‘IF’ Befriends $1.75M In Previews; ‘Strangers – Chapter 1’ Scares Up $1.2M – Friday AM Box Office Update

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Sony Pictures Entertainment’s senior management says it remains “optimistic” about the future of cinema, despite a slow start to the North American summer season and industry talk of superhero fatigue. Speaking on a Sony Group Corporation conference call (on Thursday in Japan, Wednesday in Los Angeles), Sony Pictures Entertainment CEO Tony Vinciquerra blamed current box office torpor on three prongs of disruption that have affected movie production over the past five years: competition with streaming; the disruptions and cost increases brought on by the COVID-era; and last year’s writers and actors strikes. Together these have led to fewer films reaching theaters.

It’s not all doom and gloom at the global box office as a handful of films reached milestones this week. 20th Century Studios/Disney’s Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes has topped $300M worldwide, while Paramount’s IF and Sony/Alcon’s The Garfield Movie crossed the $100M mark.

what happened to the $100 million opener? ” Notably, 2024 has had none yet. The biggest of the year was “Dune: Part Two,” which opened to $82.5 million and went on to earn over $711 million worldwide.“Moviegoing begets moviegoing,” Derarabedian said. “Every studio is rooting for every other studio to have a big hit.”The lack of a recent runaway hit just puts more pressure on the upcoming films to make up the slack.

EARLY SUNDAY AM UPDATE: The 4-day fight between Warner Bros‘ Furiosa and Alcon/Sony‘s The Garfield Movie will drag out into Monday, both titles currently in a dead heat eyeing $31M over 4-days, $25M over 3 days.

according to The Numbers.The Post called the movie, which is both a spin-off and prequel to 2015’s “Mad Max: Fury Road” and stars Anya Taylor-Joy and Chris Hemsworth, “a brutal, exhilarating quest for revenge.”Since it is expected to earn between $31 and $33 million over the four-day holiday weekend, it appears that “Furiosa” will take the title of lowest Memorial Day opening in 41 years, according to Deadline.“The Garfield Movie,” which also opened on Friday, landed in second place with $8.4 million in sales.The New York Times called the animated adventure comedy “an inert adaptation that mostly tries to skate by on its namesake.”The character of Garfield is voiced by Chris Pratt, which the New York Times also bashed as “an overly spunky casting choice that was doomed from the start.”The live-action fantasy comedy “If,” which was in first place last Friday, its first day in theaters, took third place, with earnings of $4.3 million.The movie, which centers around a young girl who sees others’ imaginary friends, marks the first time real-life husband and wife Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds starred in the same movie since 2011’s “Green Lantern.”Disney’s “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes,” which was in second place last week, slid down to fourth, with a $3.4 million take.The action comedy “Fall Guy,” which was in fourth place last week, moved down a notch to fifth, taking in $1.6 million.

J. Kim Murphy It’s a bit of a wasteland out there for theaters this summer, as Memorial Day weekend is closing out a very underwhelming May on a down note. Warner Bros.’ “Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga” is projected to open well short of the industry’s prior estimates for a $40 million-plus bow over the four-day window.

Jordan Moreau Witness her: “Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga” is off to the races at the box office this holiday weekend. Director George Miller’s R-rated prequel to “Mad Max: Fury Road” has made $3.5 million in previews so far. The Warner Bros.

Despite more movies in the marketplace, we’re still feeling the aftermath of the strikes. How is that? Many aren’t in the habit of moviegoing yet, and while content is king, neither of this weekend’s releases are expected to create a stampede: one is a prequel/spinoff with a new actress to a beloved Oscar winning cult movie, and the other is a family movie of an age-old comic-strip cat who eats lasagna. Don’t expect a $200M+ four-day weekend like the last two Memorial Day holiday frames have delivered.

imaginary friends movie “IF” claimed the top spot at the box office this weekend according to studio estimates Sunday. Its $35 million North American debut was also a bit lower than some projections.Is that a disappointment? An ominous sign of the box office times? Or is the final story on “ IF ” yet to be written? It’s not just your imagination: In these bumpy early weeks of the 2024 summer box office season, in which nothing has been a runaway hit and every new movie has more and more pressure to succeed, “IF” hit a nerve.Starring Ryan Reynolds, Cailey Fleming, and an army of A-list voices including Steve Carell, Matt Damon, Emily Blunt, Louis Gossett Jr., Phoebe Waller-Bridge and Maya Rudolph, “IF” was an original idea from Krasinski, who wrote, directed and co-stars.Paramount debuted the film, which cost a reported $110 million to produce, in 4,041 locations in North America.

according to The Numbers.The Post called the movie, which has Ryan Reynolds as its leading man, “a schmaltzy family flick that makes less sense the more you think about it.”It is slated to earn $31.5 million this weekend, which is a staggering $10 million less than was originally predicted, according to Screen Rant.Disney’s “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes” came in second, with $6.8 million in sales. This is a 70% departure from its earnings on May 10, its opening day, Variety reported.The sci-fi flick, a sequel to 2017’s “War for the Planet of the Apes,” “continues this damn dirty science-fiction franchise’s reign as one of the best out there,” according to The Post.Landing in third was “The Strangers: Chapter 1” with a $5.1 million take.The horror film is centered around a young couple stranded in a remote town and forced to stay in an Airbnb where they are terrorized by three masked strangers.Its director, Renny Harlin, who was at the helm of “Die Hard 2,” “Deep Blue Sea” and “A Nightmare on Elm Street 4,” already completed parts two and three of the trilogy.

