Hayao Miyazaki’s “The Boy and the Heron” Dominates Box Office, Godzilla Minus One Holds Strong
Hayao Miyazaki’s latest animated film, “The Boy and the Heron,” has taken the top spot at the domestic box-office this weekend. The highly anticipated movie pulled in an impressive $5.4 million on Friday, including $2.4 million in Thursday preview screenings, and is on track to earn up to $11-12 million for the weekend. The film has also received a solid A- CinemaScore from audiences.
The GKIDS release, which has already earned $84 million internationally, is also playing in IMAX theaters to help boost its numbers. This success marks the second recently popular targeted event release of a Japanese title in cinemas, following the accomplishment of “Godzilla Minus One.”
Speaking of “Godzilla Minus One,” the similarly highly acclaimed film will come in third place with around $7.9 million for its second weekend, only dropping 31% from its debut and pushing its domestic total to approximately $25 million.
In second place is the fourth weekend of Lionsgate’s “The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes,” pulling in $9.3 million with another slim drop of under 35%, bringing its domestic total to over $135 million by weekend’s end.
Universal’s “Trolls Band Together” will come in fourth with an even slimmer drop of just 21% and another $6.2 million in its coffers, surpassing the $80 million domestic mark this weekend.
Beyonce’s concert film “Renaissance” has taken a major tumble and is now struggling for fifth place with Disney’s “Wish,” heading for a $5.6 million weekend – a steep 74% drop from last week.
On a different note, the Emma Stone-led “Poor Things” is headed for a $69,000 per theater average in limited release, marking the third-best opening theater average of the year. This success beats the $46,000 per theater average start of “Saltburn” last month.
(Source: Deadline)