

Steven Spielberg’s third shot at “The aliens have made contact” is overperforming the low expectations that Universal had put out — $35 million, they said.
For a Spielberg movie. With aliens. And Emily “A Quiet Place” Blunt.
Deadline.com says the clumsily-titled but hyped-to-hell-and-back “Disclosure Day” will clear $43, with a shot at $45+. It earned over $6.5 Thursday alone.
Not a world beater, but still a weekend winner. That’s not a take that would make “Project Hail Mary” (now over $343 million) blush. And that goes to the heart of the film’s premise and a misread of The Moment that I pointed out in my review.
Aliens are REAL? Yawn.
In an age of vast conspiracies, when ordinary people are having their government start wars and murder civilians at sea to protect a vast global pedophile and child trafficking conspiracy, with allegations of murders, Israeli intelligence manipulation and Russian coercion and a “president” who will unleash World War III rather than let his crimes and perversions in the Trumpstein files see the light of day, would “Oh yeah, we’ve been covering up flying saucer crashes, made contact with aliens, interned them and done alien autopsies since 1947 (Roswell)” shake the world?
Nope. The movies and TV have spent most of the past century prepping us for that. Anything short of “War of the Worlds” (a radio sensation) might not lead the evening news.
“The Earth Stands Still” in the ’50s. The Earth is distracted and numbed by scandals and crimes in plain sight today.
Reviews have been generally favorable, but see it and have a laugh on the twerps wetting their pants over an “utterly conventional” version of a tale we’ve seen told better before — by Spielberg, for starters.
“Obsession,” the male wish fulfillment fantasy about “love me and only me forever” that devolves in murderous directions, with the woman trapped as unwitting/unwilling partner to this slavish devotion, is holding audience and drawing a crowd in its FIFTH WEEK of release.
You think writer-director Curry Barker touched a nerve? I finally got around to it and was struck by how profoundly sad and grimly on target this “guy gets just what he wants” nightmare is. Review to come shortly. It’s about to pass “Get Out” on the roll of horror blockbusters.
The latest iteration of the venerable “Scary Movie” franchise is hurtling off a cliff on its second weekend. The Make Work for Wayans project is on track to earn a healthy $15 million on its second weekend, a steep plunge from its $50 million opening. That’s a third place finish on its second weekend.
But here’s the thing about that. I ducked into a matinee showing of with a half-decent turnout in the suburban South. I gave it 12-13 minutes of my time, and the only thing that was remotely amusing was how much more lithe, thin and fit Shawn Wayans’ dance double was than he. The audience? Not a laugh over that entire 12 minutes. Word of mouth could push this below $15. It sucks. Most critics didn’t even bother reviewing it. God knows I won’t.
In fourth place, “Backrooms” is still chasing “Obsession” as the horror phenom of the spring, on a pace to clear $12 million on its third weekend. It may not catch “Obsession,” but it’ll come close. It’s over $161 million already. “Obsession” is back to out-earning it and over $170 million.
And a “Masters of the Universe” that nobody begged for is plunging on its second weekend, enjoying the last hours of being in the box office top five with a take of under $10, perhaps even under $9.
“Michael” may have left the top five, but it’s still in the top ten and just passed “Bohemian Rhapsody” as the biggest box office hit musical bio-pic of all time. It’s closing in on $360 million in North America, with another $550 million or so overseas. Lionsgate has its biggest hit ever. “Michael” Jackson’s sanitized pre-pedophile-revelations story is bigger than any “Hunger Games” outing.
“The Breadwinner,” “Pressure,” “The Sheep Detectives” “Super Mario Galaxy” and “Mortal Kombat” will be among the titles jockeying to stay in the top ten.
I’ll update these figures as more Sat. and Sunday data come in.

