Elvis, Top Gun tie for box-office crown with $30.5M every

Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis Presley biopic Elvis shook up theaters with an estimated $30.5 million in weekend ticket gross sales, however — in a box-office rarity — Elvis tied Top Gun: Maverick, which additionally reported $30.5 million, for No. 1 in theaters.

Final figures Monday, as soon as Sunday’s grosses are tabulated, will kind out which movie in the end gained the weekend. With a excessive diploma of accuracy, studios can forecast Sunday gross sales based mostly on Friday and Saturday enterprise, although numbers usually shift by a couple of hundred thousand {dollars}.

But for now, the unlikely pair of Elvis and Maverick are locked in a dance off (for those who favor Elvis) or a lifeless warmth (for those who favor Maverick). That it was this shut in any respect was attributable to each a better-than-expected opening for Elvis and remarkably robust continued gross sales for Top Gun: Maverick. The Top Gun sequel reached $1 billion in worldwide field workplace in its fifth week of launch.

Elvis, starring newcomer Austin Butler as Presley, got here into the weekend with expectations nearer to $25 million. Among latest music biopics, a $30.5 million debut places the King forward of the tempo of Elton John (Rocketman launched with $25.7 million in 2019) although not in the identical class as Freddie Mercury (Bohemian Rhapsody opened with $51.1 million in 2018).

“I’m less concerned with who’s number one and who’s number two, and I’m more concerned that we hit this big number given that this audience has been the slowest to return to movie theaters,” mentioned Jeff Goldstein, distribution chief for Warner Bros.

About 60% of the viewers for Elvis was over the age of 35. Older audiences have been among the many most hesitant to return to theaters within the pandemic however that’s altering — partly, Goldstein famous, due to Top Gun, which introduced again followers of the 1986 authentic.

Elvis, which price about $85 million to make, was propelled by robust critiques (78% contemporary on Rotten Tomatoes), good phrase of mouth (an A- CinemaScore) and a glitzy Cannes Film Festival premiere. It added $20 million abroad over the weekend.

Elvis ranks as Luhrmann’s second finest opening after 2013′s The Great Gatsby ($50.1 million). Luhrmann was on the cusp of starting manufacturing in Australia when, in an indelible early second within the pandemic, star Tom Hanks examined constructive for COVID-19.

“Elvis was a risky proposition: the music is dated, the character is not directly familiar, and the lead actor is unproven on the big screen,” David A. Gross of Franchise Entertainment Research wrote in a publication. “But critics and audiences are responding. This is the Baz Luhrmann show, a music, dance and sex appeal spectacular — it’s a hit.”

Meanwhile, Top Gun: Maverick continues to soar. The Paramount Pictures movie grew to become the primary 2022 launch to succeed in $1 billion in worldwide ticket gross sales, and the primary starring Tom Cruise to take action.

In its fifth weekend of launch, Maverick dipped simply 32% domestically to carry its complete up to now to $521.7 million in US and Canadian theaters. It continues to maneuver up the file books, sitting fifteenth all-time domestically, not accounting for inflation. Internationally, the Top Gun sequel added one other $44.5 million.

The Elvis/Top Gun showdown — together with the brand new Blumhouse horror launch The Black Phone and large holdovers in Jurassic World: Dominion and Pixar’s Lightyear — made for one of the vital aggressive, and busy, weekends in film theaters within the pandemic period.

Most studios got here away celebrating, although Disney’s Lightyear dropped a steep 65% in its second weekend. After opening softly final week, the Toy Story spinoff grossed $17.7 million domestically, falling to fifth place. Lightyear, which has made $152 million worldwide thus far, will quickly face extra competitors for households with the Friday launch of Minions: The Rise of Gru.

Counterprogramming got here from Universal Pictures’ The Black Phone, the Scott Derrickson-directed supernatural thriller starring Ethan Hawke as an escaped killer. The Blumhouse manufacturing rode robust critiques (84% contemporary on Rotten Tomatoes) to a better-than-expected launch of $23.4 million.

After two weeks in first place, Universal’s Jurassic World: Dominion took in $26.4 million, sliding to 3rd. It’s now handed $300 million domestically, and hauled in $746.7 million globally.

A a lot smaller-scaled movie, Marcel the Shell With Shoes On, debuted with good gross sales in restricted launch. The warmly acquired stop-motion animation movie, through which Jenny Slate voices a one-inch-tall mollusk with a googly eye, opened with $169,606 on six screens, for a per-screen common of $28,267.

Estimated ticket gross sales for Friday by Sunday at US and Canadian theaters, in response to Comscore. Final home figures might be launched Monday.

1. (Tie) Elvis, $30.5 million.

1. (Tie) Top Gun: Maverick, $30.5 million.

3. Jurassic World: Dominion, $26.4 million.

4. Black Phone, $23.4 million.

5. Lightyear, $17.7 million.

6. Doctor Strange within the Multiverse of Madness, $1.7 million.

7. Jugjugg Jeeyo, $725,000.

8. Everything Everywhere All at Once, $533,000.

9. The Bob’s Burgers Movie, $513,000.

10. The Bad Guys, $440,000.