Weekend Box Office: "Blue Beetle" (temporarily) dethrones "Barbie"

by Nathaniel R

After a full month at the top of the box office charts, Barbie finally slipped to second place. But only barely as the comic juggernaut is still selling tickets robustly. In fact I went to it again with friends who hadn't seen it this weekend. The film to unseat Barbie was a new superhero picture Blue Beetle, but given the character's low profile in the DC universe of caped crusaders, it's unlikely he'll hold #1 status next weekend...

Weekend Box Office Aug 18-20 🔺 = new or expanding /  ★ = Recommended
WIDE (Over 600 Screens)	LIMITED / PLATFORM
BLUE BEETLE	PASSAGES
1 🔺 BLUE BEETLE $25 *NEW* 3871 screens	1 🔺★ OLDBOY (South Korea, action) $493k *RERELEASE* 250 screens
2  ★ BARBIE $21 (cum. $566.8) 4003 screens	2 ★ THEATER CAMP (US, comedy) $135k (cum. $3.4) 130 screens
3 ★ OPPENHEIMER  $10.7 (cum. $285.3) 3321 screens	3 🔺★ THE MIRACLE CLUB  (Ireland/UK, drama)  $96k (cum. $1.9) 163 screens
4 TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES MUTANT MAYHEM $8.5 (cum. $88.2) 3,477 screens	4 🔺 LANDSCAPE WITH INVISIBLE HAND $96k *NEW* 304 screens
5 🔺 STRAYS $8.2 *NEW* 3,223 screens	5 ★ PASSAGES (France/Germany, drama) $76k (cum. $311k) 114 screens
6 MEG 2 THE TRENCH $6.7 (cum. $66.5) 3,402 screens	6  CATVIDEOFEST23 $58k (cum. $316k) 26 screens
7 TALK TO ME $3.1 (cum. $37.3) 1,789 screens	7 ★ 🔺 BIRTH/REBIRTH (US, Horror) $45k *NEW* 137 screens
LAST VOYAGE OF THE DEMETER	LAKOTA NATION VS UNITED STATES
8 DISNEY'S HAUNTED MANSION $3 (cum. $58.8) 2,180 screens	8 🔺 THE MOON (South Korea, sci-fi)   $41k *NEW*  34 screens
9 MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE -DEAD RECKONING PART ONE $2.7 (cum. $164.6) 1,608 screens	9 🔺 DAY BY DAY (Sweden, dramedy) $23K (cum. $72k) 18 screens
10 SOUND OF FREEDOM  $2.6 (cum. $177.7) 2,152 screens	10 THE FIRST SLAM DUNK (Japan, anime) $20k (cum. $1.2) 14 screens
11 THE LAST VOYAGE OF THE DEMETER $2.5 (cum. $11.3) 2,715 screens	11 SHORTCOMINGS (US, comedy) $16k (cum. $635k) 24 screens
12 JULES  $230k (cum. $1.5) 645 screens	12  ★ LAKOTA NATION VS UNITED STATES (US, doc) $10k (cum. $66k) 13 screens
only 12 movies in wide release	13 AFIRE (Germany, dramedy, Oscar submission possibility) $8k (cum. $190k) 20 screens

What did you see?
I caught Barbie again (as noted up top) but also went to a indie trans drama called Mutt which just started its theatrical release but it did not report any box office. For what it's worth my screening in NYC was well attended (in the afternoon no less). But box office reporting is often spotty when it comes to arthouses and indies these days. Mutt was quite good with interesting characters and particularly beautiful cinematography from a new DP Matthew Pothier --- we should expect to hear his name a lot soon. He previously worked on short films and in the camera department on one feature. 

Next weekend.
Next weekend sees the release of the Neill Blomkamp directed racing drama Gran Turism, the biopic Golda (starring Helen Mirren), the rauncy high school comedy Bottoms (starring Rachel Sennoot and Ayo Edebiri) which comes from the director of last year's hilarious indie Shiva Baby, the baseball drama The Hill (starring Colin Ford and Dennis Quaid), and the umpteenth Liam-Neeson-gets-violent movie Retribution (seriously how many of those are there now?). Two previous festival films, the well reviewed black and white drama Fremont and the Harris Dickinson led father-daughter drama Scrapper also arrive.

