Box Office: 007 Money and 2021's Highest Grossers
Monday, October 11, 2021 at 12:34PM All you need to know about this very strange ecosystem shift in moviegoing is that an Icelandic language film (Lamb) made the overall top 10 despite having a per screen average of just $1,715. These are odd times we're living in when only blockbusters are making bank and even those aren't operating at close to full strength. There used to be 25-30 movies in wide release at any given time but there were literally only 8 in release this weekend here in the US. One wonders how the economics will all play in the future decade since streaming isn't as profitable as the traditional theatrical market and films have always been budgeted for pre-COVID realities. Will we see production values decrease in the next decade as Hollywood starts trying to make things on the cheap or just much higher subscription prices for streaming services? What did you see this past week/weekend? More notes are after the jump.
| Weekend Box Office October 8th-10th 🔺 = new or expanding / ★ = recommended |
|
| WIDE RELEASE |
PLATFORM TITLES |
 No Time To Die |
 Lamb |
| 1 NO TIME TO DIE 🔺 $56 Deborah's Review |
1 LAMB 🔺 $1.0 in 583 theaters Cannes Capsule |
| 2 VENOM LET THERE BE CARNAGE $32 (cum. $141.6) | 2 THE JESUS MUSIC [DOC] $150K in 270 theaters (cum. $857k)... |
| 3 THE ADDAMS FAMILY 2 🔺 $10 (cum. $31.1) | 3 I'M YOUR MAN $50k in 122 theaters (cum. $169k) Matt's Review, Oscar Race International |
| 4 SHANG-CHI $4.2 (cum. $212.4) Nathaniel's Review | 4 MASS $14k in 4 theaters Abe's Review |
|
5 MANY SAINTS OF NEWARK $1.4 (cum. $7.4) also streaming on HBOMax The only other wide releases currently were Free Guy ($1.3), Dear Evan Hansen ($1.0), and Candyman ($700k). |
5 THE ALPINIST [DOC] $318k (cum. $806k) Numbers weren't released for TITANE yet but it made $533k at 562 theaters last weekend which is a decent showing but not as strong as Lamb this weekend. |
No Time To Die had a solid opening but we think it would have made probably slightly under Spectre numbers in 2020 if the pandemic hadn't happened. This is tied for the longest wait after between Bond pictures with six years passing since the last one (the only other time the wait was as long was between Timothy Dalton and Pierce Brosnan's run).
OPENINGS OF 10 MOST RECENT BOND PICTURES, RANKED
- SKYFALL (2012) $88.3 Craig
- SPECTRE (2015) $70.4 Craig
- QUANTUM OF SOLACE (2008) $67.5 Craig
- NO TIME TO DIE (2021) $56 Craig's finale
- DIE ANOTHER DAY (2002) $47 Brosnan's finale
- CASINO ROYALE (2006) $40.8 Craig's debut
- THE WORLD IS NOT ENOUGH (1999) $35.5 Brosnan
- GOLDENEYE (1995) $26.2 Brosnan's debut
- TOMORROW NEVER DIES (1997) $25.1 Brosnan
- LICENSE TO KILL (1989) $8.7 Dalton's finale
Sean Connery's third and second outing as 007 Thunderball (1965) and Goldfinger (1964) remain the highest grossing Bond films in the US when you adjust for inflation, both earning over $600 million in today's dollars. But in the modern era Skyfall (2012) was the biggest Bond success earning $1.1 billion globally ($304 million at the US box office).
TOP TEN OF 2021 (THUS FAR AS OF 10/10/21) AT THE US BOX OFFICE
† available for extra $ at home during first month of theatrical
* available with regular streaming subscription at home during its theatrical release
∆ only available in theaters
- Shang Chi $212.4 ∆
- Black Widow $183.6 †
- F9: The Fast Saga $173 ∆
- A Quiet Place Part 2 $160 ∆
- Venom: Let There Be Carnage $141.6 ∆
- Free Guy $119.6 ∆
- Jungle Cruise $116.5 †
- Godzilla vs Kong $99.2*
- CruelLa $86.1†
- Space Jam: A New Legacy $67.4*
No Time To Die will obviously join this list. You'll notice immediately that Scarlett Johansson's lawsuit against Disney (since resolved) was not without merit. Of the top six theatrical grossers of the year, Black Widow was the only one that accomplished those dollars that had to contend with a "watch at home" option in order to make that money... so it was a much bigger hit than it's gotten credit for.
