Incredibly, "Top Gun Maverick" returns to the top of the box office chart
Tuesday, September 6, 2022 at 9:46PM by Nathaniel R
Top Gun Maverick returned to the #1 position (more on that in a bit) and rereleases of two of the biggest hits of all time, Jaws (1975) and Spider-Man No Way Home (2020) both did well again over the quiet Labor Day Weekend (which is rarely a big movie weekend)...
| Holiday Weekend Box Office September 2nd-5th 🔺 = new or expanding / ★ = Recommended links if we've written about it |
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| WIDE (OVER 800 SCREENS) | LIMITED / PLATFORM |
 TOP GUN MAVERICK |
 ORPHAN: FIRST KILL |
| 1 ★ TOP GUN MAVERICK $7.9 (cum. $701.2) |
1 ★ ORPHAN FIRST KILL $922k (cum. $4.6) |
| 2 BULLET TRAIN $7.5 (cum. $88) |
2 MARCEL THE SHELL... $150k cum. $6) |
| 3 DC LEAGUE OF SUPER PETS $6.7 (cum. $82.1) |
3 EMILY THE CRIMINAL $123k (cum. $1.9) |
| 4 🔺★ SPIDER-MAN NO WAY HOME (re-release) $6.5 *NEW* |
4 HALLELUJAH: LEONARD COHEN (DOC) $54k (cum. $941k) |
| 5 THE INVITATION $6.1 (cum. $15.1) |
5 ★ EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE $46k (cum. $69.8) |
| 6 BEAST $5 (cum. $26.8) |
6 EMERGENCY DECLARATION (South korea) $26k (cum. $374K) |
 JAWS (re-release) |
 A LOVE SONG |
| 7 MINIONS: THE RISE OF GRU $4.5 (cum. $360.3) | 7 ALIENOID (South Korea) $24k (cum. $140k) |
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8 THOR: LOVE & THUNDER $3.3 (cum. $340.8) |
8 ★ A LOVE SONG $15k (cum. $245K) |
| 9 🔺★ JAWS (rerelease) $3.3 *NEW* |
9 ★ FIRE OF LOVE (Doc) $13k (cum. $1.0) |
| 10 WHERE THE CRAWDADS SING $2.78 (cum. $85.7) |
10 ★ THREE MINUTES A LENGTHENING (Doc) $11k (cum. $75k) |
| 11 DRAGON BALL SUPER HERO $2.7 (cum. $85.734.9) |
11 ★ CARNAL KNOWLEDGE (rerelease) $10k *NEW* |
| 12 ★ NOPE $2.2 (cum. $120.7) |
12 ★ APOCALYPSE NOW (rerelease) $9k (cum. $52k) |
| 13 ★ 3000 THOUSAND YEARS OF LONGING $2.1 (cum. $6.4) |
13 🔺 LOVING HIGHSMITH $6k *NEW* |
 HONK FOR JESUS SAVE YOUR SOUL |
 1982 |
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14 🔺 HONK FOR JESUS SAVE YOUR SOUL $1.7 *NEW* |
14 🔺 BURIAL *5k *NEW* |
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15 ★ ELVIS $1.4 (cum. $149.5) |
15 ★ MY OLD SCHOOL (Doc) $4k (cum. $92k) |
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16 🔺 GIGI & NATE $1.2 *NEW* |
16 FACING NOLAN (Doc) $3k (cum. $403k) |
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17 ★ BREAKING $853k (cum. $2.2) |
17 FIRE/BOTH SIDES OF THE BLADE (France) $3k (cum. $197k) |
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18 BODIES BODIES BODIES $606k (cum. $10.8) That's all the movies still in wide release. So many of them lingering because there's nothing to replace them with! |
18 ★ 1982 (Lebanon) $2k (cum. $28k) We're fairly sure several arthouse theaters are getting quite spotty in their reporting since some titles that were new just last week do not appear and the numbers vary from different box office sites. |
In the absence of new films for general moviegoers -- oddly at just the moment we're hearing about so many exciting new films on the festival circuit -- Top Gun Maverick has achieved what has been impossible for decades. It is now the #1 box office attraction AGAIN in its 15th week in theaters. This sort of continual dip and return to the top has not been a semi regular occurance since, like, the the 1980s when movies might play for months on end if they were popular and people didn't think "I'll wait for streaming" or even "I'll wait for the DVD" because the former didn't exist and the latter had long windows still. But Top Gun Maverick has had incredible good fortune by way of perfect timing in that it's a crowd pleaser arriving just as the audience was eager to get back and just as Hollywood appeared to have given up on luring crowds to the theaters. It's had an incredible run but the dearth of competition has definitely helped make that incredible run possible.
NEXT WEEKEND
With Barbarian, House of Darkness, Medieval, and Speak No Evil in theaters and Athena and End of the Road coming from Netflix, Hollywood is betting ONLY on violence/thrills next Friday to kick off fall movie season. It's sometimes amusing for us to think about getting that many of any other type of films in one weekend. (Can you imagine a weekend with like six romantic movies opening against each other. Or even six superhero pictures opening at the same time?) The only new films that count as counterprogramming next weekend are the Bollywood superhero film Brahmastra Part One at select theaters and the Emma Roberts romcom About Fate on VOD. (In short, expect Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt, and various animated creatures to stay near the top for another week.
There's much more variety in terms of kinds of movies and scale of movies coming in late September / early October but it's bleak for a bit still!
What did you see this holiday weekend?
Top Gun Maverick, box office
Reader Comments (6)
THE INVITATION - such a waste of my time. Nothing we haven't seen before, and absolutely no scares or creepy moments (save a lazy jump scare or two).
SIGHT EXTENDED - part of the Science Fiction Film festival, highlighting indie films in the genre. This was really good, prompting many thoughts for post-film discussion. If it had had a different type of ending, I may well have placed it in my Best Of 2022 list.
EMBRACE - 2017 documentary highlighting the struggles women face with body image. A great cause, but the film just makes the same points over and over again, just with different talking heads. I watched it to potentially go and see the sequel focussing on kids (currently in cinemas) but I don't think I will bother now.
FRANKLIN - AACTA-nominated documentary combining beautiful cinematography to record a modern-day fortnight trek down the famous Tasmanian river with the historical story of the fight to save the area from capitalist destruction (involving the father of the man doing the modern trip). Well worthy of its inclusion as one of the best Australian docos of the year.
The lack of new movies isn't just Hollywood either - I'm finding a real lack of compelling art-house titles too.
And knowing there's so little out there is making me less adventurous and more likely to just sit at home watching Marlene Dietrich movies, as one does.
And then, of course, all the oscar titles and cannes titles will flood the theaters at the same time.
Saw HONK FOR JESUS. SAVE YOUR SOUL. It's a bit of a minor film and some of the choices made weren't great... but BUT... Regina Hall? Perfection. Her facial reactions are worth the price of admission alone. And what she does at the tail-end of the movie? You just have to watch her amazingness.
A little sad she probably won't get awards traction but man she's been rocking it these past few years hasn't she?
Ryan T., Regina Hall's name absolutely should be in the mix for best actress this year for Honk for Jesus. Save Your Soul. She's a person whom the critics prizes could help greatly. It is compelling work and a master class of acting as reacting and imbuing almost every line with layers of subtext.
I saw the last 15 mins of Top Gun Maverick on someones TV when I called round and that was enough.
A short film by Evan Rachel Wood for Nowness, the Classic Albums documentary series on Suede's Coming Up (great album that EVERYONE needs to hear), and a couple of re-watches of shorts on Disney+.