The weekend box office numbers are in, and Marvel’s Thunderbolts has snagged the top spot with a solid $33 million. This aligns closely with our earlier predictions, but it does show a 55% drop from its debut weekend—a significant improvement over recent Marvel outings. For context, Captain America: Brave New World and Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania both plunged around 69%, with The Marvels experiencing a staggering decline of 78%. The film’s cumulative total now stands at $128 million, a somewhat modest haul for the Marvel franchise; projections suggest it may fall short of the $200 million mark, a milestone that Brave New World barely reached after a sluggish climb.
Meanwhile, the riveting cultural phenomenon, Sinners, helmed by Ryan Coogler, raked in an impressive $21 million, pushing its grand total to $214 million. Excitingly, it will reclaim its 70mm IMAX screens next week from Thunderbolts, promising to amplify its box office performance, especially with the competition being relatively light until the Memorial Day weekend.
A Minecraft Movie continues to ride high, bringing in $7.9 million, bringing its domestic total over the $400 million mark. On the other hand, The Accountant 2 is celebrating as it crosses the $50 million threshold after adding another $6 million this weekend. The rest of the new releases, however, brought more modest returns. Shudder’s Clown in a Cornfield captured $3.6 million, while Lionsgate’s Shadow Force, directed by Joe Carnahan, fell flat with only $2.015 million. The action-packed flick, Fight or Flight, featuring Josh Hartnett, managed around $2 million, averaging just over $900 per screen. While the buzz surrounding the film has been positive, this performance is somewhat disappointing. Vertical Entertainment, the studio behind it, appears to be cautiously dipping its toes into wider theatrical releases, hoping for more significant results down the line. It’s clear that these studios often keep marketing budgets tight, aiming for a theatrical run to build anticipation for streaming debuts—there’s a good chance both Fight or Flight and Clown in a Cornfield will gain traction once they hit streaming platforms.
The remainder of the top ten largely featured holdovers, with Sony’s Until Dawn pulling in $2 million, bringing its total to an $18 million. Rami Malek’s action venture, The Amateur, is winding down its run, adding $1.1 million for a total just shy of the $40 million mark. Rounding out the top ten is Angel Studio’s King of Kings, which added $680k to reach a remarkable $59 million total, now securing its place as the studio’s second largest success after Sound of Freedom.
In the limited release arena, A24’s comedy Friendship, featuring Tim Robinson and Paul Rudd, earned $451k from just six screens, boasting an impressive $75k per screen average—the best so far this year!
As we look ahead to next weekend, the release of Final Destination: Bloodlines is anticipated to take the crown from Thunderbolts. Stay tuned for our predictions later this week!
