Box Office: ‘Hoppers’ ($41M+), ‘The Bride’ ($8M+), ‘Scream 7’ to Drop Whopping 74% — Readers’ Thoughts?

Technically, if there’s an arthouse in your area playing “The President’s Cake,” “Nirvana The Band The Show The Movie,” “A Poet,” and “Young Mothers,” then good—some even great—movies can currently be seen in theaters.

If you’re only surrounded by AMCs and Regals, then the main options this weekend seem to be “Hoppers” and “The Bride”—unless you’ve only decided to go see “Scream 7” this weekend. “Wuthering Heights” is also trudging along, having recently hit a $200M global tally.

Let’s start with the $150M-costing “Hoppers,” Pixar’s latest, an original story, a good (not great) film that leans heavily on energy and fun. Driven by good reviews and an “A” CinemaScore, the film had a $13M Friday and is now eyeing an impressive $41M weekend—the best opening for an original Pixar since 2017’s “Coco” nabbed $50M.

Then there’s Maggie Gyllenhaal’s “The Bride,” budgeted at $90–$100M, which is having a hard time finding an audience. The film earned $3M on Friday and might not even crack the $8M mark by weekend’s end. The CinemaScore is actually higher than I thought it would be, earning a “C+” grade—I expected somewhere in the “D” range.

Meanwhile, Paramount is estimating a $16.3M second weekend for “Scream 7” ($92M total), a drop of -74%. That would be the worst second-weekend drop for the franchise. It’s also worse than the second weekend of “Scream 6” ($17.3M, -61%). That’s what happens when you make a mediocre movie—word of mouth, or lack thereof, is the main reason for these numbers.

No, really—after last weekend’s franchise-record opening, “Scream 6” and “Scream 7” could end up with similar box office totals once all is said and done. That said, “Scream 8” is still on the way, as these films are made with relatively modest budgets of $35–45M each.

So, that just about covers it for now. What are our readers seeing this weekend? If you already saw something on Thursday or Friday, chime in with your thoughts below in the comments.

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August 19, 2019

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Critics Poll: ‘Vertigo’ Named Best Film of the 1950s, Over 120 Participants

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