The box office is open again. What did you see this week?
Tuesday, June 8, 2021 at 11:15AM Been back to the movie theaters yet? We're so thrilled to be able to post a full top ten weekend box office report again. It's been ages since there were enough theaters open and movies in play. We've just barely gotten there of course. But the box office results to date (especially overseas) with the world starting to turn again suggest that Disney and Warner Bros have left a lot of money on the table by making things available to stream simultaneously or ONLY; they're betting their entire futures on streaming. Which might be wise but some decisions still feel foolhardy especially the decision to not release Pixar's Luca in theaters, given that it's already winning raves and might have been a perfect summertime bet in airconditioned theaters since it's a summertime tale and Pixar movies generally make hundreds of millions in movie theaters. Strange decision especially since they gave Raya the traditional release! When viewed in broader context of what gets a theatrical release versus what doesn't it's like pissing directly on Pixar when something like Dreamworks Spirit Untamed gets a theatrical release and Luca doesn't. Ugh.
Anyway. Here is the chart. What did you see this past week/weekend?
| Weekend Box Office June 4th-6th 🔺 = new or expanding / ★ = recommended |
|
| WIDE RELEASE |
PLATFORM TITLES |
 The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It |
 Undine |
| 1 THE CONJURING 3 $24 *new* |
1 WITNESSES (US) $126k on 84 screens *new* |
| 2 A QUIET PLACE 2 $19.2 (cum. $88.3) *new* | 2 THE DRY (Australia) $29k on 58 screens (cum. $286k) |
| 3 CRUELLA $11 (cum. $43.4) CRUELLA'S WARDROBE | ARTIE AS GBF | MAKEUP ARTIST | 3 UNDINE (France) $27k on 56 *new* REVIEW |
| 4 SPIRIT UNTAMED $6.1 *new* | 4 THE TRUFFLE HUNTERS (Italy DOC) $18k (cum. $370k) |
| 5 RAYA AND THE LAST DRAGON $1.2 (cum. $53.5) ANIMATED FILMS OF 2021 | 5 LA PISCINE (France) restoration $8k on 7 screens |
 Demon Slayer, the movie |
 All Light Everywhere |
| 6 WRATH OF MAN $1.2 (cum. $24.6) |
6 NEW ORDER (Mexico) $7k on 15 screens (cum. $300k) REVIEW |
| 7 SPIRAL $893k (cum. $21.8) | 7 RIDERS OF JUSTICE (Denmark) $7k on 15 screens (cum. $67k) |
| 8 DEMON SLAYER: MUGEN TRAIN $576k(cum. $47.7) | 8 FRENCH EXIT (Canada) $7k on 6 screens (cum. $728k) REVIEW |
| 9 GODZILLA VS KONG $463k (cum. $99.1) | 9 ALL LIGHT EVERYWHERE (US DOC) $5k on 2 screens *new* REVIEW |
| 10 DREAM HORSE $230k (cum. $2.3) REVIEW | 10 THE LADYKILLERS (UK) restoration $5k on 1 screen *new* |
Spirit Untamed had the worst wide opening ever for Dreamworks but was that ever going to do well. Even if we weren't on the way back from a pandemic?
We had to look up The Witnesses. Turns out it's one of those Mormon movies, a niche genre that had a brief moment of mainstream awareness in the early Aughts (a couple of them even played in NYC!) but they're still cranking them out out West apparently.
A Quiet Place, Disney, The Conjuring, The Conjuring 3, box office, moviegoing, sequels
Reader Comments (13)
I saw Cruella and loved it's Working Girl Meets Devil Wears Prada storyline,costumes esp Emma T's must be nominated.
I saw Ben Wheatley's latest In the Earth and am still unsure what it was all about but after his terrible Rebecca remake I was glad to see him back to head punching us.
Are they really bypassing movie theaters for LUCA entirely? What a disappointment!
Didn't see anything this past week, but I definitely saw CRUELLA and A QUIET PLACE 2 which were my 3rd and 4th movie I've seen since getting vaccinated (Scott Pilgrim and RAYA were my 1st and 2nd). But I already have tickets for IN THE HEIGHTS and F9. I'm giddy for theaters to be BACK finally.
I saw Gunda, which has quite a gut-punch of an ending. I'm already a vegetarian, but if I weren't I'd probably become one, or at least give up pork.
I also saw Wolfwalkers and was extremely disappointed. It did absolutely nothing for me. As that was also my reaction to that overly ambitious snoozefest Soul, I would have voted for Farmageddon for Best Animated Film. It was very dotty, very British and very silly and made me laugh quite a lot.
I also rented Tenet from Redbox. 2 1/2 hours of huh?, but enjoyable enough most of the time, even when I couldn't figure out what the fuck was going on - and I really have no desire to watch it again to make sense of the plot. I doubt if that would work, anyway. The special effects with simultaneous forward and backward action, were certainly impressive, but couldn't quite make up for the incoherent plot.
"Boys from County Hell" on Shudder -Amazon prime - a very good horror comedy- if you liked "An American Werewolf in London" you'll love it
I saw Cruella - meh overall but both Emmas were great fun and the costumes are fabulous. Like others, it was just nice to be back in theaters - I probably would've liked anything I watched!
Watched Quiet Place Part 2 and will watch In the Heights this weekend.
Stayed home and watched some Olympic films to prepare for Tokyo 2021! You guys should do a post on those, most are on Criterion Channel.
Stayed home to watch "The Conjuring 3". Vera and Patrick still have great chemistry, and I like this better than 2, but neither match the scares from that first one.
i second that, @forever1267
the beginning was so strong and actually pretty scary, but lost me towards the middle end. great performances, cinematography and collars on Loraine lol
looking forward to seeing Cruella & In the Heights! movies are coming back, ya'll!
Home viewing only still: Pose finale and Feel Good season 2 (but only the first two episodes, trying not to binge).
But I wanna get to Cruella and In the Heights this weekend.
We're bit behind in South Africa - could finally stream "The Father". I'm still shaken and stirred by this brilliant script, idea, filmmaking, world we were allowed in ... I nearly feel Nolans Memento opened the door for it ... Absolutely grand = so happy Hopkins won, the Academy couldn't be more right this year !!!
Loved Coleman. So fare my 2nd favourite movie of '20
Also caught up on "Promising Young Woman" - brilliant full stop - but I expected to love it more. Still think the Academy was right here as well - as much as I love to see Mulligan with gold - she my silver.
Aren't we going to discuss Kate Winslet's triumph in "Mare of Easttown" ?
Disney probably based their decision regarding Luca on how Soul made. But in any case I think we can wait a bit more to go to theatres.