Challengers Rises to the Occassion

Luca Guadagnino scored his biggest opening this weekend with the Zendaya-led tennis drama Challengers, which earned $15 million per Deadline. That number easily trumps the $2.2M 3-day opening of Guadagnino’s 2022 cannibal flick Bones and All, starring Zendaya’s Dune co-star Timothée Chalamet. That number also bests The Greatest Showman’s $8.8M opening in 2017, giving Zendaya her largest debut in a non-IP film.

Audiences awarded Challengers a B+ CinemaScore, which bodes well for its long-term prospects, though the coming weeks present plenty of competition. Internationally, the pic earned $10M, bringing its WW total to $25M.

In second place, the Lionsgate faith-based feature Unsung Hero earned $7.75M from 2,832 theaters. Godzilla x Kong earned added $7.2M to its $181.68M domestic haul ($519.3M WW), while Civil War slipped to No. 4 in its third weekend after a $7M (-39%) take, raising its total to $56.1M, making it A24’s second-highest grossing pic to date behind Everything Everywhere All at Once.

The only other new release, Boy Kills World, collected $1.6M from 1,993 theaters, a rough start for the action feature starring Bill Skarsgård.

Remarkably, the re-release of Ridley Scott’s 45-year-old Alien bumped Boy Kills World out of the Top 10, thanks to an impressive $1.78M weekend. Universal’s rerelease of 1999’s The Mummy likewise scored a healthy $1M in 1,236 screens, while Sony’s re-release of Spider-Man 2 swung its way to $805K from 467 locations.

Globally, Kung Fu Panda 4 kicked its way past the $500M mark,

The box office lull likely snaps this weekend with the release of The Fall Guy, starring Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt. Projections have the action comedy opening as high as $40M (it has already earned $8.7M from 38 overseas markets). Disney will also re-release George Lucas’ Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace to celebrate its 25th anniversary.

A week later, we get Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, followed by the Ryan Reynolds comedy IF a week later and Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga a week after that. Summer is almost here, folks!

Box Office Results: Domestic Top 10

1.) Challengers (AMZ MGM) 3,477 theaters, Fri $6.2M, Sat $5M Sun $3.78M 3-day $15M/Wk 1

2.) Unsung Hero (LG) 2,832 theaters,Fri $3.65M Sat $2.35M Sun $1.75M 3-day $7.75M/Wk 1

3.) Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire (Leg/WB) 3,312 theaters (-346), Fri $1.76M (-25%) Sat $3.3M Sun $2.1M 3-day $7.2M (-25%)/Total $181.68M/ Wk 5

4.) Civil War (A24) 3,518 (-411) theaters, Fri $1.9M (-41%) Sat $3M Sun $2M 3-day $7M (-39%), Total $56.1M/Wk 3

5.) Abigail (Uni) 3,393 (+9) theatres, Fri $1.49M (-63%) Sat $2.2M Sun $1.48M, 3-day $5.25M (-49%)/Total $18.7M/Wk 2

6.) Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare (LG) 2,845 theaters, Fri $1.1M (-70%) Sat $1.67M Sun $1.09M 3-day $3.86M (-57%), Total $15.4M/Wk 2

7.) Kung Fu Panda 4 (Uni) 2,767 (-188) theaters, Fri $830K (-28%) Sat $1.65MSun $1.07M 3-day $3.55M (-24%), Total $185M/Wk 8

8.) Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire (Sony) 2,627 (-482) theaters, Fri $780K(-26%) Sat $1.5M Sun $945K 3-day $3.25M (-27%), Total $107.38M/Wk 6

9.) Dune: Part Two (Leg/WB) 1,334 (-680) theaters, Fri $525K (-35%) Sat$885K Sunday $575K 3-day $1.98M (-33%), Total $279.7M/Wk 9

10.) Alien (re) 1,750 theaters, Fri $606K Sat $551K Sun $406K 3-day $1.56M/Total $83.6M lifetime/Wk 1 re-release

11.) Boy Kills World (RSA) 1,993 theaters, Fri $819K, 3-day $1.6M/Wk 1