It took a pair of witches and the brew of nostalgia to finally knock Spider-Man out of his six-week run at the top of the box office. And to the top of the box office it actually goes, which is the big story this weekend. But it is not the only film to break a milestone. Both Christopher Nolan and Wile E. Coyote continue to make headlines, which is not to sideline the witches, because the actresses playing them are also making some notable marks on their careers this weekend, which shows you should never give up on a film just because it fails at the box office.
King of the Crop: Practical Magic 2 Dethrones Spider-Man: Brand New Day
Practical Magic was not a success back in 1998. In fact it was one of Sandra Bullock’s biggest misfires after coming back for Speed 2 just a year earlier. With a reported budget from as low as $60 million to as high as $75 million (why and how?), the film opened to $13.1 million, grossing $46.6 million domestic and just $68 million globally. Bullock has only been front and center in five films since her Oscar-winning role in 2009’s The Blind Side (her second-highest domestic grossing film ever). Her topper, Gravity, has been part of that five-film post-Oscar run, which also includes successes The Heat, Ocean’s 8, and The Lost City. Bullock reunited with Nicole Kidman for the sequel, Practical Magic 2, and the nostalgia mining got a solid opening of $30 million, even if it wasn’t exactly what WB was hoping for.
If the estimates hold, that will Bullock’s fifth-straight opening of $30 million of higher. The Lost City opened to $30.4 million and finished with $105.3 million. WB would like to see those kind of legs. In fact, Practical Magic 2 is the seventh of her last nine films as a headliner to open with over $30 million. Before The Proposal in 2009, Bullock never had an opening over $17 million and yet saw Speed, A Time To Kill, and Miss Congeniality gross over $100 million. Practical Magic 2 would be her 10th $100+ million grosser if it can stretch.
Not to leave the great Nicole Kidman out of the mix, but Practical Magic 2 is now her top opener as a lead (or co-lead). Her previous high was $22.8 million for 2005’s The Interpreter with Sean Penn. Apart from supporting parts in comic book films — Batman Forever and the Aquaman films — and the Adam Sandler/Jennifer Aniston film Just Go With It, the Bryan Cranston/Kevin Hart film The Upside, and voice work in Happy Feet, Kidman has never had a $100 million grosser as a headliner. The Others and Cold Mountain came closest with $96.5 million and $95.6 million, respectively.
Tales of the Top 10: Spider-Man: Brand New Day and The Odyssey Set (or Are About to Set) New Records
It is official! Spider-Man: Brand New Day is now just a couple days away from becoming the all-time domestic gross leader, passing Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ $936.6 million with a now $935.1 million haul. An additional $8.4 million in its seventh weekend is nothing to sneeze at, but what if we just put all the Spider-Man films (live-action and animated) into a great big pot and see what Sony has been grossing all these years? The 11 films have grossed over $4.6 billion domestically and over $6.7 billion internationally for a total of $11.3 billion overall. None of the live-action films made less than $700 million across the globe. The two animated films have grossed over a combined billion. Brand New Day now stands at $2.452 billion alone.
Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey reached its own milestone this weekend as it became just the 18th film ever to cross $600 million domestic in its initial run. Fourth place is the lowest position The Odyssey has seen in its nine-week run. Another $7.4 million this weekend did the trick, bringing its total to $600.5 million, about $5 million where Marvel’s The Avengers was at this point. The Odyssey’s weekend was better than Avengers’ $4.42 million ninth weekend and more than $3.5 million more than Deadpool & Wolverine’s $3.81 million. The Odyssey still has more than $25 million to make up the pace of becoming the all-time R-rated domestic grosser. But a finish in the $625-630 million region feels about right. It is also now Universal’s highest-grossing film of all time. Globally it is at $1.684 billion.
Angel Studios may be trying to beat the religious and political angles normally attributed to their brand with the release of this week’s Runner, an action-comedy starring Reacher’s Alan Ritchson and Owen Wilson. The PG-13 film opened to $6.4 million. About half of their releases have opened to $5 million or higher, including both Young Washington and Solo Mio this year. Runner has already outgrossed both Animal Farm ($5.58 million) and The Brink of War ($5.04+million) from this year.
Coyote vs. Acme is on the precipice of clearing the first hurdle that fans, protestors and box office watchers have been looking for: reaching $50 million to match the reported price tag that Ketchup Entertainment paid Warner Bros. to save it from the recycle bin. After $6.2 million in its third weekend, the film now stands at $47.7 million. While certainly not Spider-Man or Odyssey money, this is still a wonderful moment for those who believed in this film, took the risk to rescue it, and then got audiences to support it. If it continues dropping at this pace we could be looking at a pretty healthy finish around the $70 million range.
Casper Kelly’s Buddy is having quite a little run for itself. Another $3.5 million in its third weekend brings the film to $21.2 million. Not only is it just a few million away from becoming the second-highest grossing domestic release in Roadside Attractions’ history, but it is also making its way up the Sundance premiere charts as well. The Invite did that quite nicely this summer with about $26 million, the best premiere to come out of Sundance since 2018’s Hereditary. Buddy is about to join it among the top 25 of all-time.
Insidious: Out of the Further crossed $60 million in its fourth weekend. It only needed $3.35 million this weekend to do it. The film is now over $155 million worldwide on just an $18 million budget. On to the seventh one! Neon released Na Hong-Jin’s alien action-thriller Hope into 1,560 theaters, and the film grossed $3.32 million over the weekend and $5 million since opening on Wednesday.
Focus tried to boost the profile of Paul Greengrass’ new film with Andrew Garfield, The Uprising, by adding “The Rise of Robin Hood.” Evidently they didn’t see the grosses of this summer’s The Death of Robin Hood or how much Ridley Scott’s version of the legend lost. Unfortunately for Greengrass, who took the Bourne series to the next level with Supremacy and Ultimatum and had success with Captain Phillips as well, The Uprising grossed just $3.2 million this weekend. The director of United 93, Bloody Sunday, News of the World, and The Lost Bus has had a very good track record with critics, with negatives only forming for The Theory of Flight (45%), Green Zone (53%), and Jason Bourne (55%). Everything else is in the 80s and 90s. Except, that is, for The Uprising, which is his second lowest score at 51%.
Elegance Bratton’s By Any Means took a dive from fourth to ninth place this weekend with $2.5 million. The Paramount pickup of the $29 million production has made just $13.4 million in 10 days and will be an afterthought by next week.
Beyond the Top 10: Fall 2 and Onslaught Fall Further
The documentary Oasis: Don’t Look Back In Anger was released by Disney this weekend in 1,225 theaters. It grossed $1.43 million. Around the globe it has grossed over $8 million. Lionsgate’s Fall 2: Deadpoint fell 74% to just $600,000 to bring its total to $4.6 million. A24’s Onslaught fell even harder (86%) to $267,000 for $3 million total. Meanwhile, the great Sundance film If I Go Will They Miss Me grossed $42,000 in just a single Los Angeles theater. It expands to over 250 theaters next week.
On The Vine: Can Resident Evil Scare Up Big Numbers?
Sony is about to break all of its Resident Evil records when Zach Cregger takes a crack at the video game franchise next week. For the kids there’s Shaun the Sheep: The Beast of Mossy Bottom. Then for the adults, Vertical releases Ethan Hawke and Russell Crowe in the gold transport adventure The Weight, which premiered at Sundance this year. See all the upcoming releases here.
Full List of Box Office Results: September 11-13
Thumbnail image by ©Warner Bros.
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