Sony/Columbia’s “Bullet Train” kicked off the traditionally slow August box office with a $30.1 million opening weekend from 4,375 theaters. While that is the second-highest opening for an R-rated movie this year, it now faces a long road to turn a profit against its reported $90 million production budget before marketing costs.
While critics reviews have been mixed, audience reception has been more positive with a 78% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes and a 63% recommend rating on Comscore/Screen Engine’s PostTrak. Sony anticipates that the film will gain buzz among adults, particularly Gen X men, as a “Deadpool”-esque gory action comedy and leg out with no direct competition coming up this month.
“Bullet Train” is also getting some support from overseas markets, making $32.4 million from 57 territories for a global opening of $62.5 million. The film is tracking similarly to the 2015 R-rated action film “Kingsman: The Secret Service,” which grossed $128 million domestic and $414 million worldwide against an $81 million budget.
Also opening this weekend was Universal/DreamWorks’ “Easter Sunday,” a comedy starring Jo Koy that took in $5.25 million from 3,175 theaters, meeting projections for a $5-7 million opening. Audience metrics for the film have been slightly lower with a 70% Rotten Tomatoes score and 49% recommend rating on PostTrak, with 54% of the audience being female. “Easter Sunday” has a lower bar to clear for profitability with a $17 million production budget.
Elsewhere on the charts, Warner Bros.’ “DC League of Super-Pets” has taken a 51% drop from its $23 million opening weekend, grossing $11.2 million in its second frame. With a 10-day domestic total of $45.1 million, “Super-Pets” is keeping pace with the April animated release “The Bad Guys,” though this $90 million production still has yet to turn a profit with a global total of $83.4 million.
In third is Universal’s “Nope” with $8.5 million in its third weekend, putting it on course to cross $100 million domestic early this week. Marvel’s “Thor: Love and Thunder” added $7.6 million in its fifth weekend and will cross $700 million worldwide on Monday with $316 million grossed in North America. Universal/Illumination’s “Minions: The Rise of Gru” completes the top 5 with $7.1 million in its sixth weekend, putting it past $750 million worldwide with $334.5 million domestic.
In limited release, A24 released the slasher film “Bodies Bodies Bodies” on six screens in New York and Los Angeles, grossing $226,526 for a strong per theater average of $37,754. That’s a higher figure than A24’s last six-screen limited release, “Marcel the Shell With Shoes On,” which recorded a $26,567 average. Starring Pete Davidson, Amandla Stenberg and Maria Bakalova, the film will expand nationwide to 1,200 theaters next weekend.
Finally, Paramount’s “Top Gun: Maverick” fell out of the top 5 after holding on for ten weekends, just being edged out of the No. 5 spot with $7 million grossed. But that’s still enough to pass the lifetime domestic total of James Cameron’s “Titanic” and take the No. 7 spot on the all-time domestic charts while raising its global total to $1.35 billion.