John Wick is a man of few words. But if money talks, his movies say a mouthful.
Much like its main character, John Wick: Chapter 4 mowed down its competitors and roared to a $73.5 million opening weekend in North America. That’s the biggest debut in the franchise’s history, beating John Wick: Chapter 3—Parabellum’s $56.8 million.
The world-weary assassin also banked $64 million overseas, landing at No. 1 in all 71 global marketplaces it opened. That brings John Wick: Chapter 4’s overall tally to $137 million. Also worth noting: This R-rated actioner is nearly three hours long, which meant fewer showings, which theoretically meant smaller box-office returns. And that makes Chapter 4’s performance all the more noteworthy.
Not that Mr. Wick had that much competition.
After slipping to third last week, Creed III climbed the ropes back to second place, earning $10.4 million. The boxing flick has earned $140.9 million in its four-week run, which pushes the movie’s earnings past both of its predecessors.
Shazam! Fury of the Gods can’t say the same. The superhero flick lost nearly 70% of its weekend-over-weekend audience—way off the pace of the original Shazam!—and earned a mere $9.7 million, pushing its domestic total to $46.3 million. Given that Variety estimates that Warner Bros. spent about $210 million to make and promote the film, Fury of the Gods may stir the fury of Warner Bros.’ accountants.
Scream VI finished fourth with $8.4 million, bringing its grand total to $89.9 million. Meanwhile, 65 shot its way to less than $3.3 million to finish fifth.
As for the box office’s other newcomers, both underperformed. A Good Person had a not-so-good opening weekend, earning $834,000 to finish 12th. And The Lost King feels like a lost cause, gathering a mere $575,000 to stagger into 13th. Perhaps Richard III (the movie’s titular lost king) should have shouted, “An audience, an audience! My kingdom for an audience!”
One Response
“nearly three hours long, which meant fewer showings”
That’s a really good point, but bear in mind that Avatar 2 was also three hours long (why??), so if I were most theatres, I probably would have just doubled up on screenings and squeezed out some film that wasn’t performing well.