Comments

[Kelly Garrett]

Caught up with quite a bit from earlier in the year, and a couple new releases. My three favorites -

The Blue Caftan -- loved the deliberate pacing, the sexual tension, and the unexpected plot turns. Movie of the week.

Tetris -- even if it loses all logic in the end, it's gripping throughout. Argo-vibes.

Madeleine Collins -- another winner featuring Virginie Efira. I thought about it for a long time and decided that this one does not lose its logic despite how, when, and what it reveals.

[Mr Ripley79]

I saw 2 robust thrillers and some low budget horror

Heat Pacino and De Niro's classy but overrated 90's action thriller,Kilmer has nothing to do and the women are reduced to nagging lines.

To Live and Die in La.excellent thriller watched as a there was a gap in my Friedkin filmography,contains a shocking late act twist.

C.H.U.D. Schlocky 80's horror starring John Heard and Daniel Stern

The Elephant Man Lynch's b/w true story with Oscar nominated John Hurt,good score.

Tomb of Ligea Usual Vincent Price 60's horror,great atmosphere.

Sometimes They Come Back Stephen King adaptation,too much like the superior The Dark Half.

Phantoms Alien 90's style Ben Affleck Peter O'Toole Rose McGowan sci-fi horror.

[Philip H.]

Saw Talk to Me ... It didn't work. My boyf and best friend looked at each other after it was over silently like "...Um..yeah." The plot was hard to follow, and the characters were very unlikeable.

Now that A24 is making more than just a couple movies here and there, I guess we're due for a few duds from time to time. Although I get the sense that this was already produced, they just saw its potential and picked it up for distribution.

I really need to see Theater Camp. I love Ayo Edebiri. Her star is rising FAST. That's what we should've seen instead lol. My other friend told me it was HILARIOUS, and I was a theatre kid growing up, so I know it would resonate.

[thevoid99]

My Blind Spot for this month in Kiki's Delivery Service. It was awesome!

[George P.]

Watched THEATER CAMP which was so good. Hilarious, quick-paced, with a solid cast up for anything. Plus, please let “Camp Isn’t Home” be an Oscar nominee for the Best Original Song!

[McGill]

Every time I go to the movies now, it seems I think of the strike.

I saw 2 of the standard staple summer fare: the big spectacle; and the reasonably budgeted, relatively undemanding idiosyncratic story.

1) “Meg2: The Trench” with Jason Statham. I’d missed Jason Statham.

It made me think visual effects artists need to be paid more. Their skill is the only reason this movie exists.

Every line of dialogue in this movie is a cliche, and I thought, oh this is what an AI script sounds like. The most used (threadbare) lines from a grab bag of hackneyed cliches. It diminishes everyone’s work to assume a spectacle doesn’t need good writing. Hire good writers and pay them well.

2) “Jules” with Ben Kingsley, Harriet Sansom Harris, and Jane Curtin.

This one had a specific story by an idiosyncratic writer. You get some of the writer’s flaws along with the individuality. It’s not perfect, but it’s engaging.

It’s main charm of course is due to the experienced and skillful cast. I’d rather watch Harriet Sansom Harris than many actors paid 10 times as much. But if young actors can’t make a living at their profession and are never fairly compensated, they don’t have the opportunity to grow into wonderful actresses like Harris.

And where does that leave us, the audience? Who are we going to be watching then?

[Angelo]

I saw Passages and thought it was excellent.

[Glenn Dunks]

Love seeing that TALK TO ME number. Word of mouth really has done its job. An Australian horror movie from first-time directors with no stars is going to make at least four times its opening weekend in summer (and ten times its budget at least).

Also, between CORALINE's two-day mid-week rerelease and OLDBOY here, those are some good numbers of older movies. It's almost as if people want to see stuff they like.