Weekend Box Office: Barbenheimer continues its dominance while The Demeter sinks

Last week it had seemed that the reign of Barbenheimer was over when Jason Statham came in between the two, but like all things that are meant to be together, this week sees the duo return to their rightful spots at one and two on the charts. Of course number one is the juggernaut that is Barbie with an additional $33.7 million added to its massive $526.3 million domestic take and nearly $1.2 billion in worldwide grosses. Those numbers officially put Greta Gerwig at the top of the charts for highest grossing female director of all time, pretty good for only her third solo directing gig. I wonder if she will keep her streak alive at the Academy Awards where she has been nominated for both of her previous films, Director and Screenplay for 2017’s Lady Bird and Screenplay for 2019’s Little Women. I would put money on it right now that she does, as I think Barbie is a shoo in for at the very least a Screenplay nomination, although I also think Ryan Gosling should get a nomination for his pitch perfect comedic performance as Ken.

Second place will once again go to the Christopher Nolan directed Oppenheimer with an additional $18.8 million added to its quite impressive $264.2 million domestic total. That number puts it just $6.1 million away from becoming the top grossing film of all time to never reach number one on the domestic box office charts, a record currently held by Sing 2 with $270.3. I kind of like that Oppenheimer will have that accomplishment and hope that it never overtakes Barbie for first place. Right now Oppenheimer sits at number eight on the all time worldwide charts for highest grossing R rated films as it officially passed The Passion of the Christ this weekend, but many people think if momentum can hold up, Oppenheimer can eventually pass Deadpool 2’s $785.8 million for the second place spot while some also believe it can join Joker in the billion dollar club. I certainly think that is possible as the film continues to impress week by week. You can expect a big Oscar push for this one and if there is any justice in the world by this time next year it will be Academy Award Winners Christopher Nolan, Robert Downey Jr and Cillian Murphy, and maybe even Emily Blunt.

Moving up in the world is Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem with a sub 50% drop for a $15.7 million finish and a running total of $72.7 million domestic. With a lack of family programming in the market place right now, you can expect Mutant Mayhem to have some pretty strong legs over the next few weeks as it slowly tries to recoup its $70 million budget before marketing costs.

Dropping down to fourth place is Meg 2: The Trench with an estimated $12.7 million and a running total of $54.5 million, which represents a 58% drop from its second place opening. Those numbers may seem light, especially when you consider the original had pulled in $83.7 million by the same point in its respective run. But as we all know, domestic numbers are not the entire story and the producers of The Meg franchise know this. Worldwide the film is nearing the $200 million mark as it is seeing strong numbers overseas, especially in China where the film opened with a phenomenal $53.4 million. With numbers like that, I wouldn’t be surprised if we actually see a Meg 3 at some point down the road. Personally, I was very disappointed with part 2, but id be lying if I said I wouldn’t go see a third film!

Rounding out the top five is the only big new release of the week The Last Voyage of the Demeter which did even worse than we predicted and absolutely cratered with just $6.5 million. The film carries a relative cheap (by today’s standards) $45 million price tag which I doubt it will come close to touching in its theatrical run. This one may play pretty well once it hits home video as the fall season comes and more people begin their Halloween movie playlists. The good news is that a lot of the people who have seen the film have enjoyed it with Stephen King and Guillermo Del Toro recently giving the tale of Dracula their seals of approval. Of course critical consensus seems to be that the movie just doesn’t live up to its promising premise. You can check out Jessica Dwyer’s 8/10 review here.

Sixth place belongs to Disney’s Haunted Mansion with an additional $5.6 million added to its disappointing domestic total of $52.8 million. Seventh place belongs to a movie I saw this past week: A24’s Talk To Me which continued its solid theatrical run with an additional $5.1 million added to its domestic total of $31.3 million. Those are solid numbers for a movie that cost under $5 million to produce. And I must say: every dollar this film has made is 100% earned! It is an excellent and effectively creepy little horror movie. I can not wait to see the already filmed prequel and the just announced sequel! Eighth place belongs to the other big movie of summer 2023: Sound of Freedom, with an additional $5.1 million. I finally saw Sound of Freedom this past week and must say: I found it to be quite entertaining. I know there is a lot of chatter around the movie, the liberties it takes with the truth and some of the comments made by its star, but if you wash away anything you have read and just take in the film on its own merits, it is actually a really solid story of a man doing all he could to help trafficked children. Sure, it gets a little cheesy at points, but ultimately, when the lights went up I was perfectly satisfied with what I had just witnessed.

Ninth place belongs to Mission: Impossible- Dead Reckoning Part One with an additional $4.6 million added to its domestic total of $159.5 million while the past two weeks we have seen the Indian language film Rocky Our Rani Kii Prm Kahaani finish in the top ten, this week sees a new Indian language film emerge as Jailer was able to secure $2.5 million in its domestic debut.

Did you make it out to theaters this weekend? If so, let us know what you saw in the comments section and don’t forget to take our weekly poll where we ask: What is your favorite A24 Film?