In a box-office upset, Sony holdover Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse edged out Pixar’s Elemental to win the weekend in its fourth outing.
Rarely does a film reclaim the top spot like that amid fierce summer competition.
Spidey took in an estimated $19.3 million as it raced past the $300 million mark domestically to finish Sunday with a North American total of $317.1 million and an impressive $560.3 million worldwide.
Elemental took in estimated $18.5 million upon falling only 39 percent in its second weekend, a strong hold after suffering the worst start in the modern history of Pixar. The film’s hold means it’s being helped by strong word of mouth. The pic’s domestic 10-day total is $65.5 million. Overseas, it earned $31.3 million as it expanded into a total of 40 markets for a foreign tally of $55.6 million and $121.1 million. The Disney/Pixar release has numerous major markets left in which to open, and continued to shine in territories including South Korea, Argentina and the Philippines, where it is already the top-grossing film of 2023.
The news for DC and Warner Bros.’ big-budget superhero pic The Flash — which opened last weekend opposite Elemental to sobering $55.1 million — grew worse as it fell off 72 percent to $15.3 million for a domestic cume of $87.6 million. Unlike Elemental, The Flash received poor exit scores. (The studio had hoped for a decline of 55 percent.) Insiders concede the film, starring Ezra Miller, is a huge miss and is being rejected by audiences on a wholesale basis.
Miller was arrested multiple times last year, culminating in the actor issuing a statement in August 2022 apologizing for their behavior and saying they would receive help for “complex mental health issues.” Miller did no press for The Flash in the months leading up to the pic’s release aside from walking the red carpet at the film’s Los Angeles premiere and making brief remarks.
Overseas, The Flash is also underwhelming, earning $26.6 million in its second weekend from 76 markets for foreign cume of $123.3 million and $210.9 million globally.
With two summer tentpoles — The Flash and Elemental — doing far less business than expected overall, domestic weekend revenue came in 19 percent behind last year and 47 percent behind 2019. Or, put another way, not one film earned more than $20 million during a prime June weekend.
The Flash barely beat new entry No Hard Feelings, Sony’s comedy starring Jennifer Lawrence.
No Hard Feelings opened to an estimated $15.1 million, ahead of expectations in a good sign for a raft of raunchy, R-rated comedies opening this summer (at the same time, the film hardly did the kind of business the genre once enjoyed.) I
n Gene Stupnitsky’s movie, Lawrence stars alongside Andrew Barth Feldman in the story of a woman hired by an awkward teen’s parents to boost his confidence by dating him.
Overseas, No Hard Feelings started off with $9.5 million from 48 markets for a worldwide opening of $24.6 million.
Numbers for the top movies could shift once weekend actuals are tallied.
Paramount and Skydance’s Transformers: Rise of the Beasts rounded out the top five in North America with $11.6 million to finish its third weekend with $122.9 million domestically. It earned another $11.6 million overseas for a foreign total of $218.3 million and $340.4 million globally.
Wes Anderson’s Asteroid City also did better than expected as it expanded nationwide in the U.S. The Focus Features picture came in No. 6 with an estimated $9 million for a domestic cume of $10.2 million. Asteroid City marks a record for Anderson. Focus president of distribution Lisa Bunnell said, “It’s fantastic to see the best weekend that Wes Anderson has ever had at the box office to reignite the specialty marketplace.”
Disney’s live-action The Little Mermaid is on the brink of crossing the $500 million threshold globally.
