I’ve been on a bit of a break with recent releases, skipping screenings these last few weeks. August tends to be the time of the year when the major studios dump their summer leftovers.
This break also gives me time to reboot before my attendance at TIFF and NYFF, where I’m expected to watch over 60 movies in a span of just a few weeks. ‘Tis the season for, hopefully, quality filmmaking.
However, I was convinced by a few of our readers to buy a ticket for Neil Blomkamp’s “Gran Turismo.” I’ll post my thoughts on Monday. The reviews have been mediocre — 59% on Rotten Tomatoes — but audience reactions have been very good.
Solid word-of-mouth could explain why ‘Turismo’ is exceeding expectations at the box-office this weekend. It was supposed to gross around $10 million, but now pundits are saying it’ll nab $17+ million.
Blomkamp’s film nabbed an A CinemaScore, 5 stars from PostTrak and a strong 7.3 on IMDb. This has clearly led to it overperforming at the box-office. Compare it to “Blue Beetle,” which fell a whopping 61% this weekend, with a projected $10 million gross expected in its second weekend of release.
“Gran Turismo” might in fact dethrone “Barbie” from the #1 spot this weekend. Meanwhile, “Oppenheimer” is staying strong in fourth place, it’s become Nolan’s third highest-grossing film domestically as its expected to cross the $300 million mark my Monday.
It does look as though the ‘Barbenheimer’ storm has calmed down. We’re now looking ahead at some fairly quiet weeks at the box-office in September, unless “The Equalizer,” “The Nun II,” “Saw X” or “The Expend4bles” defy expectations.
This is the adaptation of the nonfiction book by Dan Schilling and Lori Longfritz. It wrapped production in February and has been in post-production ever since. The film test-screened a few months ago.