Mario Bros.

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media Reporter Wahoo! “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” racked up a blockbuster $146 million in its opening weekend and powered to $204.6 million in its first five days of release, squashing expectations and steamrolling the competition at the domestic box office. The animated movie, a collaboration between Illumination, Nintendo and Universal, has landed a number of records, thanks to positive word-of-mouth, nostalgia for the popular video game, and a huge turnout from family audiences. It currently stands as the biggest opening weekend of the year (overtaking “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” with $106 million), as well as the second-best debut ever for an animated title (surpassing 2016’s “Finding Dory” with $135.1 million). It’s also the highest-grossing debut for Illumination, beating 2015’s “Minions” with $115.7 million.

Brent Lang Executive Editor It’s-a blockbuster! “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” continued to rack up high scores at the box office as it heads into Easter weekend. The animated movie, a collaboration between Illumination, Nintendo and Universal, shows no signs of slowing down, earning a massive $26.5 million on Thursday. That brings its domestic haul to $58.2 million. At this rate, the mustachioed plumber should end his first five days on the big screen with more than $150 million in stateside winnings. Internationally, the movie has earned $62.5 million, pushing global ticket sales to $120.7 million. The week’s other major new release, Amazon Studios’s “Air,” a footwear tale detailing how Nike convinced Michael Jordan to become its most successful brand ambassador, earned $2.4 million on Thursday. That brings the sneaker story’s domestic total to just under $6 million. The film, which stars Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, Chris Tucker and Viola Davis, is expected to earn $16 million in its first five days in theaters. That’s a mere blip compared to Mario, but a solid result considering the struggles that movies aimed at adults have faced. Affleck directs the film in addition to starring opposite his “Good Will Hunting” buddy Damon. “Air” cost $90 million to make, meaning that Amazon better sell a lot of paper towels to justify that spending.

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media Reporter Another box office slay for Ghostface. “Scream VI” will cross $100 million in domestic ticket sales on Thursday. It’s the first installment in the long-running slasher series to hit the coveted milestone in 26 years, since 1997’s “Scream 2” ended its theatrical run with $101 million. In the coming days, “Scream VI” will overtake the original 1996 “Scream” ($103 million) as the highest-grossing entry in North America, not adjusted for inflation. Paramount and Spyglass brought the sixth chapter to the big screen in March, crushing franchise records with its $44.5 million debut. “Scream VI” has also collected $56.25 million at the international box office, bringing its global tally to $156 million. The first “Scream” still stands as the biggest worldwide earner of the bunch with $173 million, followed by the sequel with $172 million.

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media Reporter “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” launched to the top of box office charts, collecting a mighty $31.7 million on opening day. Ben Affleck’s sports drama “Air,” which also debuted on Wednesday, nabbed $3.2 million from 3,507 venues. After a bigger-than-expected opening day, estimates for Universal and Illumination’s big screen adaptation of the popular “Mario” video game have been revised up to $92 million over the traditional weekend and $141 million in its first five days of release. Those ticket sales continue a strong period at the box office following March releases, “Scream VI,” “Creed III,” “John Wick: Chapter 4” and “Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves.”

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media Reporter Mario, Luigi and Princess Peach are poised to clobber the box office competition as “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” readies to power past the $100 million mark in its opening weekend. Universal and Illumination’s big screen adaptation of the popular video game, which opens in 4,000 North American theaters on Wednesday, looks to collect a towering $125 million or more in its first five days of release. It’ll be the second 2023 release, following Disney’s “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” ($106 million) to open above $100 million. “Mario” will easily lead domestic box office charts over last weekend’s champ, “Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves,” as well as fellow newcomer “Air,” a sports drama directed by Ben Affleck.

Who says people don’t go to the movies? That stale cynicism coming out of the pandemic is about to get squashed this weekend as Illumination/Universal’s The Super Mario Bros Movie is about to run up a serious box office score. With a Wednesday opening before Easter around the world, inclusive of 70 offshore markets, the Nintendo co-production is looking ata $225 million-plus opening frame. Separated out, that’s $125M+ in U.S./Canada in 4,000 theaters over Wednesday through Sunday, and another $100M+ abroad.

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media Reporter “Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves,” an adaptation of the popular role-playing game, ignited at the international box office with $33 million from 60 markets. Paramount and eOne’s film also opened in North America with $38.5 million, bringing its global tally to $71 million. It’s a good start, especially considering Hollywood’s track record in adapting games for the big screen. But “Dungeons and Dragons” needs to keep playing in theaters to justify its $150 million price tag before marketing. Overseas audiences will be key to the success of “D&D.” The film, directed Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley and starring Chris Pine and Regé-Jean Page, enjoyed the biggest start in China with $5 million, followed by the U.K. with $4.3 million, Mexico with $2.4 million, Australia with $2.4 million, and Germany with $2 million.

according to IMDB’s Box Office Mojo.The film, which stars Chris Pine, Michelle Rodriguez and Hugh Grant, is expected to enjoy a $40 million-dollar opening weekend, according to Deadline.It managed to dethrone last week’s top earner “John Wick: Chapter 4,” which earned $7.87 million. Due to the success of the fourth installment of the hitman thriller series, which was supposed to be the franchise’s last, the possibility of a fifth is being considered.