J. Kim Murphy Paramount’s family comedy “IF” is leading domestic charts in its opening after earning $10.3 million from more than 4,041 locations across Friday and preview screenings. But the John Krasinski-directed fantasy feature has decidedly fallen behind its projections heading into the weekend, which had originally forecast a debut around $40 million.

Jordan Moreau John Krasinski and Ryan Reynolds are imagining box office success this weekend. Their new movie “IF,” which stands for and follows “imaginary friends,” has made $1.75 million in previews so far at the box office. The family-friendly Paramount film is on track to dethrone last week’s box office champ, Disney’s “The Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes.” “IF” is projected to make around $40 million in its opening weekend, with some estimates lower at $35 million and others as high as $45 million.

The landscape of horror cinema is strewn with sequels, prequels, reboots, and remakes—many of which fail to capture the essence of their predecessors. My philosophy is, If a film is to be rebooted, remade, or re-purposed, it must find a way to distinguish itself and justify its existence. Lionsgate‘s The Strangers: Chapter 1, directed by Renny Harlin and written by Alan R. Cohen and Alan Freedland, does neither. This latest installment is a lackluster attempt to revive a franchise that should have remained in its original, standalone glory. With wooden performances from Madelaine Petsch and Ryan Bown, this film only serves to remind us of what was once innovative in The Strangers (2008), is now rendered commercial, and lifeless.

Michael Nordine If a young woman ever knocks on your door late at night and asks “Is Tamara home?”, then consider moving. All three home invasions in the world of “The Strangers” have begun this way, and none have ended well for whoever answered.

Paramount will keep its chin up high amid the whole Sony and Skydance takeover headlines and keep the summer box office churnin’ with the John Krasinski directed Ryan Reynolds family movie, If, which is hoping to hit $40M; this is after Disney’s overperformance with 20th Century Studios’ Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes which posted a $58.4M opening.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes” reigned over the weekend box office with a $56.5 million North American opening, according to studio estimates Sunday, giving a needed surge to an uncertain season in theaters.The film from 20th Century Studios and Disney that built on the rebooted “Apes” trilogy of the 2010s had the third highest opening of the year, after the $81.5 million debut of “Dune: Part Two” in early March and the $58.3 million domestic opening of “Kung Fu Panda 4” a week later.The strong performance for “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes” comes a week after a tepid start for Ryan Gosling’s “The Fall Guy” signaled that the summer of 2024 is likely to see a major drop-off after the “Barbenheimer” magic of 2023.“Planet of the Apes” easily made more than the rest of the top 10 combined.“The Fall Guy” fell to No. 2 with a $13.7 million weekend and a two-week total of $49.7 million for Universal Pictures.Zendaya’s “Challengers” was third with $4.7 million and has earned $38 million in three weeks for Amazon MGM studios.The opening for “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes,” directed by Wes Ball, was the second best in the series, after the $72 million opening weekend of 2014’s “Dawn of the Planet of the Apes.”It’s the 10th movie in the “Planet of the Apes” franchise that began in 1968.“Kingdom” came with strong reviews and positive buzz (80% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes and a “B” CinemaScore).

according to IMDB’s Box Office Mojo.The action comedy took home $3.6 million. The film, which is loosely based on the 1980s TV show, features Ryan Gosling working as a stuntman on the set of a film directed by his ex-girlfriend, played by Emily Blunt.Though on top of the box office, with the pair’s combined star power pulled in just $39.5 million domestically so far, with another $36.7 million in receipts overseas.

The Fall Guy.”But the crowd, such as it was, looked nothing like the ticket buyers of nearly a year ago when the same A-list duo was part of the cinematic phenomenon known as #Barbenheimer.Remember those three surreal days when the masses, lemming-like, donned pink skirts and roller skates (and, for a sprinkle of nerds, brown fedoras) and packed theaters to capacity to see films about an old doll and a dead physicist?Domestically, that pair of polar opposites “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer” grossed a combined $246 million on their opening weekend in July 2023. They went on to do $2.4 billion in business worldwide.

Jordan Moreau It’s all monkey business at the box office. “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes,” the latest film in 20th Century Studios’ primate franchise, will rule over the box office this weekend.

EXCLUSIVE: Sources tell us that 20th Century Studios‘ Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes is off to a good start with previews around $6.5M. That’s comprised of Thursday night money which began accruing at 3PM and around $1.6M from Wednesday fan shows that began at 7PM.