With the summer season drawing to a close, the North American film market entered a lackluster autumn season last weekend. Since Monday fell on Labor Day in the United States, it was a short weekend. However, due to the lack of blockbuster releases, the weekend box office charts were topped by the four-week-old film "The Weapon." This critically acclaimed R-rated horror film grossed $10.21 million over the three-day weekend, bringing its North American total to $130 million. Warner Bros. is undoubtedly poised to profit from this low-budget film.
At 8:00 AM on January 23, 2023, Zach Craig, the writer and director of "The Weapon," simultaneously sent the script to several Hollywood studios. Just an hour later, Michael De Luca, head of Warner Bros.'s film division, was the quickest to make the final decision, beating out competitors like Universal Pictures. Looking back now, De Luca's boldness and decisiveness have earned him the admiration of many of his peers.
Jaws 50th Anniversary Re-release Poster
Coming in second place at the weekend box office is a truly venerable film, but its original production was made possible by a rare act of decisiveness. To commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of Jaws, Universal Pictures re-released the film in 3,220 North American theaters last weekend, unexpectedly earning $8.1 million in three days. Legendary Universal producer Richard Zanuck, through industry insiders, obtained a copy of the Jaws novel before its official publication. He then spent a single night reading it and decided to acquire the film rights, leading to what would become a seminal North American summer blockbuster.
At present, according to the actual value after inflation, the total North American box office of "Jaws" in the past 50 years has reached 1.18 billion US dollars, ranking seventh in the actual box office value in film history after "Gone with the Wind", "Star Wars", "The Sound of Music", "ET the Extraterrestrial", "Titanic" and "The Ten Commandments".
Austin Butler stars in "Gone with the Wind."
Starting from the third position on the weekend box office chart, new films began to appear. "Caught Stealing," directed by Darren Aronofsky ("The Code," "Black Swan") and starring Austin Butler, Regina King, Zoë Kravitz, and Matt Smith, opened in 3,578 theaters and only grossed $7.82 million. The film, played by Austin Butler, tells the story of a man who becomes embroiled in a fatal disaster while babysitting a neighbor's pet cat. It holds a respectable 84% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, but audiences haven't been enthusiastic.
Zoë Kravitz and Austin Butler in "Gibberish."
Darren Aronofsky is a director who is very good at inspiring the potential of actors. Whether it is Mickey Rourke in "The Wrestler", Natalie Portman in "Black Swan", or Brendan Fraser in his previous work "The Whale", they all rely on him to reach new heights in their acting careers. I wonder which one of the actors in "The Italian Job" can take advantage of this to catch the award season.
Darren Aronofsky on set with the actor who plays Cats, who steals the show.
Another new release this weekend was Searchlight Pictures' romantic comedy "The Roses." Directed by Jay Roach and starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Olivia Colman, the film tells the story of a perfect middle-aged couple facing marital crisis. Despite the powerful performances of these two actors, the film received rather mediocre reviews, with a Rotten Tomatoes rating of just 64%. It opened in North America with a mere $6.35 million from 2,700 theaters.
Benedict Cumberbatch and Olivia Colman play husband and wife in "Rose."
Furthermore, the English-dubbed version of "Nezha" saw its second weekend of release see its screenings plummet from 2,228 theaters to 756, with its three-day box office revenue shrinking from $1.54 million to $260,000. Clearly, this A24-led re-release was unsuccessful, as North American audiences who were interested in the film had already had their wish fulfilled during the original screening.
Overall, last weekend's North American box office totaled approximately $65 million, a 23% year-on-year decrease. From January 1 to August 30 of this year, the cumulative North American box office was approximately $5.99 billion, a year-on-year increase of only 4%. The total North American summer box office revenue was $3.67 billion, a slight decrease of 0.2% compared to last year, but a significant decrease of 10.2% compared to 2023.
