Box Office: "Eternals" opens big, "Spencer" doesn't pack them in.

What did you see this past week/weekend? The public came out in droves for Marvel's disappointing Eternals because the public always comes out for Marvel's Anything. In more surprising news Wes Anderson's The French Dispatch held strong as it added theaters and continues to overperform while Spencer, despite a lot of Oscar buzz for Kristen Stewart, slightly underperformed. Of course you could also argue that it overperformed given the dire market these days for non-franchise* adult-oriented pictures.

Weekend Box Office November 5th-7th 🔺 = new or expanding
1-5	6-10
ETERNALS	FRENCH DISPATCH
1 ETERNALS 🔺  $71 Nathaniel's Review	6 THE FRENCH DISPATCH 🔺$2.6 (cum. $8.4) Elisa's Review
2  DUNE  $7.6 (cum. $83.9)  Elisa's Review	7 HALLOWEEN KILLS $2.3 (cum. $89.7) Elisa's Review
3 NO TIME TO DIE  $6.1 (cum. $143.1) Deborah's Review	8 SPENCER 🔺$2.1 Nathaniel's Review
4 VENOM LET THERE BE CARNAGE  $4.4 (cum. $197)	9 ANTLERS $2 (cum. $7.6)
5 RON'S GONE WRONG $3.6 (cum. $17.5)	10 LAST NIGHT IN SOHO $1.8 (cum. $7.6) Nathaniel's Review

* Director Pablo Larraín's lonely globally famous woman trilogy -- Jackie, Spencer, ?  -- doesn't count as a franchise ;)

Next weekend: a director's cut of Rocky IV and the family film Clifford the Big Red Dog are new in theaters, meanwhile the excellent Passing is in select theaters and hitting Netflix.

"Dune Part Two" will open October 20th, 2023

by Nathaniel R

Dune Part One landed big at the box office this past weekend with a $41 million bow, a solid gross even in pre-pandemic times for a non-sequel (with the caveat that it's still a very familiar IP). That plus the overseas gross was apparently strong enough to get a greenlight on Dune Part Two quickly though it still feels insane that they poured money into the first half without a deal on the second. Good luck coordinating everyone's schedules; The cast is hardly B list and now they'll be even more in demand though we're betting they all had Part Two firmly in their contracts even without a start date so perhaps they'll be locked into whatever dates the production decides and other movies or tv shows will have to make do without them or wait until they're free of the desert again. Beginning in 2022 Warner Brothers films will no longer be immediately streaming on HBOMax as they have been all this year so, barring another pandemic, expect Dune Part Two to have a significantly bigger opening weekend in October of 2023.

Let the speculation begin: Will the Academy stump for Dune this season or wait until 2023 and, if it sticks the landing, shower it with statues a la Return of the King twenty years earlier. 

Box Office: 007 Money and 2021's Highest Grossers

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)...

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What did you see this week?

Been back to the movie theaters yet? We've been going regularly again (huzzah!) but this week we skipped the new releases and took in a special one-night screening of The Graduate (1967) for the Movies with MZS at IFC Center. Next month he's showing Body Heat (1981) which is so perfect (you know we're fans) so if you're in NYC and you've never seen it now is your chance to see Kathleen Turner's jaw-dropping debut on the big screen.

Anyway. Here is the chart. What did you see this past week/weekend?

Weekend Box Office July 16th-18th 🔺 = new or expanding / ★ = recommended
WIDE RELEASE	PLATFORM TITLES
Black Widow	Pig

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The box office is open again. What did you see this week?

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

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