411 Box Office Report: Jason Statham Leads the Way With Wrath of Man

The box office is continuing to try and rebound against the pandemic, and this week saw Jason Statham’s Wrath of Man lead the way. The Guy Ritchie-directed action flick took the #1 spot this weekend with $8.1 million. That’s a fairly good start for a mid-budget action thriller, and in fact is not far off from what Ritchie’s pre-pandemic film The Gentlemen opened with ($10.7 million) in January of 2020. It also tops the last action film of this caliber that Statham toplined in 2016’s The Mechanic: Resurrection which grossed $7.5 million in its first weekend.

Of course, like any film during the pandemic there are a ton of asterisks to be mentioned. Wrath of Man is opening on a weekend that would be the traditional start of the summer movie season (Black Widow was supposed to open on May 1st of last year), but did so in a fairly empty window of competition. We are still in the midst of the pandemic so we still have a host of people not going to theaters as well. But either way, Wrath of Man is doing remarkably well based on pre-weekend predictions of anywhere from $4 million to $7 million from most analysts.

We can chalk that up to the above factors, and perhaps point out that adult male action-oriented films like The Marksman and Nobody have been peforming pretty well over the last five months. It also doesn’t hurt that this film has been getting decent reviews at a 66% aggregate score on Rotten Tomatoes. More importantly, it’s a crowd pleasure. The CinemaScore for Wrath of Man is a great A-, suggesting very good word of mouth. Add in $17.5 million overseas and the film already has $25.6 million worldwide thus far. It’s hard to predict how this film will do in terms of legs, especially as bigger films start to make their way into cineplexes, but whatever it does United Artists has to be happy about this performance.

Coming in at #2 was Funimation’s Demon Slayer The Movie: Mugen Train in its third weekend. The anime feature film nailed down $3.1 million, down 53% from the previous weekend. Funimation’s film has been performing stellarly in the US after already roping in major bank overseas. As of now it has $39.6 million domestically and $474.6 million worldwide, with most of its grosses ($368.7 million) coming from Japan. Obviously, that’s a blockbuster success. The film is Funimation’s highest-grossing US theatrical release to date, topping the $30.4 million of 2019’s Dragon Ball Super: Broly. No word on this film’s budget, but no matter what it is this is a major hit for the studio.

Mortal Kombat came in at #3 with $2.4 million in its third weekend, down 62% from last weekend’s tally. The Warner Bros. release got off to a strong start but has quickly sunk, with its totals standing at $37.8 million domestically and $72.5 million worldwide so far against a $55 million budget. Like Godzilla vs. Kong, even the lessened gross is a success due to its day-and-date release on HBO Max, where Mortal Kombat got off to the hottest start the service has seen with 3.8 million views in its first weekend back in April. Even with its heavy falls, this film looks to be a profit and we’re quite possibly set to see another film in the franchise come.

Speaking of Godzilla vs. Kong, it took in $1.9 million in its sixth weekend. That’s off 32% from the previous weekend’s take and puts the MonsterVerse film at $93 million domestically and $422.6 million worldwide. As of now, Godzilla vs. Kong is the top-grossing film of the year and it has legitimately topped the $383.3 million worldwide total of Godzilla: King of the Monsters by a wide margin. Godzilla vs. Kong should be able to gross $100 million domestically by the end of its run, the first film to do so since Sonic The Hedgehog. Legendary and Warner Bros. are very pleased with how the movie has delivered.

Raya and the Last Dragon was up 35% in its tenth weekend, adding $1.9 million to its coffers. The Disney animated film expanded into an additional 505 theaters this weekend, which was responsible for its boost. While it started off somewhat light, the animated film has had very good theatrical legs and is now at $43.8 million domestically and $105.7 million worldwide, in addition to whatever it has brought in via Disney+ Premier Access. Its box office run should end at around the $50 million range, and will be able to be counted as a profit when Disney counts all its revenue streams against its $100 million production budget.

William Brent Bell’s latest horror film Separation clocked in at $1.1 million in its second week, down 40% from a $1.8 million opening last weekend. The film about a young girl finding solace in the ghost of her mother has totaled $3.4 million to date despite blistering reviews (8% on RT) and no real buzz. Even with pandemic rules in play, the movie doesn’t seem likely to get much higher than $6 million or so. Whether that is a profit for Open Road films depends on the movie’s budget, which has not been revealed.

The Billy Crystal/Tiffany Haddish dramedy Here Today opened sluggishly, bringing in just $900,000 in its opening weekend. That’s a muted start for this movie, which has largely flown under the radar and had not garnered the critical buzz it likely would have needed to stand out. Comedy-dramas are difficult to gain traction with in even the best of times, and a 48% score on RT wasn’t enough to pull in the older target demographic here. Here Today did have a chance for greater numbers, as there are no other comedies at the box office, but Sony never seemed to have much faith in it as they didn’t spend too much to market it. The film is likely to quickly slip out of theaters and the top 10, with $5 million almost certainly out of reach unless if finds some unexpected legs.

Nobody slipped two spots to #8 in its seventh weekend, down 41% to $760,000. The Bob Odenkirk-starring action thriller is up to $25.6 million domestically $43.9 million worldwide, both very good numbers for a modestly-budgeted film that cost just $16 million. It’s already out on digital so any additional money it earns in theaters for Universal is gravy.

Screen Gems’ religious horror film The Unholy took the #9 spot with $730,000, down 32% in its sixth weekend. The film counts as a modest success for screen gems, with $14.2 million domestically and $24.2 million worldwide against a $10 million budget. It probably won’t get much further, but it’s done its job admirably enough for a lightly-marketed horror flick.

Tom & Jerry closed out the top 10 with $426,000 its eleventh weekend, down 20%. The animated/live-action hybrid comedy is now at $44.8 million domestically and $110 million worldwide off of a budget of just $50 million, a perfectly adequate performance.

Next weekend will see a new high-profile release in Spiral, the revival of the Saw franchise starring Chris Rock and Samuel L. Jackson. It should lead the way while Warner Bros. presents Angelina Jolie’s thriller Those Who Want Me Dead (available day-and-date on HBO Max) which will fight for second place with Wrath of Man. Focus Films will release the psychological thriller Profile as well, while Roadside Attractions has the ensemble drama Finding You. Neither of those latter two should vie for a high spot, barring a major surprise.

BOX OFFICE TOP THREE (Three-Day Domestic Numbers)
1. Wrath of Man – $8.1 million ($8.1 million total)
2. Demon Slayer The Movie: Mugen Train – $3.1 million ($39.6 million total)
3. Mortal Kombat – $2.4 million ($37.8 million total)
4. Godzilla vs. Kong – $1.9 million ($93 million total)
5. Raya & The Last Dragon – $1.9 million ($41.8 million total)
6. Separation – $1.1 million ($3.4 million total)
7. Here Today – $900,000 ($900,000 total)
8. Nobody – $760,000 ($24.6 million total)
9. The Unholy – $730,000 ($14.2 million total)
10. Tom & Jerry – $426,000 ($44.8 million total)