The weekend box office will again be topped by Pixar’s “Hoppers,” with Universal bringing its third adaptation of a Colleen Hoover novel, “Reminders of Him,” to theaters, and A24 hoping its indie horror entry, “Undertone,” can exceed expectations.
Thursday previews are already hinting at the openings for the latter two films: “Reminders of Him” earned $1.9M yesterday and is tracking toward a $20M+ weekend.
A24’s “Undertone,” which premiered at Fantasia last year, collected $1M on Thursday. Made for around $500,000, it’s looking at a potential $9M+ opening—a big win for low-budget filmmaking. I have yet to see this film but plan on doing so this weekend.
“The Bride!” — coming off a terrible opening weekend — is about to fall further. Maggie Gyllenhaal’s $90M+ arthouse horror earned $370k on Thursday and is projected to see a 70% plunge in its second weekend, bringing in around $3M.
As for Pixar, “Hoppers” wraps its first week at $58.2M, outperforming previous Pixar summer originals: “Elemental” ($47M), “Elio” ($31M), and even the pre-pandemic “Onward” ($49M). The animated hit is set to dominate the weekend again, with an estimated $30M in its sophomore frame—a 48% drop if these numbers hold.
Next week, “Hoppers” will likely be dethroned as “Project Hail Mary” is projected for an incredible opening, with some internal tracking hinting as high as $80M. This is shaping up to be the first major cultural movie event of the year.
I can confirm that Joel Coen’s “Jack of Spades” is based on Frances Frederica Montrésor’s 1901 novel “The Alien: A Story of Middle Age.” It’s a ghost story. A gothic mystery.