Moana Moans While Odyssey Delivers - Weeks 11 & 12

 

Let’s start with the real news… Director (and writer!) Christopher Nolan has done it again. The Odyssey isn’t just an epic movie, it’s an epic smash. In a world where Hollywood wants to bring back 80’s toys to sell movies in the 21st century, this guy brings out 600 page books on the father of the atomic bomb and a guy in desperate need of Apple Maps and movie fans come flocking. His latest films’ mixture of high-art and pop culture appeal feels like something that hasn’t been achieved since The Godfather. 

As such, The Odyssey sailed away with a $123.5 million maiden voyage. While this gross may seem lower than other blockbusters, fans specifically are trying to see this film in IMAX theaters and would rather wait then to see it on smaller screens. Case in point, its Monday screenings were $20 million and the next closest film, Moana, made $2 million on that same day. Clearly, folks are still coming out to see this movie in droves. 

This is also a $40 million larger opening than Oppenheimer which went on to gross $330 million, so cinephiles and theater owners both have a lot to be happy about.

Meanwhile, the coin toss on whether a live-action remake works or not continues. It worked for Lilo & Stitch and How to Train Your Dragon. It didn’t work for Snow White, Dumbo (I seriously forgot that even came out!), and now Moana. The revival of a ten-year old film debuted with $43 million which is even less than Dumbo’s (again, had no idea) $44 million start in 2019. 

For a movie based on a property that is the highest streamed movie in the history of Disney+, it’s just a crazy combination of what went wrong. Too soon? Too same? Too Rock? Who knows. Its 58% drop in week 2 shows that this will be available on Disney+ soon and even then it will probably be watched less than the original Moana. 

 

The Top Five If Today Was Labor Day:

#1. Toy Story 5 - $430 million

#2. Obsession - $258 million

#3. The Devil Wears Prada 2 - $221 million

#4. Backrooms - $196 million

#5. The Mandalorian and Grogu - $178 million

Toy Story Mania, Minions Float, Supergirl Sinks - Weeks 8 - A Lot

 Apparently a lot and nothing at all can happen when you take a few weeks off in June. 

Toy Story 5 popped open the Jack-In-The-Box with a $159.7 million debut. Clearly, this film knew how to properly “blockbuster” as opposed to a lot of the films this summer. While I was terrified that Taylor Swift’s song was going to break me as much as Sarah McLachlan’s “When She Loved Me” song from Toy Story 2, it was thankfully just a throw-away song during the end credits. Crisis averted!

Minions and Monsters banana-ed its way to $62 million over all five days of the elongated 4th of July weekend. That smells more like a fart gun than a dart gun. Maybe it can keep rolling through the month, but this was the slowest beginning of a Minion/Despicable Me movie. Have they finally met their arch enemy… OverExposure?!

Meanwhile, Supergirl was sadly anything but with a $37.1 start. When people bring up things like Morbius has a bigger opening, this is not the Morbin’ Time Warner Bros. was hoping for. Now while we all hear cries of “superhero fatigue” whenever films like this falter, they never mention those same words when Deadpool & Wolverine and the upcoming Spider-Man film debut with $200 million. When a film never gets above the 60’s in testing scores, that’s not because it’s a superhero movie.  

With many big films going sideways, the two low-budget superstars of the season, Obsession and Backrooms, were able to keep putting butts in seats. Can Moana sail her way into the Top 5 this weekend or are the only final players of the season coming in a Trojan Horse and Tangled Web He Weaves? We’ll find out…  

 

The Top Five If Today Was Labor Day:

#1. Toy Story 5 - $365 million

#2. Obsession - $245 million

#3. The Devil Wears Prada 2 - $220 million

#4. Backrooms - $190 million

#5. The Mandalorian and Grogu - $176 million