‘Top Gun’ Takes Flight With a Side of ‘Bob’s Burgers’ - Weeks 3 and 4

Memorial Day Weekends are a time to celebrate, remember, and honor all those who have given all for our nation. Since the 80’s, this weekend has also often been about the biggest movies of the year. From Star Wars to Indiana Jones, Memorial Day Weekends became a time to stand in line with friends and families for hours: first to just get the tickets and then to get into the entrance line. To think, now I just reserve seats on my app weeks in advance and walk in 20 minutes after the trailers start… but at least I never miss Nicole Kidman at the AMC theaters telling me “Heartbreak feels good in a place like this!”

As time has moved on the “biggest” weekends have shifted a little to the first weekend of May and July 4 for the summer season. Seriously, Hollywood sent out both Sex in the City 2 and Prince of Persia: Sands of Time (great video game, terrible movie) to theaters over the Memorial Day Weekend in 2010. Talk about not even trying! The Lego sets based on one of those movies were already 80% off at Target the next weekend, but I’m not saying which one.

Last year, Hollywood rallied and waited until Memorial Day Weekend to start their truncated “Please come back to the theaters” summer season. A Quiet Place II and Cruella combined for the biggest weekend since the pandemic with a combined $69 million. It was a nice showing, which may not look like much against historic weekends, but the previous week’s two films (Spiral and Wrath of Man) combined for $7.6 million, so, yeah… It was a big deal in the moment. Thankfully, Tom Cruise was noticing and said I think we can do better.

Top Gun: Maverick buzzed the box-office to a Memorial Day Weekend record $160.5 million 4-day total! Fanboys and fangirls (and lots of people in my age demographic) flocked to theaters for the first time in literally years to ride into the Danger Zone one more time. With an extra week before Jurassic World: Dominion flies into theaters June 10, it looks like open skies for Maverick!

Much was also made about how this was the biggest opening weekend in Tom Cruise’s career. I’m not even sure how that was possible?! I thought surely one of the Mission: Impossible films or something had to be a $100 million debut. Nope. His largest start was $64 million with War of the Worlds in 2005. Unbelievable! How this guy has been this successful without having a superhero, a hobbit, a cartoon character, a YouTube channel, or even a wizard in Harry Potter to his name is baffling. 

By the way, I thought it was nice how the movie wasn’t even hiding its past as the first music note heard was straight from the original Harold Faltermeyer Top Gun Anthem song in 1986. This wasn’t intentional irony or a wink to the crowd. This was alerting the audience that this is a Top Gun movie and we’re going to do it right. Based on the 99% audience score, I’d say Mission: Accomplished.

On the flipped side, The Bob’s Burger Movie grossed $14.8 million. I can’t imagine this film cost too much to make, so I’d think this is a success. It just won’t be a player in the Top Five.

Similarly, Downton Abbey: A New Era opened with $16 million last week and has made $30 million so far. Once again, I wouldn’t think it costs too much to have people talk in funny British accents, especially if they already have them, so this film should be a profitable one… just not something we’ll see in the eventual Top Five with Minions… because no one wants to hear a Minion with a British accent. 

Dr. Strange in The Multiverse of Madness did slow its decent the last few weekends (drops of 47% and 50%), so it has not “tanked” the way some films due that open to huge numbers and then stop. The Doctor is already “in” to the tune of $370.4 million and I’d be surprised if it doesn’t cross $400 million by the time he’s hitting the links at 2pm. Will that be enough to hold off the U.S. Navy and every other “heavy” hitter coming this summer? Time will tell…

The Top Five If Today Was Labor Day:

#1. Dr. Strange in the Multiverse of Madness - $370.4 million

#2. Top Gun: Maverick - $160 million

#3. Downton Abbey: A New Era - $30 million

#4. The Bob’s Burger Movie - $14.8 million

#5. Firestarter - $8.1 million

‘Firestarter’ Flames-Out; ‘Dr. Strange’ Suffers Fall - Week 2

Remakes are tricky things. Do you try to show how different you are from the original film or do you try to make it look like it’s the same thing with just a fresh coat of paint? Firestarter seemed to do neither of the above by making it look like the exact same thing without even painting the damn house. 

I swear, the first time I saw the new poster I thought it was advertising the 1984 movie as like some 40th Anniversary Edition of the Drew Barrymore film. When I log onto Peacock, I’m not even sure which icon is for the new movie and which one is for the old one they dusted-off unless I look at the year in the small print. Was the marketing strategy to trick people into seeing the new version when they’re trying to watch the old one?

Good news… Apparently, no one wanted to catch either movie! The 2022 version burned-up on re-entry as it debuted to a $3.8 million total. That’s amazingly even worse than the 1984 version fared when it started with a $4.7 million weekend! Truth be told, $4.7 million wasn’t “terrible” in 1984, but it still wasn’t great. 

While we can all hope this leads to a remake of Maximum Overdrive, which even Stephen King admits he was coked out of brain while writing and directing his first (and only) film, there’s nothing funny about Dr. Strange and its massive fall from Week 1 to Week 2.