J. Kim Murphy Hark! “Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves” looks to reach the top of box office charts in its opening weekend, besting the sophomore outing of “John Wick: Chapter 4.” “Honor Among Thieves” scored $15.3 million in its opening day, a figure that includes $5.6 million from Thursday screenings and specialty previews. Playing in 3,855 venues, the fantasy comedy is projecting a finish around $40 million, which would come in at the higher end of estimates heading into the weekend. That’s a solid figure for “Honor Among Thieves,” which Paramount has thrown support behind with a sweeping press tour and a premiere at the SXSW Film Festival. Along with the studio, Entertainment One (eOne) covered a good fraction of the production budget for the film, which totals about $150 million between the two banners. eOne is a subsidiary of Hasbro, which controls the “Dungeons & Dragons” intellectual property.

Jordan Moreau Paramount and eOne are launching their new fantasy film “Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves” this weekend, and the adaptation of the popular role-playing game picked up $5.6 million in previews at the domestic box office. It opens in 3,855 theaters on Friday. After rolling for initiative, it will prepare for combat against “John Wick: Chapter 4,” last weekend’s box office champion — and it’ll be a close battle. Directed by Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley, “Dungeons and Dragons” is hoping to conjure up $30 million to $40 million in its opening weekend, and Keanu Reeves’ “John Wick 4” is muscling its way to around $36 million in its sophomore outing.

John Wick: Chapter 4 landed in cinemas last week, with Keanu Reeves reprising the titular role once again on the big screen.Directed by Chad Stahelski and written by Shay Hatten and Michael Finch, the action-thriller follows Wick as he “uncovers a path to defeating the High Table”.“But before he can earn his freedom, Wick must face off against a new enemy with powerful alliances across the globe and forces that turn old friends into foes,” a synopsis about the new movie adds.You can watch the trailer for John Wick: Chapter 4 below.The John Wick franchise currently consists of four movies. The series kicked off with John Wick in October 2014, before John Wick: Chapter 2 followed in February 2017 – both films were written by Derek Kolstad and directed by Stahelski (with the original also featuring co-director David Leitch).John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum was then released in May 2019 with Stahelski once again directing, while the script was handled by Kolstad, Shay Hatten, Chris Collins and Marc Abrams.

Paramount and Hasbro eOne with the greatest of intentions have created an extremely fun, broad-audience appealing feature take on the classic roleplaying game, entitled Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves, which already is 90% certified fresh on Rotten Tomatoes –not an easy feat with a genre movie of this caliber– and 94% with moviegoers.

Naman Ramachandran Lionsgate’s “John Wick: Chapter 4” shot its way to the top of the U.K. and Ireland box office with a £5.3 million ($6.5 million) opening weekend, according to numbers released by Comscore. In its second weekend, Warner Bros.’ “Shazam! Fury Of The Gods” collected £1.09 million in second place for a total of £4.09 million. In third place, Warner Bros.’ “Creed III” earned £731,273 and now has a total of £12.8 million after four weekends. Paramount’s “Scream VI” grossed £597,937 in fourth place in its third weekend for a total of £6.2 million. Rounding off the top five was Warner Bros.’ “Allelujah” that took £463,973 in its second weekend for a total of £2.02 million.

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media Reporter “John Wick: Chapter 4” knocked down the box office competition, collecting a remarkable $73.5 million in its opening weekend. Boosted by positive reviews and enthusiastic word-of-mouth, the fourth installment in Lionsgate’s action series, led by Keanu Reeves as a legendary assassin, landed the best start of the franchise. It’s one of the rare original properties to keep growing and improving upon the last, in terms of box office ticket sales. The original “John Wick” opened to a modest $14 million in 2014, its sequel “John Wick: Chapter 2” took in $30.4 million to start in 2017, and the third film “John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum” previously held the opening weekend record with $56.8 million in 2019. 

John Wick: Chapter 4” has burst into theaters guns blazing, earning a very strong $8.9 million opening on Thursday, topping the $5.9 million earned by “John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum” in May 2019. While Lionsgate has already begun a steady increase in theatrically exclusive releases with films like Kingdom Story Company’s “Jesus Revolution,” “John Wick: Chapter 4” is set to become the studio’s highest opening weekend not just within the Keanu Reeves franchise, but for any film since the end of the “Hunger Games” series in 2015.

“John Wick: Chapter 4” is set to debut this weekend, and box office projections for the latest outing in the Keanu Reeves action franchise are through the roof.

No, there won’t be any finger-pointing at the box office this weekend over a franchise film failing to open.

Roadside Attraction’s Moving On grossed an estimated $798k at about 800 theaters, about status quo this weekend for a specialty sector that’s better but still looking to break out.  

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media Reporter Shazam wasn’t the magic word at the weekend box office. “Shazam: Fury of the Gods” opened to No. 1 in North America, but the Warner Bros. and DC Comics sequel fell short of expectations with its disappointing $30.5 million debut from 4,071 theaters. Heading into the weekend, the film was expected to collect $35 million to $40 million, which already wasn’t all that spectacular since it cost north of $110 million to make and another $100 millions more to market. It’s a substantial drop from 2019’s “Shazam,” the first comic book installment starring Zachary Levi’s quirky hero, which opened to $53.5 million and ended its box office run with $140 million domestically and $366 million globally. It’s also one of the worst starts in the DC Cinematic Universe, other than pandemic-era releases like “Wonder Woman 1984” ($16.7 million) and “The Suicide Squad” ($26 million), which both opened simultaneously on HBO Max.