Let Him Go: Kevin Costner drama wins box office weekend

Last Updated on July 30, 2021

Costner and Lane take the top!

Amid the ongoing pandemic (and seemingly endless U.S. election), moviegoers headed to see the new drama LET HIM GO to land it in first place at the box office this weekend with an estimated opening of $4.1 million.

The reunion of MAN OF STEEL's Ma and Pa Kent (Kevin Costner and Diane Lane) was released on 2450 screens by Focus Features, who claimed the top spot last weekend with the horror movie COME PLAY.

Directed by Thomas Bezucha (THE FAMILY STONE) and adapted from Larry Watson's novel, the R-rated thriller follows Costner's retired lawman and his wife trying to rescue their recently widowed daughter-in-law and grandson from an off-grid family.

The latest modern Western from Costner received relatively decent marks from critics, with an average of 75% on Rotten Tomatoes and a Metacritic score of 64. You can gallop over to the JoBlo review HERE.

Moving to second place was the PG-13 supernatural thriller COME PLAY with $1.7 million, dropping by 45% from its Halloween weekend debut for a ten-day domestic total of $5.6 million.

In third place was the family comedy THE WAR WITH GRANDPA with $1.5 million (a gain from last weekend). The PG-rated Robert De Niro prank fight has a domestic total of $13.4 million after five weeks in release.

Liam Neeson's PG-13 crime-thriller HONEST THIEF was in fourth place with $1.1 million for a domestic total of $11.1 million and $18 million worldwide on its fourth weekend.

Filmmaker Christopher Nolan's PG-13 espionage thriller TENET was in fifth place with $905,000 (also a slight boost from last week). After two-and-a-half months in domestic release, the $200 million action epic has collected a domestic total of $55.1 million and over $350 million worldwide before it arrives on home video next month.

Just in time for its 25th (!!!) anniversary, Disney plucked the computer-animated classic TOY STORY out of the archives this weekend for $505,000 on 2100 screens. 

The G-rated 1995 debut feature from Pixar, with Tom Hanks and Tim Allen as plaything chums Woody and Buzz Lightyear, has a cumulative domestic total of $192.3 million (not adjusted for inflation). In 2009, a 3-D version was released as a double-feature with TOY STORY 2, adding another $30 million to its bank.

In seventh place was the R-rated horror movie THE EMPTY MAN with $277,000, taking the comic book adaptation to a domestic total of $2.7 million after three weekends. 

Filling out the rest of the list was the new crime-drama sequel TRUE TO THE GAME 2, the Appalachian Hoodoo horror movie SPELL, and the X-MEN spinoff THE NEW MUTANTS for one more time on the chart before it arrives on home video on November 17.

With coronavirus cases continuing to increase in North Amerca, the outlook for future movie releases keeps getting grim. The Blumhouse body-swap horror-comedy FREAKY arrives next week, and Universal's animated sequel THE CROODS: A NEW AGE is planned for Thanksgiving weekend. But both the Ryan Reynolds comedy FREE GUY and the ensemble mystery DEATH ON THE NILE have been yanked off the 2020 calendar, leaving the Christmas Day premiere of WONDER WOMAN 1984 as the only major wide release still scheduled for the rest of the year.

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