Black Widow, Bond James Bond, Disney, Iceland, Lamb, MCU, Marvel Studios, No Time to Die, Shang Chi, box office, moviegoing
Reader Comments (9)
I saw Memoria to cap off my local film fest (not New York, alas). Didn't love it, if I'm being hones, but am super curious to see if Neon's strategy gets it a solid box office total. Apichatpong Weerasethakul has only broken 100K once.
"Will we see production values decrease in the next decade as Hollywood starts trying to make things on the cheap or just much higher subscription prices for streaming services?"
Both? Someone tweeted that they felt "cucked" at having to pay $20 for a single viewing of a film at home and I tend to feel similarly. I get it makes sense for families/multiple people at the same address, but I don't fit that paradigm, so I just don't spend that money. Conversely, as much as streaming sites like Netflix are probably worth a couple bucks more a month, I probably would drop it if it went too much higher than that. But I don't understand how this new model is sustainable and it worries me.
Still only seen three movies in a theater since early 2020—Cruella, In the Heights, Summer of 85—which is truly a sorry state of affairs, since I hate "home cinema." But when the FYC DVDs and streaming codes start arriving, that will be my fate this fall and winter.
Currently binging the final season of Dear White People and loving it. Scenes from a Marriage up next.
The last three movies I've seen in theaters, as different as they are to one another, can all be accurately described as "fever dreams" because, well, yeah... TITANE, VENOM 2, LAMB.
They all made me wonder as well... Is everyone OKAY? Is NO ONE okay?
It feels SO good to be somewhat back to normal this weekend -- meaning at least two must-see movies to see in the theater.
I saw Titane, which lives up to its wild hype, and The Rescue, which was gripping, though slightly less so than Free Solo since there wasn't a focal person we really got to know intimately. Also watched Everybody's Talking About Jamie. While fun and good hearted, it had potential to be so much more.
It feels weird to be back in the "old days" when Australia (only just now opening up country-wide) gets blockbusters weeks after their internatioinal screening (NO TIME TO DIE is scheduled for a November release here).
Anyway, I saw FATALE (so much better than the trailer make it out to be), two sub-standard historical/bio-pics that suffer from the fact that, despite the greatness of their subjects, there really wasn't enogh of an interesting story to fill a whoile movie (RESPECT and EIFFEL), and an Ausie indie that showed promise for its creators (AKONI). Also finally got to see the Schelsinger classic DARLING and, while I still wish Simone Signoret had won the Oscar that year for SHIP OF FOOLS, I can't really begrudge Christie who delivers wonderfuly here. Great writing and costumes as well.
It feels weird to be back in the "old days" when Australia (only just now opening up country-wide) gets blockbusters weeks after their internatioinal screening (NO TIME TO DIE is scheduled for a November release here).
Anyway, I saw FATALE (so much better than the trailer make it out to be), two sub-standard historical/bio-pics that suffer from the fact that, despite the greatness of their subjects, there really wasn't enogh of an interesting story to fill a whoile movie (RESPECT and EIFFEL), and an Ausie indie that showed promise for its creators (AKONI). Also finally got to see the Schelsinger classic DARLING and, while I still wish Simone Signoret had won the Oscar that year for SHIP OF FOOLS, I can't really begrudge Christie who delivers wonderfuly here. Great writing and costumes as well.
I saw I'm Your Man, which was fine, though nothing special.
At home, I caught up with Annette, which I thought was mediocre and too long, and the music was nothing special. I also watched Sapphire, a part of Edgar Wright's "Adventures in Moviegoing" series on Criterion Channel. It was a nice surprise, a compelling thriller about racial passing in London in the 1950s - I've found the titles unknown to me on that series are almost always worth watching. Finally, I saw Diary of Country Priest for the first time which was unsurprisingly brilliant.
Wow, Dear Evan Hansen turned out to be a real bomb.
I'm not willing to pay for NF, Hulu, Prime, Disney+, Apple+, HBOMax *now* and there is no way I would pay even more for them. How do people afford so many different channels? I have the Criterion Channel and the free library sites and then DVD rentals/ library borrows. That's plenty and I can see just about everything that way.
Maybe I would pay for an A24 channel???
Went back to the theater finally this last week and saw:
- Titane. deliciously fucked up. I was glad I went in blind. I thought it was one kind of fucked up movie initially and then it hit a swerve. Very deserving of its Palme
- Lamb. was very 'meh' for me. I was totally looking forward to this film and love Iceland cinema in general. I guess i was expecting more folk *horror* and there was no horror in this movie. just a sleepy fable. made me sleepy anyway.