As expected, the new Pixar film Onward took the No. 1 spot at the U.S. box office over the weekend, selling a respectable (though not mind-blowing) $40 million over its first three days of release.
The Dan Scanlon (Monster’s University) film, voiced by Tom Holland, Chris Pratt, Ali Wong, Octavia Spencer, and Julia Louis-Dreyfus, has sold $68 million worldwide and holds a current score of 61/100 on Metacritic.
The film tells the story of two blue elf brothers who set out on an adventure to look for magic. Cute, right? The animation, of course, is gorgeous, even if the story sounds less imaginative than most Pixar flicks.
Also at the Box
The Blumhouse-produced horror reboot, The Invisible Man, had a strong second week, taking the No. 2 spot at the U.S. box office with another $15 million in sales, upping the film’s 10-day domestic sales total to just under $53 million.
Add in foreign sales and the Leigh Wannell-directed, Elisabeth Moss-starring, R-rated thriller has already sold just under $100 million worldwide.
The Invisible Man currently holds a store of 71/100 on Metacritic; not bad at all for a horror film.
Gavin O’Connor’s latest effort, basketball/redemption flick The Way Back, starring Ben Affleck, had a ho-hum first three days of release, selling just $8.5 million despite strong reviews and quite a bit of hype.
Affleck, who plays a high school basketball coach, has said that The Way Back is his favorite movie he’s ever been in. Whoa. Do you believe him? Do I believe him? No, I don’t.
That being said, O’Connor (Warrior) is a very good director, and some of the reviews have been very intriguing. I’ll be checking this one out sooner than later.
Next up is Sonic the Hedgehog, which took the No. 4 spot at the box while selling $8 million, bringing the adventure flick’s 24-day domestic sales total to a solid $140 million. The film has done well overseas as well, and should surpass the $300 million mark any day now. Wow. This one was projected to be a flop.
Rounding out last weekend’s Top 5 at the box office was Twentieth Century Fox’s The Call of the Wild, starring Harrison Ford and an animated dog. The movie sold another $7 million, bringing its 17-day worldwide sales total to $100 million.
Also of note: Bad Boys for Life continues to fill seats, recently surpassing the $200 million mark in the U.S., making it one of the best-selling films of 2020 so far.
New this Week
Craig Zobel’s “controversial” new film, The Hunt, which was pulled from the release schedule last summer due to a media-created storyline that suggested that the film will “divide the country,” will finally see the light of day.
It’s a movie about people hunting other people, and it stars Betty Gilpin, Ethan Suplee, Emma Roberts, Hilary Swank, Ike Barinholtz, Glenn Howerton, and singer/songwriter Sturgill Simpson.
Craig Zobel’s first two features, Great World of Sound and Compliance, are both excellent, which leaves me slightly hopeful for The Hunt. (But only slightly.)
Also out everywhere is musical drama I Still Believe and sci-fi flick Bloodshot. Both look notably mediocre to me.
Neon’s latest release, Big Time Adolescence, starring Pete Davidson and Jon Cryer, will begin to test in major markets, as will dramedy Inside the Rain, which stars the power duo of Rosie Perez and Eric Roberts.
This is it, y’all, this is dump season. Hang in there.
If I were you and I felt like going to the movies this weekend, I’d probably go to Onward, The Way Back, or The Invisible Man. All three of those films seem much, much better than this weekend’s slate of new releases. Onward, in particular, looks like a satisfying time at the movies.
