For the second consecutive Dump Season weekend, a film based on a Sega Genesis video game, Sonic the Hedgehog, took the No. 1 spot at the U.S. box office with $26.3 million in sales. 

So far, Sonic has sold $106 million and $203 million worldwide in just 10 days, making it one of the biggest hits of 2020 so far. 

I bet we get two more of these films and I bet they’re all very average movies. But kids, ya know, they don’t care about the things cinephiles care about, and this seems to work for them. 

Also at the Box

Twentieth Century Fox’s new release, The Call of the Wild, starring a bearded Harrison Ford and an animated dog, surprised over its first weekend of release, taking the No. 2 spot at the U.S. box office with just under $25 million in domestic sales. Good ’ol Harrison always seems to bring ’em out. Not as much as animated dogs do, but he can still bring ’em out. 

DC Comics’ Harley Quinn: Birds of Prey took the No. 3 spot at the box last weekend, selling another $7 million, upping the flick’s 17-day domestic sales total to just under $73 million. So far Harley Quinn has sold $173 million worldwide. So not a total disaster, but close. I don’t expect there will be a third Harley Quinn film. 

Horror flick Brahms: The Boy II opened at No. 4 with $5.9 million in sales while Bad Boys for Life rounded out the domestic Top 5 with another $5.8 million in sales. So far Bad Boys for Life has sold a whopping $391 million worldwide. Whoa. 

Also of note: 1917 is a legit blockbuster, selling another $4.4 million in the U.S., upping the flick’s 60-day sales total to just under $350 worldwide. Incredible that a film as artsy as 1917 has sold so well worldwide. Good for director Sam Mendes. 

And let’s not forget the Jean Seberg flick Seberg, starring Kristen Stewart, Zazie Beetz, Anthony Mackie, and Vince Vaughn. I’d like to see this one. It tested on three screens last weekend, bringing in $60,000.

New this Week

There’s just one wide release this weekend, and that’s the Blumhouse horror flick The Invisible Man adaptation, starring Elisabeth Moss. Looks very, very promising. 

Additionally, several indie flicks will start to screen around the country, starting with Burden, starring Garrett Hedlund, Andrea Riseborough, and Forest Whitaker. Next up is A White, White Day, a foreign drama getting strong reviews. 

Then comes the dramedy Greed, starring Asa Butterfield, Isla Fisher, and Sophie Cookson. Finally, there’s a documentary called Lost in America, featuring Rosario Dawson, Halle Berry, and Tiffany Haddish.

Home viewing

Director Dee Rees just released a new thriller called The Last Thing He Wanted starring Ben Affleck, Anne Hathaway, Willem Dafoe, Rosie Perez, and Toby Jones and based on Joan Didion’s novel. 

The reviews have been very poor, but I think it looks good. In fact, I might put it on as soon as I wrap up this column. Dee Rees is a good filmmaker and I’ll watch Hathaway and Dafoe in anything. 

Netflix also just released the much anticipated teen rom-com To All the Boys: P.S. I Still Love You, starring Lana Condor and ScreenTime favorite Noah Centineo. This one isn’t as great as the first film, but it’s an easy, charming watch, and Centineo is the young actor to watch in my opinion. 

Hulu has been picking up some great, little-seen flicks, including Wrinkles the Clown, Richard Linklater’s Where’d You Go, Bernadette?, Gavin O’Connor’s incredible Warrior, ScreenTime faves Almost Famous and Airheads, and all of the National Lampoon’s Vacation flicks. 

So yes, some very solid options for y’all who are still staying in, hiding from the chill.