Box Office Round-Up ~ 6/26/23

By: [email protected] on

After four weekends in theaters, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse returned to the top of the box office with a weekend gross of $19 million. The web-slinging animated sequel passed $300 million domestically and is now the third highest grossing movie of 2023, and will likely pass Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 for second place in a matter of a week or two. If/when that happens, the two top-grossing movies of the year will be animated features.

Similarly, the top two highest-grossing movies of the weekend were animated features, as Elemental took second place with $18.4 million. The overall numbers are still disappointing for Disney, as it perhaps reflects Pixar’s overall loss of prestige in recent years. Speaking of disappointments, The Flash fell hard in its second weekend with $15.1 million, barely beating out No Hard Feelings for third place. It has only grossed $87.5 million overall in the U.S., the latest in a string of underwhelming chapters for the all-but-rebooted DC Extended Universe.

This week’s biggest new release was the Jennifer Lawrence-led R-rated comedy No Hard Feelings, which debuted at $15 million. It’s the most successful of a handful of mid-budget releases that did solid numbers this weekend, signaling that perhaps the market for non-tentpole and non-IP titles is stronger than the studios believed.

Transformers: Rise of the Beasts rounded out the top five with $11.7 million in its third weekend in theaters. Of note outside the top five were Wes Anderson’s Asteroid City, which expanded to a wide release, grossing $9 million for the best weekend of Anderson’s career. Additionally, horror-comedy The Blackening grossed $3 million in its sophomore weekend, and has already tripled its budget with $15 million overall. (See above re. mid-budget features.)

1. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse ($19 MM)
Director: Joaquim Dos Santos (UTA), Kemp Powers (Gersh), Justin K. Thompson (Verve)
Writers: Phil Lord (UTA), Christopher Miller (UTA), Dave Callaham (UTA)
Cast: Shameik Moore (CAA)
         Hailee Steinfeld (CAA)
         Jake Johnson (UTA)

2.  Elemental ($18.4 MM)
Director: Peter Sohn
Writers: John Hoberg (UTA), Kat Likkel (UTA), Brenda Hseuh (Verve), Peter Sohn
Cast: Leah Lewis (Paradigm)
         Mamoudou Athie (WME)
         Ronnie Del Carmen

3. The Flash ($15.1 MM)
Director: Andy Muschietti (Rogers & Cowan/PMK)
Writers: Christina Hodson (CAA), Joby Harold (CAA)
Cast: Ezra Miller (CAA)
         Sasha Calle (CAA)
         Ben Affleck (WME)

4. No Hard Feelings ($15 MM)
Director: Gene Stupnitsky (WME)
Writers: Gene Stupnitsky (WME), John Phillips (UTA)
Cast: Jennifer Lawrence (LBI Entertainment)
         Andrew Barth Feldman (A3)
         Natalie Morales (CAA)

5.  Transformers: Rise of the Beasts ($11.7 MM)
Director: Steven Caple Jr. (CAA)
Writers: Joby Harold (CAA), Darnell Metayer, Josh Peters, Erich Hoeber (Verve), Jon Hoeber (Verve)
Cast: Anthony Ramos (CAA)
         Dominique Fishback (UTA)
         Luna Lauren Velez (APA)

Source: Box Office Mojo, The Numbers