‘Barbie’ collects fourth weekend win
‘Oppenheimer,’ ‘Mutant Mayhem’ and ‘Meg 2’ mix it up for second place.
Hello! Welcome to The Box Office Report for the weekend of Aug. 11-13, 2023.
1. Barbie
Weekend gross: $33.7M
Total domestic gross: $526.3M
Last weekend: 1st
Percent drop: 36
I’m running out of Barbie photos to put on the The Box Office Report. The film notched a fourth straight weekend at No. 1, adding $33.7 million to bring its domestic haul to $526.3 million.
That’s enough to score the No. 18 spot on the all-time domestic box office chart, nestling in right between Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker’s $515.2 million and Rogue One’s $533.5 million.
Barbie should easily be able to jump over the next three films on the domestic rankings, only needing less than $20 million more to pass Rogue One, The Dark Knight ($533.7 million) and the “live-action” Lion King ($543.6 million).
Does Barbie have another $50 million in its pink convertible’s tank to pass The Super Mario Bros. Movie ($574.2 million) as the biggest release of 2023? And how about another $25 million after that to become only the 14th film to crack the $600 million mark at the domestic box office?
2. Oppenheimer
Weekend gross: $18.8M
Total domestic gross: $264.3M
Last weekend: 3rd
Percent drop: 35
Last week’s tight race between Oppenheimer, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem and Meg 2: The Trench shook out differently this weekend, with Oppenheimer popping back into the No. 2 spot.
Oppenheimer is closing in on Inception’s place as the biggest domestic box office hit of Christopher Nolan’s directorial career that isn’t a Batman movie. Can it generate another $30 million to beat Inception’s $292.6 million lifetime gross?
3. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem
Weekend gross: $15.8M
Total domestic gross: $72.8M
Last weekend: 4th
Percent drop: 44
Jumping up to the No. 3 spot this weekend, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem finds itself as the fifth highest grossing Ninja Turtles movie domestically. In North America, Mutant Mayhem has now outgrossed the animated TMNT movie ($54.1 million) and 1993’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III ($42.3 million).
A 44 percent drop isn’t a horrible second-weekend fall, so hopefully Mutant Mayhem has the staying power needed to make animation like this a winner at the box office.
4. Meg 2: The Trench
Weekend gross: $12.7M
Total domestic gross: $54.1M
Last weekend: 2nd
Percent drop: 58
Meg 2: The Trench’s second-weekend drop, though, wasn’t great. Falling 58 percent, the Jason Statham film isn’t keeping up with the pace of its predecessor. It is, however, the biggest hit of director Ben Wheatley’s career, easily beating the $1.8 million domestic haul of Free Fire and the $5 million worldwide haul of High-Rise.
5. The Last Voyage of the Demeter
Weekend gross: $6.5M
Total domestic gross: $6.5M
Last weekend: New release
Percent drop: NA
The Last Voyage of the Demeter wasn’t a successful voyage at the box office either.
Box office numbers via The Numbers based on Sunday estimates.
Next weekend
Barbie likely has some real competition next weekend as Blue Beetle and Strays hit theaters. The social media reactions to Blue Beetle have been positive — but so were the initial reactions to The Flash. (I think a lot of these people just like going to movie premieres and will say anything on Twitter about a movie to keep getting invited back.)
