This weekend’s new releases at the box office saw very different results. While Warner Bros./Apple’s “F1” is off to a good start with a $55.6 million domestic/$144 million opening weekend, Universal/Blumhouse’s “M3GAN 2.0” is failing to boot with a $10 million domestic opening that is a third of the launch of its 2023 predecessor.
“F1” is the latest film produced by Apple Original Films to hit theaters with the help of a legacy studio, and by the end of next weekend it will become the Silicon Valley studio’s highest grossing theatrical release, passing the $221 million of Ridley Scott’s “Napoleon.” It also passes the $112 million of “World War Z” to become the biggest global opening ever for lead actor Brad Pitt.
“F1” carried a hefty price tag of at least $200 million before marketing costs shared by Apple and Warner Bros., the latter of which handled distribution. But the film now is in position to leg out through July even against stiff competition like “Jurassic World: Rebirth” and “Superman” thanks to its strong word-of-mouth, three weeks of Imax play — premium formats made 58% of the film’s ticket sales this weekend — and the global popularity of Formula One, carrying Rotten Tomatoes scores of 83% critics and 97% audience to go with an A on CinemaScore.
On the flip side, “M3GAN 2.0” is setting up to be, if not a flop against its relatively cheap $25 million budget, certainly a major disappointment after its $10.2 million opening domestically and $17.1 million worldwide. It is opening in fourth on the charts behind the third weekend of fellow Universal release “How to Train Your Dragon” and the second weekend of Disney/Pixar’s “Elio.”
Back in January 2023, “M3GAN” opened to $30.4 million en route to a $95 million domestic and $180 million worldwide total against a $12 million budget thanks to strong word-of-mouth and a cutting-edge viral campaign that took advantage of the TikTok craze spawned by its titular killer doll. It was the embodiment of Blumhouse’s reputation for launching horror franchises with effective high concepts and plays on familiar horror tropes.
But since the start of 2024, no Blumhouse theatrical release has grossed more than $40 million domestic or $80 million worldwide. While the horror studio’s thrifty approach has kept underperformers like “Wolf Man” and “The Woman in the Yard” from being major bombs, “M3GAN 2.0” was supposed to be the sequel that would be an undisputed hit.
Instead, it is set to make less than half of what the first “M3GAN” made, as audiences have largely passed on the sequel’s pivot from horror to tongue-in-cheek action comedy. While public reception is generally positive with a B+ on CinemaScore and an 85% audience RT score, it likely won’t be enough to get “M3GAN 2.0” far beyond its low break-even point.
The results for major summer holdovers was as mixed as for the newcomers. “How to Train Your Dragon” continues to hold strong with $19.4 million in its third weekend, giving it a total of $200 million domestic and $454 million worldwide.
“Elio” is in third on the charts with $10.7 million, dropping 49% from its poor $20 million start. While there are some signs that the film’s positive word-of-mouth is spreading, “Elio” still faces an uphill battle to avoid joining the pandemic-curtailed “Onward” as just the second Pixar film to fail to gross $100 million domestically. Currently, the film has grossed just $42.2 million domestically and $72.3 million worldwide.
The post ‘F1’ Speeds to $55.6 Million Opening; ‘M3GAN 2.0’ Crashes With $10.2 Million appeared first on TheWrap.