Everyone knows by now that if you say Beetlejuice’s name three times, bad things are gonna happen.
But what if his movie lands at the top of the box office three times?
Well, we’re one step closer to finding out. Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, the sequel 36 years in the making, topped the box office once again. It earned an estimated $51.6 million stateside to cruise to its second straight victory.
Since its release a scant 10 days ago, the creepy comedy has dug up $188 million in North America alone. That earns it a spot in the year’s top 10—just in front of Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes ($171.3 million) and just behind Bad Boys: Ride or Die ($193.6 million). And while Beetlejuice Beetlejuice isn’t looking quite as lively overseas, it’s still scaring up plenty of cash. It’s earned $76.3 million in international markets thus far, pushing its worldwide gross to an ironically healthy $264.3 million.
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice faced down plenty of newcomers en route to its win. One of them—Speak No Evil—landed at No. 2. The dark thriller lured in $11.5 million from its prey—er, moviegoers. And it did nearly as well overseas, collecting $9.3 million for a global gross of $20.8 million. Not too surprising, given that it’s a remake of an even darker 2022 Danish film.
Deadpool & Wolverine landed in third place with $5.2 million, dragging its total domestic gross to $621.5 million. Add in its overseas bank and the R-rated superhero flick has banked a staggering $1.3 billion.
Another newbie, Am I Racist?, slid into fourth place with a strong $4.8 million. And Reagan spent its third consecutive weekend in the top five with $2.6 million. That left another newcomer, The Killer’s Game, in sixth place with $2.6 million.
God’s Not Dead: In God We Trust earned nearly $1.5 million to finish 10th behind another Christian film, The Forge ($2 million). The Forge has earned $24.1 million during its four-week run, which is pretty impressive. If In God We Trust hopes to equal those numbers, it has some work to do.
6 Responses
Why haven’t you reviewed Am I Racist? It looks interesting. Like Borat for conservatives.
Given Plugged In’s synopsis of that film, I don’t think more racist material is what anyone needs, “conservative” or otherwise. To say nothing of how I’ve known too many people who are more concerned about “being perceived as Am I Racist” than about undoing the consequences of systemic racism.
I read your review of the recent God’s Not Dead, and while I had moral and ethical concerns about its premise — I’ve seen a lot of politicians treat religious appeal as a false dichotomy between “evangelical Christian right-wing politics” and “godless atheism” when there are many other combinations of religious and political ideologies — the review itself was well written. You may remember, from when you reviewed Scorsese’s beautiful movie “Silence,” that Japan wanted to avoid becoming entangled in Christian religious wars like the ones that had consumed Europe.
That was part of my issue in reading the quote from the new God’s Not Dead movie, “The messengers may stumble, Mr. Kane, but it doesn’t negate the message,” when one of the many problems of our religious discourse today is less that we linearly think the message is good or bad and more that we can’t even agree on what that message is.
This governs everything from highly spiritual concepts, such as how salvation works, all the way down to which genders and which “races” should be allowed to hold what jobs and what positions in society. Some Christians see even other parts of Christianity as being essentially no better than heresy or apostasy, and I don’t blame secular influences who want to ensure that our government and our tax dollars aren’t propping up these (sometimes violent) ideological conflicts.
I saw the Fathom Events of God’s Not Dead 5 this weekend and thoroughly enjoyed it. I’ve loved all the previous films and this one was just as good as what came before. It clearly shows the ways that God is working in our lives today, but also takes a stand against those who don’t believe in God or in religion in general. It shows who’s really in control of our country, and of course better yet it shows the Newsboys performing 4 brand new songs which easily fit into the storyline. In my opinion the God’s Not Dead franchise is the best Christian franchise ever, and this latest film definitely doesn’t disappoint.
“Still, the core deception here feels fundamentally meanspirited to me—the kind of treatment that Christians often decry when the tables are turned on us, and we’re on the receiving end of mockery.”
Thank you for this at the end of your ‘Am I Racist?’ review. As soon as I saw the picture of Walsh in brownface (using my ethnicity as a costume or a masquerade, no better than a minstrel show—is this something Christ-followers should be cheering?), I didn’t have high hopes for the premise of the film. The impression I got from reading all that is that he’s more concerned about social justice being naive (I’m vividly reminded of the ending of Plugged In’s review of “Green Inferno” from years ago) and vulnerable to fraud – something of an important message, but not by any means the most important one when addressing and then removing systemic inequality – than about the people who benefited from historical racism.
I’m pretty sure, like Borat, sometimes these films are an excuse to delve into the cruel fantasies of the writers under the guise of “art and social commentary.” Everyone is trying to become a demigod for their respective political party, and taking bits and pieces of truth to twist it into their opiate for the people looking for validation and purpose in this world.
I like to quote Ezekiel 34:16-18 often.
“I myself will be the Shepherd of my sheep and cause them to lie down in peace,” the Lord God says. “I will seek my lost ones, those who strayed away, and bring them safely home again. I will put splints and bandages upon their broken limbs and heal the sick. And I will destroy the powerful, fat shepherds; I will feed them, yes—feed them punishment!” “And as for you, O my flock—my people,” the Lord God says, “I will judge you and separate good from bad, sheep from goats. Is it a small thing to you, O evil shepherds, that you not only keep the best of the pastures for yourselves, but trample down the rest? That you take the best water for yourselves and muddy the rest with your feet?”