This spring’s dueling blockbusters — “Super Mario Galaxy” and “Project Hail Mary” — own another weekend as mid-April blossoms into serious black ink for the theatrical movie business’s bottom line.
The Numbers called it a $69 million+ weekend for the animated “Super Mario Galaxy Movie,” with the family friendly sci-fi “Project Hail Mary” clearing another $24. That’s a 45-50% falloff from its $131 million opening over Easter for Illumination’s “Mario Bros.” sequel.
“Project Hail Mary” is proving to have long legs, as it is falling off only 20% plus, weekend to weekend. “Mario” opened much bigger, and will clear the $310 million mark by midnight Sunday. “Hail Mary” will be close to $260 million, all-in, at the domestic box office by then.
Third place will swing to the only new major release to open wide this weekend, Universal’s Halle Bailey romance “You, Me & Tuscany.” It’s the lone date movie out there. No, “The Drama” doesn’t count. But an $8 million take is all “Tuscany” will manage, based on a tepid Thursday night “preview” and middling Friday.
“Hard times for lovers,” the old song says. And so it is in the date night movie biz.
Mediocre reviews won’t help. And I wasn’t the only one panning it. Bailey needs to carry this, but she shrinks with every scene shared with more confident supporting players who steal it from her. A tepid screenplay doesn’t help.
But the younger dating crowd I saw it with Thursday night seemed to enjoy it, as did their contemporaries, reviewers at Rotten Tomatoes — the unworldly dears.
The Russell Crowe MMA drama “Beast” isn’t very good either, and isn’t opening wide enough to crack the top ten. “The Exit 8” earned $1.4 and placed seventh.
A tiny corner of the horror crowd ($1.7 million) will showed for a new “Faces of Death,” in limited release that came in sixth.
A Riz Ahmed take on “Hamlet” and an Ian McKellan, James Corden (shudder) drama “The Christophers” are also opening in far more limited release,and didn’t crack the top ten.
“The Drama” ($8.7, in third place, not bad) and “Hoppers” ($4.1, fifth) are doing well enough to stay in the top five, with “A Great Awakening” surrendering screens “Tuscany.”
“The Drama” sticking around makes the case that Zendaya is a box office star — a draw in all sorts of challenging roles.
And “Reminders of Him” ($1 million) “Ready or Not 2: Here I Come” (less than a $million) and “Dhurandhar: The Revenge” had enough appeal to stick in the top ten, along with “Scream 7.”
“They Will Kill You” is gone baby gone.
