Box Office Round-Up ~ 7/25/22

Breaking news… Jordan Peele’s new movie had the biggest opening weekend for an original film since, well, Jordan Peele’s last movie. UFO sci-fi thriller Nope — led by Daniel Kaluuya and Keke Palmer — debuted this weekend with $44 million. It fell short of 2019’s Us and may be limited by its R-rating, but for any original title competing against superheroes and sequels and adaptations of bestsellers, it was a very solid opening haul. Thor: Love and Thunder took second place in its third weekend with $22 million, stabilizing itself after the sharp drop between its first and second weekends. It’s now on a pace to pass $300 million domestic, and is already running ahead of Thor: Ragnarok by almost $30 million overall. In its final weekend without any stiff animated competition (DC League of Super-Pets comes out August 5th), Minions: The Rise of Gru grossed $17.7 million in third place. It’s closing in on $300 million overall, and may surpass Despicable Me 2 as the highest-grossing installment in the franchise. In fourth place, Where the Crawdads Sing had a solid sophomore weekend gross of $10.3 million, dropping only 40% from its surprising opening weekend. Last but certainly not least in the top five, Top Gun: Maverick took in another $10 million. It has now become one of the top ten highest grossing domestic releases of all time. Another couple weekends like this, and it was pass Jurassic World and Titanic to land at seventh place on the all-time list.

1. Nope ($44 MM)
Director: Jordan Peele (CAA)
Writers: Jordan Peele (CAA)
Cast: Daniel Kaluuya (Management 360)       
          Keke Palmer (3 Arts)        
          Steven Yeun (CAA)

2. Thor: Love and Thunder ($22 MM)
Director: Taika Waititi (CAA)
Writers: Taika Waititi (CAA), Jennifer Kaytin Robinson (CAA)
Cast: Chris Hemsworth (CAA)        
         Natalie Portman (CAA)        
         Christian Bale (WME)

3. Minions: The Rise of Gru ($17.7 MM)
Director: Kyle Balda (UTA), Brad Ableson (CAA), Jonathan del Val
Writers: Matthew Fogel (UTA), Brian Lynch (WME)
Cast: Steve Carell (WME)        
         Pierre Coffin        
         Alan Arkin (ICM)

4. Where the Crawdads Sing ($10.3 MM)
Director: Olivia Newman (WME)
Writers: Lucy Alibar (CAA)
Cast: Daisy Edgar-Jones (UTA)
         Taylor John Smith (CAA)
         Harris Dickinson (Gersh)

5. Top Gun: Maverick ($10 MM)
Director: Joseph Kosinski (CAA)
Writers: Peter Craig (CAA), Justin Marks (CAA), Ehren Kruger, Eric Warren Singer (Range Media Partners), Christopher McQuarrie (CAA)
Cast: Tom Cruise (CAA)        
          Miles Teller (CAA)        
          Jennifer Connelly (CAA)

Source: Box Office Mojo, The Numbers