SATURDAY AM UPDATE: Though the numbers aren’t as big as their opening weekends, an interesting tale continues at the weekend box office during the pandemic with New Line’s Mortal Kombat and Funimation/Aniplex’s Demon Slayer bound for a photo-finish of $6.1M each in their second weekends. Really, it’s too close to call No. 1 right now.
Mortal Kombat had the slight upper hand yesterday with $1.85M, -80%, and 8-day total of $29.7M at 3,114 locations (+41 from last weekend). The second weekend for the Simon McQuoid-directed pic will be off a steep 74%. Demon Slayer did $1.81M on its way to a second weekend drop of -71% at 1,879 venues (+281). The manga feature adaptation’s 10-day total by EOD tomorrow looks to $33.9M.
Demon Slayer ended its first week with $27.7M while Mortal Kombat grossed $27.85M in its first seven days. That said, I hear Demon Slayer beat Mortal Kombat throughout the week on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, despite the Midway video game feature reboot winning last weekend with $23.3M over the Japanese IP’s $21.1M.
While Demon Slayer was on Imax, PLFs and Dolby screens last Thursday before ceding them to Mortal Kombat last weekend, the Funimaton/Aniplex movie got those bookings back for this weekend’s run.
Warner Bros/Legendary’s Godzilla vs. Kong is in third place with a $730K Friday, -38%, and a fifth weekend of $2.5M, -41% with $90.1M by Sunday. The pic is booked at 2,573 theaters (-103).
In fourth place is Open Road’s genre pic Separation directed by William Brent Bell. The movie clocked $675K on Friday, heading toward a $1.6M opening at 1,751 theaters. Critics loathed this horror movie at 11% on Rotten Tomatoes and audiences weren’t high on it either giving it 42% overall positive on Comscore/Screen Engine’s PostTrak and a very low 27% recommend. Pic drew a nearly even audience of 51% male to 49% female with the 18-34 demo repping 61% of the ticket buyers. Diversity demos were 38% Caucasian, 28% African American, 25% Hispanic, and 9% Asian/other. I hear the movie’s best markets were in the East and South Central parts of the U.S. Dialing into that more: Los Angeles was the pic’s top DMA, followed by NYC, Dallas, San Francisco, Houston, Chicago, Phoenix, and Sacramento.
Written by Nick Amadeus and Josh Braun, Separation tells the terrifying consequences of divorce: a young girl finds solace in her artist father and her dead mother. The pic was filmed in NYC; produced by Bell, Jordan Yale Levine, Jordan Beckerman, Russ Posternak, Jesse Korman and Clay Pecorin. EPs are Seth Posternak, Russell Geyser, Jane Oster, James Masciello, Matt Sidari and Open Road’s Tom Ortenberg.
Fifth place is currently going to Disney’s Raya and the Last Dragon which earned $350K (-13%) in its 9th Friday for a weekend that’s estimated to be around $1.46M at 1,810 locations (-9), -16%, for $41.7M running total.
Universal’s R-rated Bob Odenkirk action film Nobody ranks 6th place with $360K on Friday (-29%) in weekend 6 for an expected 3-day of $1.24M, -29%, and a running total of $23.3M.
Uni also has the 10th anniversary re-release of Edgar Wright’s Scott Pilgrim vs. the World which is a Dolby Cinema cut. They’ve got this 2010 movie booked at 560 locations (155 of ’em Dolby Vision screens) which did $340K yesterday for a 3-day of $700K putting the pic’s domestic lifetime cume at $32.3M by end of Sunday. The re-release, I hear, had great grosses in Los Angeles, Orlando, Phoenix and New York. The movie originally had an A- CinemaScore, and an 82% certified fresh on Rotten Tomatoes, however, with a production cost of $60M back in the day before global P&A, and a domestic opening of $10.6M, and final domestic of $31.5M and $47.7M WW, the all-star movie which touted a cast of Michael Cera, Chris Evans, Brie Larson, Kieran Culkin, Anna Kendrick, Alison Pill, Aubrey Plaza, Jason Schwartzman, Mae Whitman, and Brandon Routh, was considered to be a big dud theatrically.
Far outside the top 10 is Focus Features’ limited release of Ben Sharrock’s Limbo in 208 theaters in 76 markets which grossed $31K on Friday, bound for a $100K 3-day for a per screen of $481. The movie, which is 93% certified fresh, follows Omar, a promising young musician. Separated from his Syrian family, he is stuck on a remote Scottish island awaiting the fate of his asylum request. The title has a 21-day theatrical window.
Searchlight isn’t reporting B.O. figures still for Oscar Best Picture winner Nomadland, but we hear the Chloe Zhao-directed movie is in 800 theaters and did about $90K yesterday for a $300K weekend taking its running total B.O. to around $3M.