Box Office Recap: May 5-7, 2023
Guardians of the Galaxy takes the box office crown from Super Mario Bros. with $100+ million domestic opening.
After four weekends at the top of the box office, The Super Mario Bros. Movie has finally found itself dethroned by Marvel Studios’s Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, which enjoyed a franchise second best domestic opening of $100+ opening and an overall worldwide opening near $300 million. Meanwhile, the romantic dramedy Love Again seemingly failed to make any connection with moviegoers, falling short of its $5 million opening weekend projections with a $2 million debut.
Finishing in first place, Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 debuted with $114.0 million domestically, making it the franchise’s second best opening, behind Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2’s $146.5 opening in 2017. The newest entry of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) opened in 4,450 locations and earned an impressive per-theater average of $25,617. Both critics and audiences gave the film strong ratings, with the latter giving it a near perfect “A” CinemaScore. Internationally, the superhero film earned $168.1 million to help bring its total global debut to $282.1 million against a reported production budget of $250 million.
Looking ahead, Vol. 3 has one weekend of no competition to take advantage of before Fast X opens May 19. This upcoming weekend has its biggest release being the rom-com Book Club: The Next Chapter, which is hardly aimed at the same audiences Marvel targets. So, that means if Marvel wants to avoid a repeat of Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, where it opened strong and then tanked the following weekend, then Vol. 3 must clean up again at the box office before Fast X’s opening. Given its hefty price tag, it still needs to make between $500-750 million to start making a profit, so it still has a ways to go before accomplishing that. Luckily, for Vol. 3, its reception has been far more favorable than the middling response critics and audiences gave Quantumania, so it’s unlikely that Marvel’s newest film will experience the same kind of drastic second weekend drop that Quantumania received.
Universal’s The Super Mario Bros. Movie continues its box office dominance despite falling to second place, earning $18.6 million domestically over its fifth weekend in release. This marks a -54.5% drop from its prior weekend frame, earning a per-theater average of $4,758 at 3,909 location. So far, the domestic performance of the animated adventure film, which is based on the iconic Nintendo video game, has moved past the half billion mark just on its own with $518.1 million. Internationally, the hit video game adaptation has earned $637.2 million, which brings its total worldwide run to $1.16 billion against a reported production budget of $100 million.
Landing in the third spot, Warner Bros.’s Evil Dead Rise continues its solid box office run. The horror sequel from the iconic Evil Dead series earned $5.7 million domestically over its third weekend in release to help push its total domestic run to $54.1 million. This marks a -52.8% drop from its previous frame, earning a per-theater average of $1,887 at 3,036 locations. Internationally, the film nearly matched its domestic performance with $43.7 million, which helps bring its total worldwide performance just inches away from crossing the $100 million mark with $97.8 million against a reported production budget of $19 million.
In fourth place, Lionsgate’s Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret. took in $3.4 million over its sophomore frame. This marks a respectable -49.8% drop from its opening weekend frame, earning a per-theater average of $1,011 at 3,343 locations. Altogether, the coming-of-age dramedy, which is based on the hit Judy Blume best-seller, has made $12.6 million domestically against a reported production budget of $30 million. Still, no earnings from the overseas markets have been reported yet.
Rounding out the top five, Lionsgate’s John Wick: Chapter 4 earned $2.4 million domestically over its seventh weekend in release, pushing its total domestic performance to a franchise record $180.1 million. This marks a -51.5% drop from its prior weekend, earning a per-theater average of $950 at 2,481 locations. Internationally, the third sequel from the hit action series earned $226.0 million to help bring its total worldwide gross to a franchise best $406.1 million against a reported production budget of $100 million.
Just outside the top five, in sixth place, Sony’s romantic dramedy Love Again debuted with $2.2 million domestically, opening in 2,703 locations and earning a per-theater average of $808. Critics weren’t kind at all to the film; however, it did score 81% positive score from opening weekend audiences through PostTrak, which could help give the film solid enough legs to surpass its modest $9 million production budget. The film’s total domestic performance so far is $2.4 million, and as of now, its international earnings have not yet been reported.
Opening this weekend, Focus Features and Universal Pictures will debut Book Club: The Next Chapter, the sequel to their hit 2018 rom-com starring Academy Award winners Diane Keaton, Jane Fonda, Mary Steenburgen and Academy Award nominee Candice Bergen.
* Total worldwide gross listed in parenthesis.
1) Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 – $114.0 million, Week 1 ($282.1 million)
2) The Super Mario Bros. Movie – $18.6 million, Week 5 ($1.16 billion)
3) Evil Dead Rise – $5.7 million, Week 3 ($97.8 million)
4) Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret. – $3.4 million, Week 2 ($12.6 million)
5) John Wick: Chapter 4 – $2.4 million, Week 7 ($406.1 million)
6) Love Again – $2.2 million, Week 1 ($2.4 million)
7) Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves – $1.5 million, Week 6 ($203.6 million)
8) Air – $1.4 million, Week 5 ($81.8 million)
9) Guy Ritchie’s The Covenant – $1.2 million, Week 3 ($15.1 million)
10) Sisu – $1.1 million, Week 2 ($6.0 million)
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