As a longtime cinephile and movie industry observer, I find myself both captivated and perplexed by the ongoing saga of “Sing Sing.” A24, a studio known for its knack for discovering and nurturing unique, critically acclaimed films, seems to be struggling with this peculiar release strategy. It’s like watching a talented chef cook a masterpiece in an oven with no temperature control.
This past weekend marked the vigorous start of the Fall box office season, much like many Septembers in recent years. As usual, a Warner Bros. horror film launched the weekend following Labor Day, making it a popular timeframe for movies fitting for Halloween. This year, the tradition was maintained spectacularly with the impressive opening of ‘Beetlejuice Beetlejuice’. Tim Burton’s newest creation not only achieved the second-highest September domestic opening weekend on record but also became one of the rare September films to amass over $100 million in its initial three days.
As a gaming enthusiast, I can’t help but feel exhilarated about the phenomenal success of “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” during its first three days in cinemas. Raking in an impressive $110 million, it’s only behind the first installment of ‘It’ ($123 million) in terms of September North American debuts, and it’s already 49% ahead of the original film’s domestic earnings! This makes it the second-best opening for the legendary director Tim Burton, trailing only behind “Alice in Wonderland.
As a dedicated fan, I can’t help but draw parallels between the highly anticipated “Beetlejuice: sequel” and the legendary “Top Gun: Maverick.” Just like “Top Gun,” “Beetlejuice” followed an iconic 1980s movie that hadn’t been overrun by a slew of sequels. The recent remake of “The Crow” found itself in the shadows of numerous direct-to-video sequels and a UPN TV show, but the return of the “Beetlejuice” franchise to the big screen was a breath of fresh air. Adding to the excitement was the blend of a “Beetlejuice” sequel with the eerie, Halloween-inspired atmosphere of September, not to mention Jenna Ortega’s passionate fanbase. This film seems poised to hold strong in the coming weeks (given that there are no other PG-13 Halloween-themed blockbusters on the immediate horizon). With a domestic total of at least $275 million looking guaranteed and a North American gross of over $300 million appearing quite probable, it’s safe to say that “Beetlejuice” is set for a triumphant return!
Fun fact by the way: Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is already the ninth-biggest live-action movie Willem Dafoe has ever appeared in. This Tim Burton legacy sequel looks guaranteed to surpass Platoon to become Dafoe’s biggest live-action movie ever that doesn’t belong to either the Marvel or DC universes.
This weekend, the movie “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” dominated the box office, causing a larger drop in weekend-to-weekend earnings for holdover films compared to late August. After relinquishing the top spot at the domestic box office, “Deadpool & Wolverine” earned an additional $7.2 million, bringing its total domestic gross to a staggering $614 million. Among the top ten movies, “Reagan” had the smallest decline, dropping by 32% for another $5.2 million. With a current total of $18.5 million after ten days, it’s looking promising that this project could surpass $30 million domestically. Meanwhile, “Alien: Romulus” continues to scare up audiences, earning an additional $3.9 million and bringing its domestic total to $97.1 million. The $100+ million mark is within reach.
Among my favorites that made it to the top five this week was “It Ends With Us,” which raked in an impressive $3.7 million, marking a 47% drop from its previous frame. To date, this heart-wrenching tale has amassed a staggering $141.3 million domestically. Interestingly, “The Forge” showed one of the smallest declines among the top ten films this week, slipping by just 36% to earn another $2.9 million. As of now, its total domestic collection stands at $20.7 million, trailing slightly behind “Overcomer,” which had accumulated a similar amount after 17 days.
Over the weekend, Twisters experienced a 71% collapse (the loss of their 4DX screens is as damaging as any storm). However, this doesn’t seem to be slowing down its success at all. It has earned an astounding $264.6 million domestically, adding another $2.2 million to its earnings this weekend. Blink Twice surpassed the $20 million mark domestically (earning a total of $20.2 million), and brought in an additional $2.1 million this weekend, representing a 56% decline from the previous frame. Despicable Me 4 claimed ninth place, earning an extra $1.8 million, bringing its domestic total to $357.8 million.
Approximately ten years ago, for the very first time, A24 studio debuted a movie simultaneously in numerous cinemas. Instead of premiering a film in three or four cinemas initially and then expanding it to 600+ locations later, A24 released the film “Tusk” in 602 theaters (it earned $846,831 on its opening day). Since then, A24 has made it a regular practice to launch movies instantly into wide release. In this current year alone, A24 has introduced three films straight into wide release. One of these recent releases is the horror film “The Front Room”, which features Brandy as the lead actress. This weekend, “The Front Room” earned $1.63 million, a disappointing start for a movie opening in 2095 theaters. In fact, it’s one of A24’s weakest wide-release debuts to date. For perspective, “The Front Room” opened only $400,000 more than “Zola”, despite the latter film generating demand by premiering on a Wednesday, opening in 700 theaters, and being one of A24’s first films released theatrically after COVID-19 closed cinemas.
