Three things America loves: Matt Damon, Christian Bale and fast cars. There is just something about that trio that rubs our country the right way and that is apparent today because Damon and Bale’s Ford V Ferrari sped into first place this weekend at the North American box office. The picture claimed $31,037,000 in its opening weekend and nabbed the coveted A+ rating from CinemaScore, both of which surely delighted 20th Century Fox and their parent company Disney. Studios always get jazzed when adult-aimed fare does well at the box office, especially in a world where it feels that only superheroes, sequels and horror movies do well.
The better-than-expected opening for Ford V Ferrari is pretty much the only great news on the chart this weekend. No other film came remotely close to James Mangold’s race car drama. Hell, no other movie on the list even hit double digits. Things were awfully quite at theaters aside from the sound of Ford V Ferarri’s engine humming.
Let’s talk about Charlie’s Angels, the Elizabeth Banks film that only pulled in an abysmal $8,600,000 to capture third place. It seems that Sony abandoned the project, neglecting it with little to no support or advertising. They obviously were lowering their expectations long before the movie hit theaters. In fact, reports are saying that Sony never really had a lot of faith in the project from the jump. It has had problems since the beginning which is a damn shame because we need more female-driven action films. But this thing was definitely D.O.A. and that’s embarrassing any way you cut it. It won’t be the end of Elizabeth Banks’s directing career, she will be fine. But it will likely be the end of any more Charlie’s Angels movies for awhile. Maybe the three young ladies will return to TV in the future but their time on the big screen has surely reached its end. Blame the script, blame Sony, blame the audience. Blame whoever you want but these box office numbers ensure this franchise is dead as disco.
Midway held pretty strong, only dropping to number two while the rest of the newcomers from last week all fell a bit harder. Doctor Sleep continues to snore while, surprisingly, Playing With Fire is the film from that pack that is doing best. Go figure. The Good Liar didn’t bring out much of a crowd, only raking in $5,656,000. See, not ALL dramas aimed at adults do well. Don’t expect to see The Good Liar 2: Even Better Lies any time soon.
Let’s end the week talking about Warner Bros’ baby, Joker. The film, coming in at number eight this weekend, crossed the $1 billion threshold (globally of course). It now sits with a worldwide total of $1.017 billion which is really just straight-up crazy. It is the first R-rated film to hit that milestone and is more successful than anyone really imagined. WB couldn’t be happier about this runaway hit.
Next weekend is a big one with 21 Bridges, A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood and the sequel to some little-known animated film Frozen hitting theaters. As usual, you can expect to see Disney end up on top.
