Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck’s Captain Marvel, starring Brie Larson, Samuel L. Jackson, Ben Mendelsohn, Jude Law, and Annette Bening, opened big, selling $153 million in the U.S. and $455 million worldwide over its first three days of release, making it the 18th most successful opening of all-time (despite mostly ho-hum reviews from critics).
It looks really bad to me, but I love seeing Boden, Fleck, Larson, Mendelsohn, and Jackson get the rock star treatment worldwide, as I know these are all people who will leverage the exposure this silly film offers them into more interesting work. The film holds a score of 64/100 on Metacritic, with an equal amount of glowing and negative reviews. Ultimately I think this will probably go down as yet another superhero film in a decade of way-too-many superhero films. The question remains: is the MCU killing or sustaining the film industry?
Also at the Box
How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World continued to roll, taking the No. 2 spot at the domestic box office with another $15 million in sales, bringing the film’s 17-day sales total to just under $120 million ($435 million worldwide).
Tyler Perry’s A Madea Family Funeral continues Perry’s tour through all of the most common tropes in cinema history, taking the No. 3 spot at the U.S. box office over its second weekend of release, bringing the film’s 10-day sales total to $46 million. As usual for Perry’s films, Family Funeral isn’t selling any tickets outside of the U.S.
The LEGO Movie 2: The Second Part sold another $3.8 million over the weekend, taking the No. 4 spot, upping the flick’s total to just under $100 million in domestic sales.
Robert Rodriguez’s Alita: Battle Angel rounded out last weekend’s domestic Top 5 with $3.2 million in sales, bringing the film’s four-week sales total to just $78 million in the U.S. Oof. Alita has fared well in foreign markets, however, selling a solid $383 million worldwide since its release.
Also of note: Vincent D’Onofrio’s The Kid, a western starring Ethan Hawke, Dane DeHaan, and Chris Pratt, tested well, selling over a half million in tickets while playing on fewer than 300 screens.
New This Week
For adults and teens at least, this weekend will continued to be about Captain Marvel. Regardless, there are three films opening wide, starting with animated flick Wonder Park, voiced by Matthew Broderick, Jennifer Garner, Jeffrey Tambor, Kenan Thompson, Ken Jeong, Mila Kunis, and John Oliver. Looks fun.
Next up is Justin Baldoni’s romantic drama Five Feet Apart, starring Haley Lu Richardson, Cole Sprouse, Claire Forlani, and ScreenTime favorite Moises Arias. Looks incredibly forgettable.
Finally we have Focus Features’ new sci-fi flick, Captive State, directed by Rupert Wyatt and starring John Goodman, Vera Farmiga, Kiki Layne, and (gulp) Machine Gun Kelly. This one actually looks promising, mostly because it was written and directed by Rupert Wyatt, best known for his work on the excellent Rise of the Planet of the Apes.
Also be on the lookout for another new Focus Features release called The Mustang from director Laure de Clermont-Tonnerre. The flick stars ScreenTime favorites Connie Britton, Matthias Schoenaerts, and Bruce Dern, and looks pretty damn good. Clermont-Tonnerre appears to be a promising new voice behind the camera.
