Sony/Screen Gems/Blumhouse’s “Insidious: The Red Door” has beaten “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny” for No. 1 at the box office this weekend with a $32.6 million opening from 3,188 theaters, the best for Leigh Whannell’s long-running horror series.
Prior to release, the fifth “Insidious” film was projected for an opening weekend in the low-to-mid $20 million range against its $16 million production budget. It has not only beaten those projections but has also just topped the $30.4 million January opening of fellow Blumhouse production “M3GAN” as it has become the horror studio’s second No. 1 film this year.
The bad news for “The Red Door” is that it hasn’t been received as well as “M3GAN,” receiving a C+ on CinemaScore to go with Rotten Tomatoes scores of 37% critics and 71% audience. Between this and the loaded July release slate coming up, signs point to a more frontloaded box office trajectory for “Insidious 5,” though Blumhouse’s thrifty budget strategy has already ensured a profitable theatrical run.
Also opening this weekend is Lionsgate’s “Joy Ride,” the directorial debut of “Crazy Rich Asians” writer Adele Lim. The film was projected for a $7-9 million opening but is opening below that with $5.8 million from 2,820 theaters. While critics praised the film with a 91% Rotten Tomatoes score, audience metrics are slightly less positive with a B- on CinemaScore, 79% positive rating on PostTrak and 85% audience RT score.
Elsewhere in the top 5, “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny” fell 56% from its $60 million opening weekend for $26.5 million. The Disney/Lucasfilm production still has yet to make back its production budget of around $300 million with a 10-day box office total of $121.2 million domestic and $247.9 million worldwide.
In third is Angel Studios’ indie action film “Sound of Freedom,” which opened on July 4 and is adding $17 million this weekend for a six-day total of just under $40 million. The crowdfunded film starring Jim Caviziel is taking advantage of strong word-of-mouth from conservative audiences and media as well as the devoted fanbase Angel Studios has cultivated through its hit Christian show “The Chosen,” earning an A+ on CinemaScore from that core audience group.
In fourth is Disney/Pixar’s “Elemental” with $9.6 million in its fourth weekend. With totals of $109.2 million domestically and $251 million worldwide. While that’s still not enough to turn a profit against its reported $200 million budget, “Elemental” has passed the global box office run of last year’s Pixar flop “Lightyear,” thanks in part to strong legs in several key markets like South Korea, where the film has grossed $25.8 million and is enjoying its highest total this weekend since its release.
“Elemental” is also the first original film this year and the first original animated film since fellow Pixar title “Coco” in 2017 to gross over $100 million in North America. On top of that, it has passed the $105 million domestic total of Warner Bros.’ bomb “The Flash,” which opened on the same weekend as “Elemental” and has crashed out of the top 10 on this weekend’s charts.
Sony’s “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” completes the top 5 with $8 million in its sixth weekend. With a domestic total of $357 million, the animated Marvel movie has now passed “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3” to become the highest-grossing domestic release so far this summer.
Finally, Universal’s “Fast X” has crossed $700 million worldwide after eight weekends in theaters. The tenth installment in the main “Fast & Furious” series will finish slightly below the $726 million global total of its predecessor “F9,” but carried a much larger production budget at $340 million.
