by Nathaniel R
The past two years have definitely been a huge wakeup call to Hollywood -- American audiences are demanding more diversity onscreen. It wasn't just the sleeper smash of Get Out, or the bigger than Batman/Superman numbers for Wonder Woman, or the record-breaking figures for Black Panther. Add Crazy Rich Asians to the increasingly large stack of hits proving to the powers that be that people value representation onscreen and movies that reflect the ethnic diversity of real life and the fact that the human race is 50% female.
| Weekend Box Office Estimates (August 17-19) |
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| W I D E 800+ screens |
PLATFORM / LIMITED excluding prev. wide |
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| 1. 🔺 CRAZY RICH ASIANS $25.2 (cum. $34) *NEW* Review, Michelle Yeoh |
1. THREE IDENTICAL STRANGERS $498k on 276 screens (cum. $10.5) Review |
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| 2. THE MEG $21.1 (cum. $83.7) Review |
2. 🔺 PUZZLE $217k on 108 screens (cum. $733k) |
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| 3. 🔺 MILE 22 $13.6 *NEW* |
3. 🔺 THE MISEDUCATION OF CAMERON POST $138k on 72 screens (cum. $404k) Podcast, Interview |
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| 4. MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE -FALLOUT $10.5 (cum. $180.7) Review, Podcast |
4. 🔺 MCQUEEN $111k on 72 screens (cum. $972k) Review |
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| 5. 🔺 ALPHA $10.5 *NEW* |
5. 🔺 THE WIFE $111k on 4 screens *NEW* Review, Poster Blurb & Glenn's Oscar |
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| 6.CHRISTOPHER ROBIN $8.8 (cum. $66.8) Review |
6. BLINDSPOTTING $110k on 47 screens (cum. $4) |
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| 7. BLACK KLANSMAN $7 (cum. $23) Review, Podcast, Spike Lee's Career |
7. LEAVE NO TRACE $81k on 93 screens (cum. $5.6) |
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| 8. SLENDER MAN $4.9 (cum. $20.7) |
8. 🔺WE THE ANIMALS $66k on 3 screens *NEW*) Review, Interview |
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| 9. HOTEL TRANSYLVANIA 3 $3.6 (cum. $153.8) |
9. 🔺JULIET, NAKED $60k on 4 screens * NEW* |
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| 10. MAMMA MIA! HERE WE GO AGAIN $3.3 (cum. $111.2) Review, Cher & ABBA | 10. 🔺BLAZE $45k on 3 screens *NEW* |
| 🔺 = new or expanding theater count numbers (in millions unless otherwise noted) from box office mojo |
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Beyond Crazy Rich Asians, when it came to new films, Alpha didn't embarrass itself, but Mile 22 opened mostly below Mark Wahlberg's usual numbers (could it look more generic?).
The week's strongest per screen averages were reserved for the Glenn Close star vehicle The Wife, on 4 screens, and the Latino family drama We The Animals, on 3 screens. Both are must-sees, The Wife because it houses a deep and riveting performance by Glenn Close and We The Animals because it's fantastic. I was fascinated to read in Murtada's We the Animals interview about how the director pictured the movie while reading the book because it seemed unfilmable to me while reading. I was wrong; this is a superb adaptation of the memoir, taking liberties to make it cinematic but completely nailing the book's tone and purpose.
Last Chance? Won't You Be My Neighbor?, the Mr Rogers doc is now at $22 million and the pitch-perfect junior high film Eighth Grade, is now at $11 million (both exceedingly successful given the type of films they are). But they're losing big chunks of theaters now so make sure to catch them if you've been interested.
WHAT DID YOU SEE THIS WEEKEND? I skipped the movies this weekend since I'd already seen the three exciting new films ...though apparently people are enjoying Rose Byrne in Juliet, Naked so perhaps I'll check that out this week.