Saturday’s $3 Movie Day was a great promotional idea. It got loads of people back into theaters and pumped up the box office.
The results were mostly good news.
“Top Gun: Maverick” is now within a day or two of hitting the $700 million mark. It will pass “Black Panther” to become the fifth biggest movie in history.
“Spider Man: No Way Home,” re-released with added footage, finished in first place for the weekend, adding $6 million to its huge total. That number is now $810 million.
Even Sony’s “Bullet Train” picked up steam and new passengers, adding $5.4 million to its bottom line of $85 million. “Bullet Train” is now assured of hitting $100 million, which is quite an accomplishment since it’s a standalone movie, not a franchise or sequel. Brad Pitt should be pretty happy.
There were a couple of box office flubs. “Honk for Jesus, Save Your Soul” is DOA. I knew this would happen when I saw it earlier this year. Sterling K. Brown and Regina Hall are terrific actors, but beyond 10 minutes this film has no purpose. It’s a one note joke. It’s a sketch. The satire isn’t constructed to last more than a few beats.
Also, MGM-UAR totally blew “Three Thousand Years of Longing.” Even for $3 no one would go see a movie without promotion. George Miller has had so many successes, he must be furious with United Artists Releasing for killing his film! It dropped 47 percent — 47% — from last week. How could that be with Tilda Swinton and Idris Elba? Sad.
