It’s always good news when a movie beats out expectations. Going into the weekend, Predator: Badlands was looking at a middling weekend in the range of $33 million, on par with the commercial flop of Tron: Ares last month. However, thanks to strong reviews and great word-of-mouth, Badlands managed to climb all the way to $40 million for the weekend, but don’t be surprised if it inches even higher when the weekend actuals come in tomorrow.
Badlands topped the previous franchise record holder, 2004’s Alien vs Predator, which opened to $38 million on its way to an $80 million domestic total. I expect Badlands to land even higher when all is said and done. If you ask me, the secret X factor that contributed to the success of Badlands was its immediate predecessor, Prey. While this year’s Predator: Killer of Killers is an animated spin-off, 2022’s Prey was a full-on series entry, and debuted on Hulu, sadly never getting a theatrical release. Movies like this deserve the proper theatrical treatment, and I think Prey got audiences excited to see a new Predator adventure on the big screen.
Predator: Badlands wasn’t the only movie in theaters this weekend, but you’d be forgiven for thinking this was the case. Second place went to Regretting You, which is still hanging in there with $7.1 million (a less than 10% drop from last weekend!) and a total of $38 million domestically, $70 million worldwide. In third place, we have Black Phone 2, which brought in $5.3 million, for a domestic total of $70 million. It’s beginning to fall a tiny bit behind the original, which had earned $72 million by the same point in its run, but it’s still a successful film, and I wouldn’t be surprised if Black Phone 3 is already being discussed at the Blumhouse offices.
In fourth place with $4.4 million, we get the next new movie of the weekend, Sarah’s Oil, a faith-based drama starring Zachary Levi. Not much to say about this one, which couldn’t even match the $6 million opening of Levi’s last bomb, 2024’s ill-advised adaptation of Harold and the Purple Crayon. Fifth place goes to another newcomer, Nuremberg. If its awards buzz pans out, expect this one to play well over the next couple of months. If the buzz doesn’t pan out, well… Don’t expect to see me mention the movie in this column again.
The last noteworthy new release of the weekend, Die My Love, landed in eighth place, which feels a little low for a movie boasting the combined star power of Jennifer Lawrence and Robert Pattinson, as well as director Lynne Ramsay and producer Martin Scorsese. Maybe this one was just too weird, esoteric, and downright spooky to have mainstream appeal.
Finally, in tenth place, we have the last hurrah of Tron: Ares, which earned $1.8 million in its fifth weekend. After 31 days, the Jared Leto bomb sits at just $71 million domestic. For comparison, Tron: Legacy earned $156 million in its first 31 days in theaters. Alas, I don’t foresee another Tron movie coming in the next decade or so, at least.
Next week, we have Now You See Me, Now You Don’t, the third entry in the wacky ‘magicians doing heists’ franchise starring Jesse Eisenberg and Woody Harrelson. For as long as I love, I’ll never understand why we got three of these before we got three Zombieland movies, but maybe that’s just my personal sensibilities showing their bias. Anyway, the big wildcard next week is The Running Man, Edgar Wright’s remake of the 1987 Arnold Schwarzenegger action classic. Glen Powell is a rising star, but if this one succeeds, he’ll instantly transform into a straight-up A-lister. I can’t wait to see how it shakes out!
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