Sony’s anti-superhero movie Brightburn (read our review) had the bad luck of not only opening against Disney’s Aladdin, but also having to compete with John Wick: Chapter 3, Pokemon Detective Pikachu, and Avengers: Endgame. The holiday weekend was a crowded one, and even counterprogramming couldn’t give the horror film liftoff.
Directed by David Yarovesky from producer James Gunn, the film opened with an estimated only $7.5M here in the States and $15.3M globally. The good news is that the film is budgeted around $6M, which means it only needs essentially $30M worldwide to break even. This shouldn’t be a problem and leaves a glimmer of hope for those wanting a sequel. Still, a fall opening would have yielded much better results.
Elizabeth Banks stars in Brightburn, a super-villain origin story that takes the core concept of Superman and flips it. In the film, a young boy (Jackson A. Dunn) not of this world is taken in by human parents who believe him to be special. But not all who wear capes are heroes.
John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum (read our review) stuck to its guns and continues to collect gold coins. It added another $24M domestically for a global total of $175M. The third film in the soon-to-be saga had a reported budget of $55M, which means it’s in the profit threshold. A fourth film has unsurprisingly already been dated for 2021.
Sony Screen Gems’ thriller The Intruder (review) quietly had a strong opening with an estimated $11M domestic take and managed another $2.2M this weekend. With a budget reportedly in the $8M range, the film needs to see $30m globally to break even. It’s currently sitting at $32.6M. Home video franchise anyone?
In the film directed by Deon Taylor’s (Chain Letter), when a young married couple (Michael Ealy and Meagan Good) buys their dream house in the Napa Valley, they think they have found the perfect home to take their next steps as a family. But when the strangely attached seller (Dennis Quaid) continues to infiltrate their lives, they begin to suspect that he has hidden motivations beyond a quick sale.