For the first time in over a month, this weekend saw no major studios releasing a new title into the marketplace. Thankfully, this is no ominous harbinger of studios abandoning theaters. Instead, this was just a sign of one quiet frame before a weekly barrage of big movies between now and September. On this slower frame, Thunderbolts* proved its mettle in word of mouth. The film fall only 55% to gross another $33.1 million this frame. Pre-2021, only a handful of July MCU movies (which burnt off weekend demand since kids and families could see them during the week) had second declines over 59%.
Since the MCU’s Phase Four offerings, though, 60+% declines have become the norm. Heck, titles like Captain America: Brave New Word and Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania plummeted nearly 70% in their respective frames. Needless to say, a 55% drop is a welcome sign for Thunderbolts* and how audiences are responding to it. Holding on par with Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 and Thor: Ragnarok meansThunderbolts* has now grossed an okay $128.4 million domestically. If it can withstand a very competitive Memorial Day weekend, it should just get past $200+ million. That’s not the kind of massive lifetime domestic haul most first weekend of May MCU movies accomplish, but it’s not too shabby for a feature headlined by obscure anti-heroes. Plus, beating our Captain America: Brave New World’s domestic haul looks assured now, which sounded impossible a year ago.
In second place for the second consecutive weekend was Sinners, which grossed another $21.1 million, just a 36% dip from last weekend. This pop culture phenomenon cannot will not stop being one of the most impressive domestic box office performers of the last two decades. After 24 days of release, Sinners has reached $214.4 million domestically. A $285+ million domestic finish appears to be in the cards.
A Minecraft Movie dipped 42% this frame and grossed another $7.95 million for a $408.98 million total. Next up was The Accountant 2 , which recovered a bit from a heavy second-weekend decline with a 35% drop this frame and a third weekend gross of $6.09 million. Having grossed $50.89 million to date domestically, it won’t get near the first Accountant’s $86 million domestic finish. However, Accountant 2’s likely final haul just below or above $65 million isn’t too bad for a sequel to a nine-year-old movie.
Clown in a Cornfield, a film from IFC sister studio RLJ Entertainment, opened in 2,277 locations this weekend and grossed a solid $3.6 million. Opening 30% ahead of IFC’s Late Night with the Devil from last March is a fine result, especially for a title that apparently cost under $1 million to make. As IFC is rebranding itself to do more wide release movies regularly, Clown is a decent sign that this label might just make a dent in the box office landscape.
Next up was a weird phenomenon of three movies all claiming to have grossed around $2 million. The highest of this trio right now in the box office estimates is Shadow Force, a Joe Carnahan directorial effort that totally looked like a fake movie in all its advertising. This feature only grossed $2.01 million on opening weekend, adding another bomb to the last 12-ish months of Lionsgate’s existence. That debut is lower than the $2.3 million bow of Carnahan’s Copshop from September 2021. Yikes for days
Vertical Entertainment had major hopes for Josh Hartnett’s Fight or Flight that never came to fruition. This zany action film was an extremely frontloaded feature grossing roughly half of its $2.001 million opening from its opening day alone. That doesn’t bode well for long-term legs. Flight had the second best domestic bow ever for Vertical, behind The Exorcism’s $2.4 million bow last summer.
Until Dawn fell 47% this weekend and grossed $2 million for a domestic total of $18 million. Final Destination: Bloodlines will wipe this one out next weekend and it should've performer better domestically. However, its North American legs have been solid (it'll probably even just get past $20 million domestically) and it's reached $20+ million overseas. On a $15 million budget, that’s manageable. The Amateur is still kicking in 1,200 theaters in its fifth weekend and grossed another $1.1 million this frame (for a $38.95 million domestic total). Rounding out the top ten was The King of Kings. This faith-based animated film is winding down its solid domestic run (this’ll probably be its final weekend in wide release) with another 60% plunge. Grossing an additional $680,656, it’s now taken in $59.07 million domestically.
Friendship got off to an amazing $451,904 start at just six locations this weekend for a $75,317 per theater average, easily the best per theater average of the year so far. Now, admittedly, tons of movies get off to these kinds of massive starts and then crumble in wider release. Fellow springtime A24 title Beau is Afraid, for instance, opened to an $80,099 per theater average but never had a $3,000+ weekend per theater average again once it immediately expanded into wide release. However, Friendship does look poised to potentially be a nice moneymaker, especially since it's going wide over the Memorial Day weekend frame. Keep an eye out for this one, which just had the first gangbusters limited release for bow for a narrative 2025 film.
The Surfer fell off a cliff this weekend, collapsing 80% to gross another $135,765 for a $1.15 million domestic total. Secret Mall Apartment, meanwhile, in its eighth weekend of release, grabbed $66,890 (a 124% increase from last weekend) from 66 locations (a 27 increase from its theater count last frame) for a terrific $579,431 domestic total.
Briarcliff Entertainment’s distribution forays have been embarrassing before but Jesus, Juliet & Romeo sank to insane lows even by this studio’s meager standards. The feature only grossed $350,000 at 1,350 locations for a pet theater average of $259. Dismal numbers no matter how you slice it. Caught By The Tides opened to $33,800 from two theaters for a $16,900 per theater average. Director Jia Zhangke’s biggest movie ever domestically is Ash is Purest White’s $414,578 domestic total. We’ll see if Tides can beat it.
The top ten movies this weekend grossed only $88 million. While the second weekend of May is often the slowest out of any May frame, it's also usually much bigger than this frame. May 9-11, 2014, for instance, scored $123.84 million thanks to Neighbors overperforming with a great $51 million bow. May 13-15, 2011, meanwhile, grossed $126.8 million thanks to Bridesmaids having a strong bow and Thor holding on exceptionally well. May 11-13, 2018, meanwhile, grossed $126.69 million. though admittedly that one got a boost from Avengers: Infinity War still grossing $62.07 million in its third weekend of release.
The theatrical marketplace is all about the motion pictures playing in theaters. You need constant weekly doses of major new stuff in all kinds of genres to keep the box office rocking and rolling. Thunderbolts*, Sinners, and A Minecraft Movie held great this frame, but they needed to be accompanied by this weekend’s equivalent to Neighbors, Bridesmaids, or even 2018’s Breaking In. This was (exempting 2020 and 2021) the lowest grossing second weekend of May since May 12-14, 2006 when Mission: Impossible III led the marketplace again.
In one note of fairness to this frame, though, this $88 million gross was roughly on par with the second weekends of May in 2022 and 2023. To boot, the last five weekends have been so mammoth for theaters a little bump like this is manageable, especially since Lilo & Stitch and the next Mission: Impossible are tracking to deliver a gargantuan Memorial Day weekend frame. Still, imagine if Sony/Columbia Pictures had acquired one of the many independent star-studded comedies out there that’s seeking distribution (like Let’s Have Kids!) and dropped it over this frame. That could’ve filled a void of comedy films in the marketplace and really kept the last five weeks of box office momentum flowing.
Any weekend can house a hit, studios just need to put the movies out there. Thunder Force and Juliet & Romeo are not enough to move the needle and get people racing to their local multiplex.