Dr. Strange in the Multiverse of Madness summoned $61.8 million to bring its total gross to $292.6 million. Really good stuff, by most accounts. There’s something sour in the sugar that makes his medicine go down, though, and that’s a 67% drop between Strange’s first and second weekend. A drop that happened with ZERO competition opening against it. 

The blockbusters with the best legs (staying power) usually dip 50-60% after massive weekends. A dip this high is not a good sign. However, ancient history may not be the best indicator for films released in pandemic/post-pandemic era. 

Fast 9 and Black Widow both had high 60% drops after opening last summer. Even the smash success of Spider-Man: No Way Home over the holiday season had a high 60% drop. Maybe this is the new norm with bigger front-loads and bigger collapses. Still, if Strange keeps falling at this rate, it may not take something magical for another film to surpass its total this season. 

The Top Five If Today Was Labor Day:

#1. Dr. Strange in the Multiverse of Madness - $292.6 million

#2. Firestarter - $3.8 million

#3. n/a

#4. n/a

#5. n/a

‘Dr. Strange’s’ Multiverse Causes Box-Office Madness - Week 1

In case anyone was still wondering why I didn’t do a Summer Blockbuster Pool in 2021, the #1 film a week ago this year was Wrath of Man which debuted with $8.3 million. You’re very forgiven if that title means nothing to you. Apparently, it starred Jeremy Statham and was directed by Guy Ritchie. I was originally going to write some typical “Who lets that guy keep making movies” comment, then Googled his filmography, and found that HE directed the live-action Aladdin?! I don’t even understand. What in his very specific genre of gritty English crime comedies says family-friendly musicals?

Yes, the 2021 season didn’t even really begin until Memorial Day weekend last year with A Quiet Place 2 and Cruella. That year only four films crossed the $100 million mark and none over the $200 million mark. Not exactly like 2019 with 11 films crossed $100 million, Aladdin and Spider-Man: Far From Home crossed $300 million, Toy Story 4 crossed $400 million, The Lion King (live-action/not live-action) remake crossed $500 million, and Endgame crossed $800 million. 

Enter the 2022 Summer Season where Dr. Strange in the Multiverse of Madness was ready to do his magic!

Casting a spell to conjure a $187.4 million opening, Dr. Strange clearly showed he was ready to play with the “big” Avengers. No other film even tried to compete and movie-goers didn’t want to flock to any other movie. It’s by far the biggest opening for a film since Spider-Man: No Way Home’s $250 debut in December, and that featured a prominent role from Benedict Cumberbatch’s Dr. Strange character as well. 

A couple of things to throw this film’s performance into context. One, the first Dr. Strange opened with $85.1 million in 2016. This was on the lower end of MCU origin films. Dr. Strange 2 improved that performance by over $100 million! Second, in one weekend Multiverse of Madness has already topped last summer’s #1 film, Black Widow, which finished with $183.7 million. Third, it’s already also topped the “We Don’t Talk About Bruno” film in the MCU, Eternals, which was on life-support to get to $164.9 million last holiday season. 

Suffice to say, Dr. Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is a hit. There’s no major film being released in the next two weekends. There’s a lot of money going to be made here. This seems like it’s going to be a hard film to knock-off the final Top Five come Labor Day… but Dr. Stranger things have happened. 

There’s not much else to recap this week. I’m going to “try” and be spoiler-free with puns and hold myself back from my Seinfeld-esque “So what’s the deal with…” comments for at least the first two weekends the movies are out. (You’ve been warned!) I’ve also put my own Top Five list with reasons below for those who are curious (or just want to laugh at me).  

By the way, I just have to say, having just re-read my Summer 2019 Week 1 Recap, there’s no way it’s only been three years since then. The "just this week" events I mention in that post were Taylor Swift's first song from her Lover album (back when she was doing pop records… two folk albums ago!), Joe Biden announcing that he’s running for president, and Avengers: Endgame setting the box-office opening record of $357.1 million. It’s insane that all of that was just three years ago… that was like 30 years ago! Was I blipped? I’m so confused. 

The Top Five If Today Was Labor Day:

#1. Dr. Strange in the Multiverse of Madness - $187.4 million

#2. n/a

#3. n/a

#4. n/a

#5. n/a

 

*****

Extra Bonus Section

 

As per the Week 1 tradition, here are my esteemed, extremely well thought-out and perpetually doomed to fail 2022 Summer Movie Pool prognostications. 

While I think there’s a world where Elvis, Nope, and DC Pets do fine, they weren’t Top Five contenders for me. Top Gun: Maverick is my honorable mention. I think this’ll end up in sixth, but the other sequels/franchises in my Top 5 have all had $300 million films THIS century, and that probably tops the 80’s nostalgia train… err, plane.   

So here’s what I really think will happen...

#1. Dr. Strange in the Multiverse of Madness - Basically, I just thought it would open big and then have two more competition-free weekends to keep making cash. No other film would have that advantage. I worried about Dr. Strange not being the “biggest” of the MCU brands (as I said, the first Strange is in the lower MCU totals), but banked on the Avengers and No Way Home fans to propel the second Strange to bigger heights. I went with a $410 million guesstimate for the total.   

