The summer box office is off to a busy start as Disney/20th Century’s “The Devil Wears Prada 2” has earned $33 million on its opening day from 4,150 locations including $10 million from previews.
With this start, industry estimates have the legacyquel starring Meryl Streep and Anne Hathaway earning a domestic opening weekend of $80.5 million, which would match the launch of Amazon MGM’s recent hit “Project Hail Mary” and hit the top end of pre-release projections.
Driven by women, particularly those over the age of 40 who saw the original “Prada” in theaters back in 2006, “Prada 2” is enjoying positive reception across the board with an A- on CinemaScore and Rotten Tomatoes scores of 77% critics and 88% audience. It’s a strong foundation to what should be a theatrical run that exceeds the $190.2 million domestic/$382.4 million run of Marvel Studios’ “Thunderbolts*,” which came out on this weekend last year.
More good news for theaters came from Lionsgate’s “Michael,” which has exceeded projections again with a $14.4 million second Friday and is on pace for a $51 million second weekend, which would be a remarkable 48% drop from the film’s $97 million weekend.
Having passed $300 million worldwide on Friday and set to pass $400 million on Sunday, “Michael” has passed “Elvis” to become the second highest grossing music biopic of all time and is in hot pursuit of the $906 million genre record of “Bohemian Rhapsody.” Lionsgate estimates a two-weekend total of $180 million domestic and $413 million worldwide.
Spring holdovers “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie” and “Project Hail Mary” continue to endure this weekend, with “Mario” passing $400 million domestic with $12.1 million in its fifth weekend while “Hail Mary” adds just under $9 million in its seventh weekend.
Completing the top 5 is an indie horror newcomer with Neon’s “Hokum,” which industry estimates have opening to $6 million from 1,860 locations. Starring Adam Scott as a traumatized writer who finds himself in a haunted Irish hotel, the film has earned a B on CinemaScore and RT scores of 86% critics and 85% audience.
Outside the top 5 is Angel’s “Animal Farm,” Andy Serkis’ animated adaptation of the George Orwell novel of the same name which is flaming out fast with an industry estimated $3.2 million opening from 2,600 locations. Critics have panned the film with a 23% Rotten Tomatoes score, and audience reception isn’t much better with a C- on CinemaScore.
More to come…