By Ben Miller
Surprising absolutely no one, the 10th entry in the Fast and the Furious series Fast X won the box office weekend. What was surprising was the muted opening box office of only $67.5 million. That's the lowest opening for that series since Tokyo Drift in 2006 (unless you count Hobbs and Shaw which opened with $60 million in 2019). Comparatively, these films make the same amount of domestic money, so you can expect anywhere from $170-$200 million total. Worldwide is where these films really make their paydays, so keep expecting these things to keep being made. In fact, each film since Fast Five has made over $500 million outside of North America...
| Weekend Box Office (actuals) May 19th-21st 🔺 = new or expanding / ★ = Recommended |
|
| WIDE (Over 800 Screens) | LIMITED / PLATFORM |
 FAST X |
 SANCTUARY |
|
1 🔺 FAST X $67 *NEW* 4046 screens |
1 BLACKBERRY $288k (cum. $1.0) 374 screens |
|
2 GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL 3 $32.4 (cum. $266.9) 4450 screens |
2 🔺 MASTER GARDENER (US) $264k *NEW* 225 screens |
|
3 THE SUPER MARIO BROS. MOVIE $18.5 (cum. $518) 3540 screens |
3 KNIGHTS OF THE ZODIAC $165k (cum. $925k) 588 screens |
|
4 BOOK CLUB: THE NEXT CHAPTER $3 (cum. $13.1) 3513 screens |
4 IT AIN'T OVER [Doc] $97k (cum. $246k) 128 screens |
|
5 EVIL DEAD RISE $2.4 (cum. $64.1) 2173 screens |
5 🔺★ SANCTUARY $64k *NEW* 5 screens |
|
6 JOHN WICK CHAPTER 4 $1.3 (cum. $185.3) 1312 screens |
6 ★ MONICA $51k (cum. $84k) 93 screens |
 ARE YOU THERE GOD... |
 THE EIGHT MOUNTAINS |
|
7 ★ ARE YOU THERE GOD? IT'S ME, MARGARET? $1.3 (cum. $18.6) 1668 screens |
7 ★🔺 THE EIGHT MOUNTAINS (Italy) $37k (cum. $145K) 51 screens |
|
8 HYPNOTIC $815k (cum. $4.0) 1733 screens |
8 ★ SOMEWHERE IN QUEENS $36k (cum. $1.6) 46 screens |
|
9 LOVE AGAIN $410k (cum. $5.9) 1243 screens |
9 ★🔺 THE STARLING GIRL $30k (cum. $63K) 27 screens |
|
only 9 movies in wide release. yikes |
10 🔺 L'IMMENSITA (Italy) $22K (cum. $37K) |
|
|
11 WILD LIFE [Doc] $17k (cum. $326k) 30 screens |
|
|
12 ★ CARMEN $17k (cum. $81K) 101 screens |
|
|
13 ★ JOYLAND (Pakistan) $13K (cum. $230k) 9 screens |
Meanwhile, Marvel's best reviewed film in years Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3 continues to chug along to solid weekend grosses. Don't look now, but it should become the second-highest grossing film of the year behind Mario next week. Speaking of Mario, it has made it's way up to 14th all-time domestically, where it probably will end up. Sitting at $1.23 billion globally, it might end up in the top-20 all-time worldwide.
On the limited/platform side, Paul Schrader's Master Gardener opened quietly and on limited screens. Schrader's films are never meant for box office gold. The per-screen average winner was the S&M-themed Margaret Qualley/Christopher Abbott joint Sanctuary. Despite opening on just five screens, it managed a $13k average. I wouldn't hold out any hope for mainstream eyes, but you never know.
This Friday for the holiday weekend - Summer movie season ramps up with Disney's live-action retread of The Little Mermaid, the Robert De Niro comedy About My Father, the Bert Kreisher-starring comedy The Machine, and Gerard Butler keeps giving us what we expect from him with the action film Kandahar. In limited release the gay Portugueuse musical Will-O-the-Wisp opens as does the horror thriller The Wrath of Becky.
What did you watch this weekend? I was in a 1979 mood, taking in the comedies Starting Over and La Cage aux Folles. I also had a first-time watch of TFE favorite All That Jazz. I'm going to go on a limb and say the 1979 Best Actor race might never be topped.