 

#2. Jurassic World: Dominion - Thought about Thor here, but the last Jurassic World movie (Fallen Kingdom) made more than the last Thor movie (Ragnarok), so it makes sense that history will repeat itself.     

 

#3. Thor: Love & Thunder - Thor could clean-up as the last big-budget event film or lose some footing as films just keep coming out week after week. That left me to leave it here. 

 

#4. Lightyear - I really sweated out which film would make more between Lightyear and Minions 2. I wouldn’t be surprised at all if Minions made more as people know what that movie is and most still aren’t sure what’s going on with Lightyear. Still, if the words “Toy Story” get people out and the film delivers, Lightyear can be more than “just” a family film.  

  

#5. Minions 2: Rise of Gru - Those little yellow gibberish guys have literally been iconic since they first hit the screen in 2010. They’ll have a huge 4th of July weekend and I’m sure we’ll see them again in the theaters again soon.   

Good luck, everyone!

2022 Summer Movie List

As always, if I forgot some independent film about a stuffy, wig-wearing monarch or the 84th horror movie of the season, no apologies. I’m just listing the contenders here (or at least movies I couldn’t resist saying something about). Let’s get on with it!!! 

May 6
Dr. Strange in the Multiverse of Madness

There’s no truth to the rumor that I refused to do a Summer Blockbuster Pool unless it started with a Marvel movie… but it feels true. More importantly, I love a title that explains the plot. If you find anyone asking “Yeah, but what’s the movie about?”, just go into Lebron meme mode with your hands pointing to the title. Duh!

May 13

Firestarter

I’m not sure what’s more dated: the 90’s electronica band Prodigy’s Firestarter song or the original 80’s film of Firestarter that starred Drew Barrymore? What Pandemic Zoom Book Club Twitter Thread asked for this one to be redone?  

May 20

Downton Abbey: A New Era

There’s not much I can say about this series as I thought it was called “Downtown” for the first three years on TV. Oh, and this is a sequel to the first Downton Abbey film that I’d already forgot was even ever released in 2019? I’m so confused. Why didn’t Kenneth Branaugh try to kill this series instead of Agatha Christie books?  

May 27

Top Gun: Maverick

Pilots? Check. Beach volleyball? Check. Jets and motorcycles? Check and check. Tom Cruise flying his own planes? Why not? A world where Iceman became an admiral in the U.S. Navy? Not a chance. 

The Bob’s Burger Movie

Much like Downton Abbey, not my jam… but if they offered bacon jam on a Bob’s Burger, I’d be interested!

June 10

Jurassic World: Dominion

Finally, the Big 3 of the first Jurassic Park movie all come back in the same film for one last hurrah. Will they all be stepped-on at the same time by an Indominous Rex? They will if BD Wong has anything to say about it! Hopefully, Mr. DNA will be on hand to save them.

June 17

Lightyear

Uh, so apparently this is the real story of the fictional Buzz Lightyear toy. You see, Buzz was a space ranger in the future that somehow became a child’s play thing to Andy (and I assume millions of other kids) in the 90’s. Oh, and this movie feels like a kids version of Starship Troopers, for some reason. Pixar, you’ve done it again! 

June 24

Elvis

Director Baz Luhrmann can do great with the whack-a-doodle flicks like Strictly Ballroom, Romeo & Juliet, and Moulin Rouge. When he tries doing traditional films like Australia, maybe not so great. If Elvis turns out to be a whack-a-doodle traditional film, where will that fall on the scale? 

July 1

Minions: The Rise of Gru

With a Fourth of July Weekend all to itself, the Minions won’t need to bother trying to steal the moon this time. They’ll just settle for stealing family’s Apple Wallets with all the tickets, popcorn, and slurpees they’re going to buy.  

July 8 

Thor: Love and Thunder

I’ve been trying to think of which 80’s hair band would’ve been most likely to make a song called Love and Thunder. Seems like a total Poison song. Meanwhile, Thor becomes the first MCU franchise to reach a fourth movie. I hope he’s still rocking his Big Lebowski look from Endgame!

July 15

Bullet Train

Brad Pitt stars with a train full of colorful assassins after one attaché case on a round trip to action/comedy in Japan. 

July 22

Nope

Writer/Director Jordan Peele returns with another “What The…” movie as apparently something is happening at a movie ranch in California. Do we know what that is? Nope. 

July 29

DC League of Super Pets

The Rock and Kevin Hart just can’t stop making movies together. They have the two lead voices here in this animated movie about Superman’s dog Krypto having to save the world with a bunch of super powered pets. Yes, I’m sure Endgame would’ve been way better if the Pet Avengers had been the ones doing the Time Heist. 

August 5

Secret Headquarters

Owen Wilson and Michael Pena star in a movie about a kid who finds out his dad might secretly be a superhero? Does being in the endemic phase of COVID mean there are no good movies coming out in August?

August 12

The Man From Toronto

Kevin Hart (in live-action form) gets identities switched with a hit-man (played by Woody Harrelson) and hilarity ensues. Yup, time to start learning how to live in the endemic phase.