The Front Room, being a low-budget production, was expected to minimize losses for A24. This film distribution company, known for arthouse films, is gradually evolving into a mainstream movie studio. Consequently, it’s likely that some of its wide releases may underperform at the box office. Despite The Front Room‘s poor performance, A24 is expected to continue its operations unabated. Interestingly, even though The Front Room didn’t set a new record for the worst A24 wide-release opening, that dubious honor still belongs to Tusk, which earned just $846,831 in its debut ten years ago. It seems this poor box office performance is now a part of A24’s history.
Over the weekend, the movie “Trap” experienced a significant increase of 72%, likely due to its pairing with “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” at drive-in cinemas. It earned an additional $1.34 million, bringing its domestic total to $41.6 million. It’s on the verge of surpassing the domestic earnings of “Lady in the Water,” which was released 18 years ago, by just $600,000. On the other hand, the film “Afraid” saw a sharp decline of 71%, earning only $1.07 million this weekend. Its total domestic earnings now stand at a modest $6.2 million after ten days. The movie from 1992 didn’t fare much better with a 68% drop, earning $450,000 domestically. To date, it has grossed a mere $2.5 million. “The Crow” lost 2,456 theaters in its third weekend, marking one of the largest theater drops in history for a movie not simultaneously released on streaming platforms. After losing most of its theaters, “The Crow” suffered a catastrophic 93% decline this weekend, earning only $127,000 and bringing its domestic total to a disappointing $9.2 million.
In its third week in theaters, “Between the Temples” contributed $1.81 million to its domestic total, bringing it up to $1,816,619. On the other hand, “Sing Sing” saw a 51% drop this weekend, earning an additional $105,672. Playing at 92 cinemas, it managed $1,149 per venue, marking its ninth straight week of averaging over $1,000 per theater. Let’s discuss this film for a moment. With a domestic gross of $2.56 million, “Sing Sing” is the fifth-highest-grossing movie of 2024 domestically that never reached a wide release. It’s also the biggest movie of 2024 to have never played in more than 200 theaters. Despite this, a $2.56 million domestic gross after nine weeks and significant hype still doesn’t equate to an impressive box office performance. A24 is set to introduce several new buzzworthy dramas into the market soon (“A Different Man”, “We Live in Time”, “The Brutalist”, “Queer”). Given their upcoming releases, it will be challenging for them to continue focusing on “Sing Sing”. In fact, this studio has already reduced the number of its theaters by 50% this week.
The unusual approach taken by the film “Sing Sing” in its release, characterized by abandoning the scheduled widespread expansion on August 2nd, has been both intriguing and exasperating to observe. This is undeniably one of the year’s finest films, and it’s evident that viewers appreciate it once they finally get a chance to watch it. However, the financial success of “Sing Sing” could be significantly higher if A24 could devise a more consistent release strategy. Without a clear plan in place, the excitement surrounding “Sing Sing” can’t build, making it difficult to draw audiences to the theater.
This past weekend, the cinemas known as Red Rooms debuted in Utopia, bringing in a modest $40,295 across 50 venues, with an average of $806 per theater. In contrast, the re-release of Shaun of the Dead at the Dolby Theatre saw a significant drop of 95%, earning another $31,000 this weekend, bringing its domestic total to a robust $14.3 million.
Over the weekend, the ten highest-grossing films collectively made approximately $139 million. The majority of this total was generated by the record-breaking debut of “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice.” This places it as the second biggest domestic September weekend in history, only surpassed by the $154.7 million earned during the September 2017 weekend when the first “It” dominated the box office. This is particularly encouraging news considering the poor performance of the domestic box office in September 2021 and 2022. In fact, this three-day weekend’s earnings have already surpassed 42% of the dismal $323.1 million earned during the entire month of September 2022.
In the upcoming September 2024, a significant lineup of blockbusters, including animated family films like “Transformers One” and “The Wild Robot,” are set to debut. Could these releases surpass the $698.5 million earned in September 2017 and become the highest-grossing September domestically? Given that September 2017 had five weekends, while September 2024 only has four, it’s a bit of a long shot. However, other new releases such as “Speak No Evil,” “Megalopolis,” and “The Killer’s Game” don’t seem poised for breakout success. Nevertheless, the strong start to September 2024 is maintaining the box office momentum from the past three months. Here’s hoping this box office heatwave persists throughout autumn for the benefit of movie theater owners and staff everywhere.
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2024-09-09 17:15